Sunday, May 2, 2010


Shouldn't We?

Shouldn’t we all feel younger in May?
Shouldn’t this, the prettiest month of the year, erase worry lines from our faces and gift us with smiles?  
The spectre of frost no longer lurks all around the white roses.  They drape over my window like an extravagant strand of pearls, illuminated at midnight by a creamy May moon that spreads silver shadows over the lime green of new moss. 
Shouldn’t we all be amazed?
After such a harsh winter, a company of foxgloves now stands tall in the garden, the most colourful totems of Spring.   The morning air, sweetly redolent with the smell of wild azalea,  is carried along by gentle winds that bear no resemblance to their raucous cousins of March.  They are welcomed in through open windows, softly blowing the curtains into the quiet rooms, playing with the fur on the white dog’s head.  
Shouldn’t we all be grateful?
The woolens are all packed away now, the linen is pressed and crisp.  There are sunhats lining the hallway and the first white gardenia blossom sits by the bed.  While stretched out before us, like a river of gold, are all the sun-kissed days of summer, as far as my blue eye can see.
Shouldn’t we all be happy?  
Shouldn’t we follow the traditions of old and place bouquets of spring flowers on the doors of our friends?  Shouldn’t we wind beribboned garlands around a tall wooden Maypole in the center of town? 
Shouldn’t we dance? 
Wash our faces in the morning dew? 
It is May. 
Shouldn’t we all feel younger?

Painting above by Honor Appleton

48 comments:

  1. Yes we should, Everything is coming to life and we can shed our winter woolies and start looking forward to a long hot Summer.
    XX

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  2. This reminds me of the song from Camelot...'it's May, it's May, the lusty month of May.' So true. Here in the Highlands, Spring has finally arrived! It unfolds so gradually though. Not all the trees bloom at once. Each month there's a new bunch of flowers to look forward to. Right now, the air is intoxicating. I am grateful for colour and scent, long days, and brilliant skies. Frost can still visit now and again, but our blooms are hearty... just like us. :) Lizzy

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  3. What a great way to remind us all of the change, and constant change that life goes through.

    I am looking for some new fresh blogs to follow today. I am on a scavenger hunt for blogs. I am now going to follow yours. I have loved the moments I have gone through your blog so far.

    Warm wishes to you and your family! From Contessa Grigia at Terra Del Sole

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  4. oh yes we should and we are!!!
    here's to sunhat-lined hallways and leaving spring bouquets for friends!!!!

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  5. We should and we do! After chemo and a long, cold winter, May is glorius, outrageous and supreme.
    Cenya

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  6. Those wonderful rituals had a purpose, for sure. Yes, let's gather in the city's center and shout for joy.

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  7. You're just a little ahead of us, season-wise, although it has been an unusually long winter here. Air frost still about at the moment!

    However, I am with you in spirit, if not in temperature, blossom and flowers yet. Hooray for May!

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  8. Oh lovely words of may!!!

    May pole, May dance, May flowers, ...
    I think of all this when all the German traditions come to my mind!
    But you would be one of the first to get a bouquet of flowers on your doorstep!

    XX
    Victoria

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  9. Well! In a short answer, of course we should! Everywhere we look there are miracles! Suzie xxx

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  10. Of course we should. However Spring is about 3 weeks late in these parts and it will be a couple of months before we see a foxglove. My late parents in law had bluebells on the tables at their wedding reception in the village hall on 22nd April 1946. Summer was early that year but today we still have daffodils in the garden.

    (oh the word for verification is...nopity!

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  11. oh yes we should!
    And I am glas to say I am!!!
    I love april, may and june the best!
    we are at the moment very busy moving to a great house and garden...and we have many fruittrees which are blooming now... so very lovely!!!
    I am in love with Spring!

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  12. Oh yes we should! I love the month of May. The lily of the Valley are out in my mom's garden and she brought me a huge bouquet of them. I was thinking of you, wondering if you like lily of the valley.
    Have a happy weekend, Pamela and Edward.

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  13. Dear Pamela, Your writing is so vivid and beautiful..I wish I had a tenth of your talent...I also love your childrens illustrations..Happy May day dear Pamela and Edward!

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  14. Yes we should and yes I shall.

    I had so much fun a few years ago with a May basket. A friend was missing her mom one cold winter day as we sat talking over coffee and reflecting on how her mom always made her a May Day basket on May 1. I filed it away in my memory and for some reason did, indeed, remember it in late April. I made a little posy basket and hung it on her door to find. She was delighted to find it there when she returned home, though I don't know who felt better, she or me!

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  15. This is just what I needed - just in time for my birthday tomorrow. :)

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  16. I'm off to pick up some May baskets to scatte about tomorrow, first thing in the morning!

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  17. Ahh..I love everything about May! Especially foxgloves, bluebells and the maypole.
    Happy May Day to you Pamela :)

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  18. I couldn't agree more. May is a magical month and I am so pleased it is here to chase away the winter gloom.

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  19. I don't know about washing my face in the dew but I grew up hearing my grandpa say that if it rains on your head in May, you won't have a headache for the rest of the year. Every May I play in the rain!!!

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  20. this is gorgeous and yes we should....how lovely to have a window covered with roses ... mine are covered mostly with rain speckled speckles and in need of a good spring cleaning yet to be done...haha, who am i kidding?? ;)

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  21. Dear Pamela...
    You should.. I wish WE should.. but it is autumn here and the chill is creeping into the air.. Although you have painted such a lovely image in my mind i swear I can smell sweet blooms everywhere... Love the idea of 'place bouquets of spring flowers on the doors of our friends'.... what a sweet thought that is... have a lovely May Day.. xxx Julie

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  22. Yes to it all! It's the most wonderful season of the whole year. But come to think of it- I I say that about them all.
    Happy May Pamela.

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  23. "Shouldn’t we all feel younger?"

    YES!!! Or was that a rhetorical query?

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  24. Most definitely Pamela....I do already after reading your lovely thoughts, xv.

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  25. Happy May Day - yes we should feel that change now and welcome the glorious bursting to life in our gardens, in hedgerows and in meadows and woodlands. This morning flowers in my garden are shining in the fresh spring light and the birds are collecting food for their young - whistling whilst they work - a day for feeling happy, I think:)

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  26. I wish I could, but our wonderful Indian summer is coming to and end, and the cold bite of mid autumn hit us hard tonight. First fire of the season and today all the leaves dropped of the prunus and the robinias. I look forward to September and the first touch of that spring you are now experiencing!!

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  27. Wash our faces in the morning dew, how wonderful. I need to do more of that. Yes, I feel younger at the first sign on spring. Beautifully expressed, thank you Pamela.

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  28. If you've got the tablets, Pamela, please send them over! :0)

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  29. Dear Pamela,
    I'm afraid that the worry lines on my face are too deep to be erased but everything else, I can do !!
    May is, indeed, a 'good to be alive' month. XXXX

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  30. I may not have a maypole to dance around but I will certainly be celebrating...

    I remember fondly my grandmother sneaking up to our door and leaving a maybasket...now we celebrate with May Day breakfasts...always fun...

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  31. Oh yes we should, and in my heart I do, - however reality this Mayday morning is a bitterly cold wind, blowing fiercely amongst the tender young plants, - the spurge and the delphinium which should be lovely globes of green and gold have been ravished by the wind and are all lying helter skelter on the ground.

    Perhaps the 2nd day of May will be our day for rejoicing.

    Lovely buoyant happy child in the painting - lifts the spirits and brings a smile to the soul.

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  32. breathtaking pamela, your words, your phrasing are mesmerizing. and yes, we should be happy and grateful!
    debra

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  33. Don't we ? May is a month of hope.

    Have a nice day

    xo
    Anci

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  34. Yes, I follow your drift, Pamela.
    I think we do all get a bit of a spring in our step although woollies have come out again here as today the temperature has gone down to 9 degrees. Such are the vagiaries of an English spring.

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  35. Lovely reminder and your words
    so beautifully describe it all.
    :)

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  36. I think this is your playful spirit....she looks just like you skipping in the May sunshine...hope you are having a lovely Springtime.
    Hugs Lynn xxx

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  37. Yes! Yes! Yes! Happy spring time! Wishing you many simply pleasures.

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  38. I love Honor C. Appleton and am delighted to see a fresh treasure by this artist.
    Yes, you are right - we should be, and I am, grateful and amazed every year.
    I think it is this fresh wonder of yours that makes such compelling reading every post.

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  39. How delicious your spring sounds - enjoy this most wonderful time of year. Leigh

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  40. Here they bless the wells, drag the local saints statue out of the church and walk it round the village, finally repairing to the village hall for a glass of brandy. Winter already seems a long time ago.

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  41. Yes we should...with wild abandon!!! I really love these thought and words...so inspiring!

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  42. I do feel younger and I am amazed! Every day there is something new to see. Beautiful, beautiful writing as always, Pamela.

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  43. Absolutely Pamela and with that thought I shall go forth and enjoy!

    :)

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  44. Yes we should! My linen isn't out just yet. It is still cold and rainy, but not much longer, I hope.

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  45. Yes! A definite spring in our steps these days. Loving how we are winding down towards the lazy days on summer. Roll them on...!

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  46. I am looking for some new fresh blogs to follow today
    post free classified ads

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I love to read your comments! Each and every one! Though I'm always reading your comments, I may not respond in the comment section. If you want to write me directly, you may do so at pamela@pamelaterry.net. Thank you for reading!