Congratulations to blackholly!

Congratulations to Holly for winning the first Andre Norton Award for her YA fantasy Valiant!

We could not ask for a more perfect May Day

The temperature is 63 degrees F, and the sky is a beautiful blue. I have slathered the girls and myself with sunscreen. We will be putting our picnic stuff at the minnehaha picnic site (between the path and the water, between the rainbow gazebo & the piney woods and the Ceremony Site. There'll be a sign that says "MNSTF.")

Fiona will be in the banned book section of the parade, carrying the Webster New World Dictionary. Delia will be one of the celestial blue giraffes.

I will be somewhere along the parade route, cheering them on. Then we will convene to Powderhorn Park for the ceremony (Fiona is going to be one of the Junior Sunrunners). I might try to do a phone post from the ceremony, so you will get to hear the crowd sing "You are my sunshine."

Voice Post

Voice Post: May Day Tree of Life Ceremony

You can see dd_b's excellent pictures of the Tree of Life Ceremony here (Thanks, dd_b!) and pictures from a previous year's Tree of Life ceremony here. Fiona's sunrunner costume is the bright orange one with the yellow circle around the head.

Voice Post: You are my Sunshine

May Day report

The inhaler has really eased most of my problems and this was the first day in a week that I felt close to normal. I put on my bright purple top and draped on my dragon sarong, and packed us a picnic dinner. I dropped the girls off at the parade gathering spot and then drove back up near Powderhorn Park and parked. The parade seemed to me to take awhile to start: they started at 1:00, but didn't reach where I was until 2:30 or so. After I made my first phone post, where I mentioned how different it felt to watch the parade without the girls beside me, I saw Sheila Foster, the mother of Fiona's friend Sydney, and beckoned her over to join me. That was fun, to have a friend to talk with, and Sheila had a walkie-talkie along connecting her to Sydney, who was marching beside Delia, so that eased my motherly nerves about being separated from the girls. An enterprising family in a house nearby was selling mangos on a stick to the crowd and I got one for Sheila and one for me. Never have eaten a mango on a stick before, but it seemed like perfect May Day parade food.

Here came the parade (excerpts from the "Parade Story" handed out by the volunteers).

( Introduction )

( To Speak the Truth )

( Listen to the Heart Speak )

( To Walk Hand in Hand )

( Check out our Commonwealth )

( To Regenerate With Gratitude Our Uproarious Energy )

Using the trusty walkie-talkies, Sheila and I found the girls and then we headed to the Tree of Life ceremony. Fiona went to join the other Sun runners up the hill. Delia and I got good seats, quite close, and had a marvelous view as the Sun was rowed across the lake and the Tree of Life rose to the roar of the crowd's approval.

Afterwards, we joined a bunch of friends beside the lake and picnicked. The drum jam started up right beside us, and I joined the belly dancers for a while, making my dragon sarong undulate wildly. It was the most exercise I've gotten all week.

The weather was marvelous. The company was grand. Potato salad and brautwursts were eaten, and hard cider downed with relish (shhh, don't tell the Park Police.) The girls were beautiful and happy and magical, and I love them so much.

Happy May Day, everyone.

[Delia is weeping in the shower as I write this, she is so tired, poor little girl. That was a long long way for a celestial blue giraffe to march.]