Tuesday, May 1, 2018

Dare To Hope


It is May 1st. It is also known as May Day.

I have seen pictures of girls dressed in lovely dresses dancing around the Maypole. Each carried a long brightly coloredl ribbon. As she skipped around she would weave in and out with girls doing the same but moving in the opposite direction.

When the dancing was finished the Maypole was covered by the different ribbons in a tight weave. I am not certain why they did it but it looked like fun.

When I was a little girl there was a custom in our area. We gave out May baskets.

May baskets are made of those oversized paper cupcake cups. Pliable pipe cleaners are attached to make a handle. Then the basket is filled with various candies and maybe a small trinket or two.

I was seven years old when I delivered my first May Day baskets. It was great fun putting the baskets together. Then we put them in a box and into the car. Off we went.

It was then that my mother told me what to do. I was to take a basket to the front door of the person's house, knock on the door, and run back to the car.

If the person could catch me they had to give me a kiss.

The first stop was Susan Otradowski's house. I took a basket, went to the front door, knocked, and ran back to the car.

Nobody said anything about leaving the basket before I ran.

As I was climbing back into the car Mom was excitingly telling me that I had to leave the basket on the doorstep. I had to get out of the car to take the basket back. Susan caught me and gave me a kiss on the cheek. Of course I was mortified.

I guess I delivered the rest of the baskets with no problems. I only remember Susan's delivery.

Now back to my original reason for this post.

I think, I believe, I hope that spring is here.

The snow has been gone for a couple of weeks. The temperatures are closer to what they should be. Birds and animals are spending more time in my yard. I love to watch them.

A couple of days ago the little rabbit that comes to nibble near the spot I work on the computer and watch out the window was here. He is out every day about this time.

So the other day he was nibbling when another rabbit came from behind the garage. Ever alert the two rabits stopped and looked at each other. They each edged closer to the other. Closer, closer, closer. Finally they were almost nose to nose.

One rabbit lunged at the other who jumped about three feet straight up into the air. They separated and repeated a couple of times. They disappeared beyond my vision to behind the garage.

Within seconds one of them hopped back out and went to the neighbor's yard to nibble over there.

Was it a fight for territory? Was it a mating ritual? I have no idea. It was fascinating to see.

Things are becoming green again. The ground is sending up plants that will be grass, weeds, dandelions, and violets soon.

The trees are thinking that maybe they can begin to send out a few leaves. There are none yet but I can see the buds.

The river is flooding a bit. Not nearly as bad as a couple of years ago. It is up over the banks and into the fields on both sides.

Most farms on this side of the river have built earthen levees to keep them safe from the modest flooding we are having right now. If they do not have to open the dam too much north of here we should see a receding river.

We are ready for spring.

Here is hoping.




18 comments:

  1. what an interesting tradition for May dear Emma!

    my imagination revealed the fun of basket dropping and getting a Kiss back :)

    what a Fun!

    either here in my front yard which have quite high walls birds are roaming with cherish chirping and making nests ,hatching eggs and inventing new life to the earth
    this is peak of spring here
    i am Happy for You that you got finally your;s there my friend!

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    1. Now I can worry about the river flooding again. I love rainy weather. It is my favorite. Unfortunately the rain we have been having will make the flooding worse. I am fascinated by it but it is hard on the farmers whose fields are under water.

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  2. We left May baskets on front door knobs. We also made them of woven paper strips, and filled them with daffodils and jonquils and such like spring flowers.

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    1. I will bet they were pretty. I like the idea of flowers but I do like a bit of chocolate too.

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  3. I have never heard of that tradition sounds like fun. Here we call it workers day. I hope that you are right and winter has gone now. It seeems extra long this year!! Take care Diane

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    1. I just read an exchange among some of my cousins on Facebook about May baskets this year. They had a good time with their children passing them out.

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  4. What river do you live near? I’m guessing either the Missouri or the Platte.

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    1. I live nearest to the Big Sioux River. It empties into the Missouri River about 25 miles from here. The Platte River is across the Missouri and About 100 miles south of here.

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  5. Wow! I had forgotten about May Day Baskets.
    Thanks for reminding me.
    R

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    1. You are certainly welcome. May Day is another fond memory for me.

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  6. I thought you were in Nebraska, but I looked at wikipedia's article on the Big Sioux River and concluded that you must be in either South Dakota or Iowa, or possibly even in the far southwestern corner of Minnesota. I think I remember reading that Ann Landers and her twin sister Abby Van Buren wee from either Sioux Falls or Sioux City, where they were known as "Popo" (Pauline Esther) and "Eppie" (Esther Pauline). I am chock full of unimportant facts, and your location is my latest acquisition.

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    1. I was born in Nebraska and lived there for most of my childhood. I went to high school in Sioux City. As a matter of fact Although it was many years later the Friedman twins and I had the same homeroom teacher. Each of them came regularly to speak at the school. I now live north of Sioux City and near the Big Sioux River which is currently flooding "moderately". I live in the westernmost part of Iowa. If you look at a state map you will see where the state juts out a bit near the northwest corner. That is where I live.

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    2. Well, as we used to say in the Old South, “I do declare!” (though it sounded more like “Ah do dih-clay-uh!”). My dad grew up in Cedar Rapids on the other side of your state.

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    3. I know Cedar Rapids a bit. Iowa is a lovely state as is Nebraska. I love living in this part of the country.

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  7. Oh yeah! There is the White Rabbit.
    It should lead you the your wonderland.
    Go after it!

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    1. As you know the White Rabbit and I are good friends.

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  8. We made May Day baskets, too, in Northern Indiana in the 1950's. A sweet tradition. Like Joanne, we wove ours with strips of colored paper. Nice memory. Hey - if you can see the buds on the trees, then I think the winter is over!

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  9. Reading your post about May Day reminded me of my parochial grammar school when there was some sort of May 1 ritual. However, I can't recall the details of what was done, except that it involved only the girls in the class. I don't know much about the mating habits of rabbits, but given that spring is here would assume it might be a courtship that what was happening. Spring has slowly been arriving here in NH and last week, summer showed up with a couple of 90-degree days.

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