Thursday, May 5, 2022

I Like Thursday: May Day

I had a fun May Day!  And lots of good things to share with LeeAnna and friends over at I Like Thursday.

I found out my town celebrates May Day with a maypole.  People gathered in front of the post office with flowery outfits and instruments.  There were several groups of Morris dancers, too.

They paraded the short distance to the village green and erected the maypole. 

My mother happened to be visiting that day, so I invited my sister up to check out the festivities.  As we wandered around before the parade started, we found these Ukrainian eggs hanging on bushes, tree trunks and mailboxes.  We were told a local woman makes these, then hangs them out for the holiday.  Each one had a little card on them that said: 

Happy May Day! This egg represents new hope, re-birth and deep love for our life-giving planet!  Feel free to take this egg or leave it for another!

It was so fun to wander around the green trying to find all of them.  After admiring one, we'd spot another and run over to look.  I fell totally in love with the one in the lower right and took it home with me.  I made some Ukrainian eggs decades ago and always wanted to create something with that type of design.  These were marvelous!  I cant imagine the hours of work that went into each of these.


After the parade I ran into these kids that had managed to snag a bunch of the ones we had admired earlier.  One or two I hadn't seen yet, though!  Next year I'll have to come early to see how many I can find!

There was some singing, a couple of the Morris dancer troupes performed, and then they unfurled the ribbons from the pole.  Musicians gathered up around the pole and lots of people, young and old, marched around them holding the ribbons.  We left before they did the final braiding.  It was braided up quilt prettily.

My sister told me to remind her of it next year, so we shall attend again!

Usually when I talk about pigs, I mean guinea pigs.  But today, I've got real piggy pigs to share.  There's a sounder of swine that live up the hill at the crossroads.  I've waved at them from a distance.  This weekend I ran into a neighbor up there and discovered they'll come right to the fence.

"Pigs, pigs pigs!"

One came over to investigate and soon there were three or four next to the fence.  I tried to video them - they were happily grunting, rooting around the the dirt and leaves near the fence with their big floppy ears and wiggly tails.  Quite charming - I found out they like to be scratched, too.  Who knew!

Domino (the guinea pig) is still with us, becoming quite demanding.  No photos of him, though.  (sorry)

Did you see?   Sunrise is complete!  Sunday turned out to be a beautiful day to photograph the quilt.  I was able to ship it out on Monday.  I started quilting the fourth promised quilt this week.   

I finished The Hidden Palace, which was the sequel to The Golem and the Jinni.  An excellent book.  It's hard to tell which of them I liked better.  I really hope Wecker writes more. 

What a weekend! 

10 comments :

  1. Really! A Maypole! That is so cool! And those eggs are gorgeous! Thanks to you, I knew an answer on Jeopardy last week. I can’t recite the answer exactly, but something about an animal activity called “popping”. The question..”What is a Guinea Pig?” Thanks, Sally! Sunrise is fabulous!

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  2. Wow, A Maypole, what a nice surprise. On those Ukrainian eggs, there used to be someone at Neffa who taught us how to make them. My mother made one, when she went to Neffa with me some time ago. It was fun to watch them being made with dyes & wax. Glad to know your resident foster guinea pig is learning how to pig.

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  3. The quilt is breathtaking! Congrats on getting it done. WOW those eggs. I can't imagine having a hand steady enough to paint all those. She must work on them all year long to have soo many out for people to take. What a labor of love. The May Pole looks awesome. I've never been to a May Pole gathering. I don't think anywhere I've lived every had one.
    Sandy's Space

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  4. Mike and I were wondering on May Day if anyone did the Maypole dance anywhere - now I know the answer to that! Fun finding the eggs and playing with pigs, too!

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  5. Oh how fabulous to celebrate May Day with festivities, a real Maypole dance....and Ukrainian eggs! The designs on the eggs are exquisite. I cannot imagine the time and steady hand needed to paint each one. Sally, you truly do live in the best neighbourhood!

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  6. I love the May Day celebration as well as the Ukrainian eggs. What fun! You live in such a great place!

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  7. The May Day celebration looks so cool, and the eggs are fabulous. What a treasure to share! The pigs are still furry, soon they will blow their coats and be nakie. LOL Your quilt is gorgeous

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  8. Hi Sally! Wow, that's quite a May Day celebration. How fun! What beautiful eggs with a lovely sentiment, too! Sunrise is GORGEOUS!! Wow, and what a perfect picture you were able to take. It's really lovely. Happy Mother's Day. Enjoy the weekend. {{Hugs}} ~smile~ Roseanne

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  9. Sally - what a terrific post. I don't know why, but it thrills me to know that there are still places in the world that celebrate with a Maypole! The eggs are gorgeous.

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  10. Sunrise is spectacular!
    Wow, who knew they would celebrate like that, maypole and all! Love the eggs and how nice to have one as a memory of such a wonderful event and day. I would have enjoyed such an outing too!

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