Happy May Day everyone!!

May Day (May 1) is a spring festival celebrating human fertility and the renewal of nature. It's a meopagan
festival, a saint's feast day, and a day for organized labor. In many countries, it is a national holiday. The festival originated with the celebration of the Roman goddes Flora and spread to other countries of the Roman Empire. May Day was especially popular in England during medieval times. Activities centered around the maypole, a tree collected from the woods and brought to the village to celebrate the upcoming summer. The pole would be hung with greenery and ribbons, brightly painted, and otherwise decorated, and served as a central point for the festivities.
May Day was also a time for dancing around the maypole. In the 19th century, people began to braid the maypole with ribbons by weaving in and out in the course of a dance. Other later traditions included making garlands for children and the crowning of the May Queen. Often times when this was going on, some sneaked into the woods for temporary sexual encounters . It was this latter activity that Purtians found objectionable. By 1644, May Day had been banned
by the English Parliament although it reappeared when Charles II took the throne in 1660. However, the overt sexuality of the festival went underground during the Victorian period and May Day was transformed into a celebration of England. In the United States, we generally give our neighbors and friends a small basket of flowers attached to their doors as a May Day gift and to mark the happiness of Spring.

This Photograph was taken by my Uncle Richard Marchant. It truly reminds me of Spring.

Lately, he eats with one foot in the air. One day when I was pouring his food into his dish, a large spider fell out of the sack and into his dish. I was startled and screamed and ran. It scared him and now he slowly goes to his dish to eat and holds one leg up, like that will get him away faster if something goes wrong. I may have to get him a new dish because he only wants to eat now when he is REALLY hungry. He sneaks up on the dish, grabs a mouth full and runs away between bites. He is a little neurotic.

Fozzie does this weird thing with his ears sometimes. It looks like his head is out the window of the car and the wind is blowing in his face, but he never does that when we are riding.
Who knows what goes on in his little dog brain.

My Little buddy!

Wayne and I have been empty nesters for several years now with the exception of our pets. When my poodle "Dusty" died I couldn't bear it and swore I wouldn't get a dog again for a very long time, if ever. Dusty was the smartest dog I had ever known. He played the piano and sang as he played, he played hide and seek, he did many tricks and was my little buddy. 5 years ago Wayne found a little red poodle for sale in Great Falls, Montana and asked if I was ready yet for a new dog. I didn't think I was but said maybe. He got it for me for Christmas and I love him so much. He is such a good boy, never poops on the floor and was very easy and quick to train. He is very affectionate and loves everyone. He barks when you leave because he doesn't want you to go, and he will sit on the bed and babysit the grandkids when they nap. His color is fading out a little but when we got him he was a very dark auburn color. We named him Fozzie because he looked like Fozzie Bear from the Muppets. He has his flaws.....barks too loud when someone comes by the house, licks too much and he is a wimp. He is afraid of loud noises, plastic bags, and getting under obstacles, but that's good in some ways because it keeps him out of the garbage. He will chase his stuffed squirrel for hours and loves Sunday mornings when Wayne and I are both still in bed and he can be the center of attention. He loves to chase the birds and kitties from our yard and I plant him his own cherry tomato plant because he LOVES tomatoes and will snack on them all summer when I let him out.

Some of my favorite things

I am trying to do my part for Mother Earth. I recycle everything I can, I changed out many light bulbs to compact florescent, I try to turn off the lights (not always successful on this) and try not to waste water. I also like to use earth friendly cleaning products when I can. I have found a couple of brands that I LOVE......Mrs. Meyers and Method. I went to the boutique called "Hip and Humble" this week to get some Mrs. Meyers all purpose cleaner. It was $12.00. Now that's a lot for a bottle of cleaner (even though you dilute it down), but saw it on the Internet for $7.99. Paying shipping would have upped the price to more than that at H & H so I didn't buy it. I was happy today because I went to World Market and found it for $7.99. That's $4 less per bottle and that's a gallon of gas by golly. Anyway, the products are not animal tested, are biodegradable and have a wonderful smell due to essential oils. My favorites are Mrs. Meyer's geranium and Method's pink grapefruit. I really don't like the smell of geraniums at all, but the cleaner really doesn't smell like them. It has rose essential oil and clove oil mixed in it and it smells wonderful. They also make verbena and lavender that smell great too. You can get the Method cleaner at Target for about $5.00 and it comes in a spray bottle.