Tuesday, May 1

Happy May Day! Long ago, when I was a child, our elementary school celebrated May Day each year with children winding a May pole as a way to welcome the coming of summer. We all dressed up, and then each child would hold a wide colorful ribbon attached to the top of the pole, and we'd walk around the pole weaving the ribbon over and under until the pole was completely covered. Other activities were included on that day, and parents were invited to the celebration. Fun.

I woke up at 5:30 this morning and couldn't go back to sleep. So I tossed and turned for two hours until Hubbie woke up. After breakfast, Hubbie got ready to meet a 10 a.m. dental appointment, and I did a stair stepping, resistance bands, and weights exercises.

Once I was ready for the day, I went to Mother's house to accompany her to our house. We didn't do anything constructive before lunch, but after lunch, we made a batch of oatmeal/chocolate chip cookies, some of which will be donated to Caring Hands Hospice for the bake sale fundraiser.

Afterward, Mother worked on her jigsaw puzzle, while Hubbie and I ran errands...to the newspaper office to drop off the word search puzzle contest (the winner last week was a lady we know); to the bank; to the store that used to have a sale every weekend to buy intimate apparel for Mother as part of a Mother's Day gift; and to the everything's a dollar store to get a disposable plastic container to put the cookies in for Caring Hands.

Back home, I lazed the rest of the afternoon until time to prepare supper, which tonight was a variety of mostly starchy leftovers...beans and ham from the freezer, with macaroni and cheese, a large baked sweet potato from the freezer, mashed potatoes, and corn-on-the-cob.

After supper, I accompanied Mother back to her house. Sadly, we noticed that a male goldfinch lay dead on her porch. Apparently the poor thing had flown into the side of her house and broken its neck.

Later, Hubbie and I went to a local school to attend a choir concert of kids ranging from fifth grade through senior high, as they performed music from the 1950s to the 1990s. The program started at 6:30, but we didn't leave the house until 6 p.m., so parking was at a premium. Fortunately, though, we found a parking space quite near the entrance. We were seated in the back of the auditorium, which was fine with us, since it meant we could leave a few minutes before the program ended and avoid a traffic snarl.

It was obvious that the students and their choir director had put a lot of work into the program. The kids were on their own to fashion costumes, and they did a good job. The performance included solo performances and dancing. The whole thing was cute, and we enjoyed it. Naturally, the audience appreciated it, not only because their children performed, but because the kids sang songs from their parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents eras.

We were back home before 7:30, and I went immediately to Mother's house to help her take a shower and throw a load of laundry in the washer.

Hubbie and I spent the rest of the evening watching TV, including the elimination episode of "Dancing With the Stars." I was not surprised by who was eliminated, but it could have been any one of three, I think.