Greetings on all fronts. Continuing with the Pitman shorthand theme
And it's Beltane, between the spring and summer equinoxes, so here's some art
In France you rush out in search of Lily of the valley
In England you get out your Edith Holden
And at home, since May has set in with ferocity, the record rainfall now an icy wind, you stay home and warm and determine finally to read those classics. Or maybe find a shortcut
And Chez Boud, a pot of spaghetti was about right for lunch
Happy day everyone, enjoy whichever version you like.
Beltane AND a daughter's birthday. So I have made a cake.
ReplyDeleteYet another reason to celebrate.
DeleteHappy May Day! I remember that book "The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady" -- it was such a huge, HUGE publishing success at the time. It was EVERYWHERE.
ReplyDeleteA tribute to nostalgia and marketing!
DeleteMay is a bit of a nothing month here. The last month of autumn and everything is at that sad stage of the year.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed the abridged classics, thank you. Now I don't have to trawl through them!
Considering how busy you are right now I should think that's a relief.
DeleteWhite rabbit, white rabbit.
ReplyDeleteYes!
DeleteFrom Wikipedia (to confirm what my father - supposed to become a catholic priest - used to tell me: "1 May is also one of two feast days of the Catholic patron saint of workers St Joseph the Worker, a carpenter, husband to Mother Mary, and foster father of Jesus.[18] Replacing another feast to St. Joseph, this date was chosen by Pope Pius XII in 1955 as a counterpoint to the communist International Workers' Day celebrations on May Day."
ReplyDeletePlease enter your name within your post. Asking again. And thank you for expanding on what I wrote!
DeleteLoved the Abridged Classics - Need that for every book I should have read but haven't.
ReplyDeleteIt does save a lot of time.
DeleteBack in the long past. We learnt to dance around the may pole.
ReplyDeleteAnd it’s not even spring here. It was fun dancing with the ribbons.
Here we have had the fire going all day. The nights are very cold now and the days are cooling off
Funny, I grew up in England and may pole dancing was unheard of where I lived.
DeleteHappy May! It's certainly one of my favourite months of the year. And that spaghetti looks delicious. I haven't had some in ages!
ReplyDeleteYesterday was wet and cold, right for a bit of spag.
DeleteI understand that Beltane was the day to really let down your hair, as it were, in the very olden days. At least that’s how it was portrayed in a fantasy novel that I once read.
ReplyDeleteMaybe the fire symbols got people in party mood!
DeleteLearned Gregg shorthand in my twenties. It is such a pretty shorthand - I wonder how quickly I might remember the strokes if I applied myself to it... Love my paperback copy of The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady. When I finally got mine I fancied I might become a nature journalist. Alas, I think I am more suited to being an admirer.
ReplyDeleteHer illustrations are deceptively simple looking, but when you try doing it, you discover how sophisticated they are.
DeleteSpaghetti is on our menu this week. I roast garlic and grate Parmesan and add to spaghetti. Simple and so tasty.
ReplyDeleteYes, with good ingredients, it's great. So simple.
DeleteI have the makings for spaghetti on the way. I hope yours was good,
ReplyDeleteIt was great. Real Italian spag, organic tomatoes, butter, onions, all good.
DeleteSo you use butter instead of olive oil to cook the tomatoes and herbs and onions before adding the pasta??
DeleteI cooked the onions, tomato paste and herbs in olive oil, then added the tomatoes and a knob of butter and simmered for a while.
DeleteWe love your summary of the classics, few of which F has actually read (being the pleb that she is). If she is going to read fiction is needs to be 'gripping'. Our Mayday was spent burying the fibre-optic cable recently installed to the house and left lying across the front yard by the installation team. Nothing spiritual or seasonal about that. I supervised the trench digging, but work had to be put on hold when F ran out of roof tiles to sit on top of the cable before filling in the hole (so that future gardeners are unlikely to be able to put a fork or spade through the cable trunking). I, the Tigger, like freshly disturbed earth - I might dig it up again....xxx Mr T
ReplyDeleteI think your name will not be Tigger if you dig it up, it will be Mud!
Deleteno Maypole? I looked up Beltane and found I had inadvertently celebrated yesterday when I torched the enormous burn pile, so I had my bonfire. now if only I were considerably younger I'd celebrate fertility outside too.
ReplyDeleteI used to love burning garden trash but alas it's been illegal here for many years, air quality and that in a congested region.
DeleteOur May started with snow (flurries, nothing sticking but cold as all get out). And wind. More Sprinter than spring, but it'll happen!
ReplyDeleteThe wind is what's been doing me in. Even days when it looks lovely, the icy high wind has changed the whole experience.
DeleteHappy May! I looked at the list of classics and I suppose I should be ashamed to say that I've only read one - 'Walden'. Read that when I was an impressionable teenager and really would like to read it again.
ReplyDeleteWalden is permanently colored for me knowing he ate dinner at his mom's every day, and took his laundry there for his mom and sister to do! He was hardly ever actually alone with nature. And certainly not self sufficient.
Delete