Spring is yellow

I've celebrated May Day for the last three years, since the first May I had this blog. It only seems natural that May Day be my blog's unofficial holiday.

I didn't celebrate it this year. I still have the maypole. It's in my garage. My father even commented on it just last week.

I just couldn't summon up the energy and the joy it takes to put something like that together. It was a grey day, and I ended up scrambling to get ready for a last minute audition anyway, so in a way it's good I didn't plan something. Imagine the stress.

But I did miss it.

It's been a long winter, and signs of spring are slow in coming. Spring here is yellow. Daffodils and these yellow bushes that awaken some latent childhood spring memories in me. But, oddly enough, they are melancholy. Not a riotous, joyful feeling. A spot of yellow among the mud and grey. I miss the bright pink and purple azaleas. I miss sunshine and warm breezes. Sandals and sundresses. Spring is too slow in emerging. I don't feel like celebrating. I feel like giving it a swift kick in the pants.

(MQ did note that it was May Day by asking if Angry Birds Seasons put out a new level for May Day. Sadly, no)

Happy May Day!

It was a muggy, windy and overcast day, but we managed to joyfully welcome May, anyhow. I've been quite busy and stressed out, so didn't quite do ALL the things I had planned for our festivities, but I did enough! The party lasted over 2 hours, which included dinner.

I made the floral wreaths for the girls out of dollar store leis... bought a pack of 3 for a dollar and then trimmed them to fit their heads. The extra flowers were then glued to their homemade May Baskets!

I pilfered bells from the Christmas jingle bells I use with my preschool students to tie around our ankles for the Morris Dancing. This was one of the favorite activites... the girls created their own pattern (tap sticks, shake the bells three times, skip three times, repeat)

and giggled, giggled, giggled.

We all twirled around the Maypole, which eventually turned into the girls RUNNING around the Maypole.

Then I held the Maypole and they twirled around ME, wrapping me up in the ribbons. They all got a big kick out of that.

Trying to get the "May Hoop" to go straight was a challenge. There were a lot of tongues sticking out in concentration, and again, a lot of giggling.

Giggling. This to me is the sound of success.

Happy May Day!

Planning for May Day: Dancing, crafts, games and food!

I can hardly believe that May is nearly here! Wasn't it just Mardi Gras?

As May Day is the official holiday of this here blog, I HAVE to have a party, of course. And from the looks of my bloggy visitors lately, there are a lot of people out there looking for May Day activities. I am here to help you.

Feel free check out previous May Day festivities, including songs, coloring sheets, crafts, etc. (2009 plans and 2009 actual, 2008 plans (and why I call my blog Painted Maypole) and 2008 actual and a homemade floral crown and a May Day poem by Tennyson).

This year there will be the usual dancing 'round the Maypole (if I get to it I may cement the pole into a bucket... last year it kept falling over). I think I may makes some anklets with bells to attach to our ankles and we'll do some dancing and knocking of sticks or waving of handkerchiefs to approximate Morris Dancing, another May Day dancing tradition.

I plan to make these adorable flower baskets (on the right) from Charlotte's Fancy. (Check out some other May Basket ideas at The Crafty Crow)

We can fill the baskets with these flowers from Family Fun.

I think I'll clear out my felt and fabric supply and make these flower pins, also from Family Fun.

My May Queen is getting more and more into games, so I think we'll play Nine Men's Morris (follow the instructions to see how to make and play this board game), which is apparently a traditional English May Day game. Maybe we'll play one of her favorite games, Sleeping Queens. Although there is a pancake queen, a heart queen and all manner of flower queens, there are no May Queens in the game... so maybe the winner will be crowned May Queen.

And May Day Hoop racing sounds like fun, too!

We'll decorate flower shaped sugar cookies. Because cookie decorating (and EATING) make any party fun! I mean, what's a party without a sugar high? (looking for a cupcake sugar high? these would be adorable, edible may day baskets.)

Whew. I think that will keep us busy! Now I better invite some kids over to share the day with us!

Morris Dancing

While on vacation I read Disobedience by Jane Hamilton, and found this fun little bit about Morris Dancing, a May Day tradition:

The morris dancing we learned as children requires a set of four couples, eight dancers who skip like hell in various figures, knock sticks together, or flick their white hankies heavenward. The origins of the tradition are lost, but it probably has something to do with the pan-European agrarian fertility rites, and celebrations at sowing and harvest time. By the Industrial Revolution it was a bonding deal for the men in the English Midlands. They'd get up early on May Day, dancing at establishment after establishment, begging for beer with their performances along the way, getting drunk and then drunker as the day wore on. A lot of the older women at camp did morris dancing for a workout, morris dancing, the pagan precursor to the aerobic worship of the body, minus the spandex and the hand weights.

rilly rilly rilly

The May Queen's last day of first grade is tomorrow (!!!!!!) and she brought home her journal. Inside are lots of gems, including her description of our May Day celebration.

This is what I did this wheeckand on sunday I whent to cherch afder cherch I invitede a friend oere for a Mayday partey it was rilly rilly rilly fun and it was rilly rilly fun and beacaes it halled it was rilly rilly rilly rilly cool! and if it din't stop raning she cood sleep ofere but it stoped raning so she went home she said it was rilly rilly rilly rilly fun.

Good thing I planned all those crafts and activities. Apparently all it takes for a really, really, really fun party is some hail.

May Day, delayed

We finally managed to have our May Day party on Sunday, two days late. Only one of the neighbor girls could attend, but the May Queen had had enough of waiting and putting it off, and would wait no more. Bad weather was threatening, and we had already had a spot or two of rain, so we quickly danced around the may pole before heading in for some crafts.

The party was decidedly more low key than last year, and I didn't feel as prepared or "on" as I did at our first annual celebration. But The May Queen was thrilled, and even came up with some crafts on her own that she led us in (like making fairies out of only pipe cleaners and dragonflies out of paper and paperclips)
The flower friend fairies were fun to make and turned out very cute. The craft that was supposed to be made out of prints from flower petals was a complete and utter bust... the petals made a gross mess all over the paper, and that was that.

The flowers from the soda bottles were the biggest hit, and very fun to make.

As we were working on the crafts it began to rain. We sat on our porch and enjoyed the sound on the metal roof. I stepped inside to wash some paint brushes in the sink when I heard this loud banging from the porch. The girls began yelling. "There's ICE falling from the sky!"

Now, I don't think it's supposed to HAIL at a May Day party. It just seems wrong. Hail the size of rubber bouncy balls fell from the sky, and bounced through the grass. I tried to get pictures, but failed.

Then the hail stopped, and rain came down about as hard as I've ever seen. Can you see it streaming down, over the sides of our gutters? It was impressive. And LOUD. Thunder rolled. The wind blew the rain in through the screens and we quickly scooped up our crafts and moved them inside to dry.

And then I think we played hide and seek.

The May Queen thinks the party was a success. And thus, so do I.
____________
Thank you for your kind words of encouragement on my last post. Things went much better at our final dress rehearsal tonight, including the light. We even had a small, invited audience. The director overheard one lady as she left. She said "They were all good, but that young lady was brilliant." BRILLIANT. Somehow, I feel a little better.
____________
Next Monday's Mission is to write a post that contains as many Song Titles as possible. Mad has informed me that she is planning to win The Most Song Titles in a Blog Post Ever prize. That sounds like a challenge to me. The gauntlet has been thrown down. Will YOU rise to the occasion?

Ten

10 years ago today in a beautiful church in Los Angeles I witnessed a marriage. Two people vowed before God and their friends to love each other through sickness and in health...

We had just moved to Los Angeles, and although I knew the couple, I didn't know them well. During our time there, though, I got to know them very well. One half of the duo was a dear friend of my husbands since seminary. We spent a lot of time together as they showed us around town. We ate meals together. They hung out in our hot tub. I ended up working for one of them.

When the May Queen was born, we asked them to be Godparents. They've been wonderful and faithful Godparents. Now that we live nearly a continent away we visit. We call.

I sent them congratulations on this day. A decade. It's something worth celebrating.

But it's also bittersweet. See, this lovely couple is also gay. (The fact that a gay couple got married on May Day is not lost to me. Dance around the maypole, indeed!) When they were married in California their marriage was not recognized by the government. They did finally get married in the legal eyes of the state last year. But I'm not sure exactly what that means now that Proposition 8 has been passed. I'm not sure what it means legally, anyhow. I have a pretty good idea what it means emotionally. That their love is not considered good enough. That their commitment is not recognized, not valued.

A decade. Not enough marriages, of any ilk, last that long.

They've recognized their love and commitment. It's time we - individually and as a collective people of this land - recognize it as well.

A decade. It's been too long to wait.

(you can read more about my strong feelings on this subject in my old post God Loves Fags)

May Day songs, crafts and activities

This time of year the traffic on my blog goes way up as people are searching for all things Maypole and May Day. So in an effort to give the masses what they want, I thought I'd post what I plan to do at our may day festivities this year. You're welcome, internets. (And sorry... I should have done this sooner. I have been a bit busy.)

First of all I'll pull the May Pole out of the closet, where it has sat since last year. I made it out of a broom handle by winding ribbon around the pole and securing with tape, then tying several long ribbons to the loop in the top. I jerry-rigged a stand by putting the pole in a cup full of rocks inside a bucket full of rocks. Then I tossed some flowers on top of the rocks to make it look pretty. Admittedly, after a few times around the pole it came loose and got a little wobbly. I will try to come up with a better system this year.
Last year the girls loved just going around the pole. They did it over and over and over. If they seem in the mood maybe this year I'll have them sing:

Ring around the Maypole
with flowers from the fairies we stole
Ribbons, Ribbons
We wind around!

You can find more songs here.


It is said that fairies are a bit easier to find on May Day, and so this year I plan to do more fairy crafts. Like these flower friends and petal fairies I found at Family Fun. Maybe we'll even make a fairy house.


Since our guests may not still have their floral crowns from last year I think I'll make floral headbands by hot gluing felt flowers on plastic headbands

I think we'll make some cool flowers out of soda bottles. See a photo tutorial here.

We may color some coloring sheets that I found here, here, and here.





If I have enough empty glass bottles around I may decorate with these May "Baskets." Find more may basket ideas at The Crafty Crow




If that's not enough ideas for you, you can check out last year's May Day party plan and learn why I call myself Painted Maypole, and thus have adopted May Day as my blog's official holiday.

With all this May Day hullabaloo, I have to confess that on the actual day I will not be dancing around the Maypole, but rather I'll be dancing around jazz fest. We'll celebrate over the weekend, and I hope to have some pictures to post then.

Happy May Day!

The first of May

The first of May will quickly come

Where has the past year gone?
How can it be in four short days
This May will have its dawn?

Like ribbons round the tall may pole
the days and months do swirl
A weave of color life creates
each day with my sweet girl
So come this weekend and you'll spy
The sweet May Queen and me
With ribbons 'round the broom handle
as we dance and leap with gleeJoin us as we welcome spring:
a fairy you may find
a-dancing in our garden fair
as round the pole we wind.
*all photos from our 2008 May Day celebration

This post has been a Monday Mission, in which I shamelessly asked you to write a post in the style of a May Day poem or song to help me celebrate the holiday I've adopted as my own here at Painted Maypole. If you choose to so humor me, please leave a little link in the widget below




And if you'd like to use this little nifty button on your blog, you may

And May is upon us, which means a whole new month of missions. I think after May we will take a break for the summer, so let's make this a fun month, shall we? Your May Missions, should you choose to accept them, are to write posts in the style of

5/4 - a cast list. Take a book or story or play or TV show and cast it... with fellow bloggers or your favorite actors. Play casting director for the day. This fun idea comes to you courtesy of No Mother Earth, who cast bloggers in a book she was reading.

5/11- song titles. See how many song titles you can jam into one blog post. In high school my best friend and I used to write stories this way all the time. It passed the time in our boring classes. I had the idea when I was on a streak of titling all my blog posts with song lyrics. I have to say, I am rubbing my hands in glee over this one.

5/18- a discussion between characters/bloggers/historical figures. Mad did this brilliantly, and I thought it would be fun to imagine a conversation between characters from different sources.

5/25- a "What I did on my summer vacation" essay. Yes, before summer vacation.

Crowning the May Queen

My May Queen

The May Day fete was a hit! The girls had a lovely time. There was dancing around the maypole, which actually lasted much longer than I expected as they did it over and over, until the pole would no longer stand upright (it's amazing what one can do with a broom handle, a tin pail and some ribbon, no?)

We enjoyed crafts and goodies.

The party continued with dancing in the backyard,

complete with a newly freed maypole.

And of course I had to get a picture of Painted Maypole and The May Queen for the blog....

If only The May Queen had cooperated.

And the virtual May Queen? I crown nomotherearthQueen o' the May! e-mail your address to pntdmaypole AT yahoo DOT com and I'll send you your floral crown! Congratulations!

Happy May Day!!!!

Today I will be crowning The May Queen with a floral crown, made lovingly by me with REAL faux flowers, and the occasional green twist tie. I will also be virtually crowning one of YOU, as well. Leave a comment here before midnight on May 1st, and Friday morning my May Queen will draw a number, and I will announce who has virtually been crowned May Queen. Then, make sure I have your address, and I will send you a floral crown, just like the ones worn at our May Day celebration. If there's more than one queen in your house, you'll have to figure out how to share. ;)
Isn't it stunning? (this picture made me realize how badly I need to wipe down the mirror in my bathroom. ewww...)

Look: even MQ's magazine has heard about my party, and apparently adopted one of my mottoes (spell check insists that's the right way to spell "mottoes" - looks weird to me. I love how if you look to the right, right now, you'll see my "Join the Dance!" in the sidebar): And finally, a poem for all you virtual May Queen hopefuls:

THE MAY QUEEN
by Alfred Lord Tennyson

You must wake and call me early, call me early, mother dear;
To-morrow ’ill be the happiest time of all the glad New-year;
Of all the glad New-year, mother, the maddest merriest day,
For I’m to be Queen o’ the May, mother, I’m to be Queen o’ the May.


There’s many a black, black eye, they say, but none so bright as mine;
There’s Margaret and Mary, there’s Kate and Caroline;
But none so fair as little Alice in all the land they say,
So I’m to be Queen o’ the May, mother, I’m to be Queen o’ the May.

I sleep so sound all night, mother, that I shall never wake,
If you do not call me loud when the day begins to break;
But I must gather knots of flowers, and buds and garlands gay,
For I’m to be Queen o’ the May, mother, I’m to be Queen o’ the May.

As I came up the valley whom think ye should I see
But Robin leaning on the bridge beneath the hazel-tree?
He thought of that sharp look, mother, I gave him yesterday,
But I’m to be Queen o’ the May, mother, I’m to be Queen o’ the May.

He thought I was a ghost, mother, for I was all in white,
And I ran by him without speaking, like a flash of light.
They call me cruel-hearted, but I care not what they say,
For I’m to be Queen o’ the May, mother, I’m to be Queen o’ the May.

They say he’s dying all for love, but that can never be;
They say his heart is breaking, mother–what is that to me?
There’s many a bolder lad ’ill woo me any summer day,
And I’m to be Queen o’ the May, mother, I’m to be Queen o’ the May.

Little Effie shall go with me to-morrow to the green,
And you’ll be there, too, mother, to see me made the Queen;
For the shepherd lads on every side ’ill come from far away,
And I’m to be Queen o’ the May, mother, I’m to be Queen o’ the May.

The honeysuckle round the porch has woven its wavy bowers,
And by the meadow-trenches blow the faint sweet cuckoo-flowers;
And the wild marsh-marigold shines like fire in swamps and hollows gray,
And I’m to be Queen o’ the May, mother, I’m to be Queen o’ the May.

The night-winds come and go, mother, upon the meadow-grass,
And the happy stars above them seem to brighten as they pass;
There will not be a drop of rain the whole of the livelong day,
And I’m to be Queen o’ the May, mother, I’m to be Queen o’ the May.

All the valley, mother, ’ill be fresh and green and still,
And the cowslip and the crowfoot are over all the hill,
And the rivulet in the flowery dale ’ill merrily glance and play,
For I’m to be Queen o’ the May, mother, I’m to be Queen o’ the May.

So you must wake and call me early, call me early, mother dear,
To-morrow ’ill be the happiest time of all the glad New-year;
To-morrow ’ill be of all the year the maddest merriest day,
For I’m to be Queen o’ the May, mother, I’m to be Queen o’ the May.

HAPPY MAY DAY!!!!

would a blog by any other name smell so sweet?

Do you find that your blog name starts to define you?

I chose the blog name "Painted Maypole" quite on a whim (just as I started blogging on a whim). I tried several other names, and they were all taken. For some reason, my mind landed on the phrase "Painted Maypole." It was available. A blog was born.

The phrase comes from the third act of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, when the men have been charmed into loving Helena, Helena is convinced it's all cruel joke on her, and Hermia is rather ticked off. Hermia says this to Helena:

Puppet? why so? ay, that way goes the game.
Now I perceive that she hath made compare
Between our statures; she hath urged her height;
And with her personage, her tall personage,
Her height, forsooth, she hath prevail'd with him.
And are you grown so high in his esteem;
Because I am so dwarfish and so low?
How low am I, thou painted maypole? speak;
How low am I? I am not yet so low
But that my nails can reach unto thine eyes.

that's me, in the purple, as "Painted Maypole" Helena, summer 2000

Basically, Hermia is calling Helena an overly made up, tartish, skinny beanpole. And this is the name I've chosen to go by online. Hmmm... As I said, I didn't give it much thought at the outset, but now it's my moniker. I kind of like it, despite its insulting origins (besides, what's wrong with being tall?). (Because May Day is a celebration of spring and fertility, the Maypole is also a rather obvious phallic symbol, but I'll just breeze right by that...)

So once I've embraced the name Painted Maypole, it seems only appropriate that I adopt May Day (May 1st) as a special holiday. We've invited the neighbor girls over for a little party. Rather than going out into the woods and cutting down a tree to decorate for our maypole, I'll be braving the wilds of our garage for a broom handle. We'll decorate the pole with ribbons and dance around it, perhaps while singing some of these songs. We'll wear flower wreaths in our hair and keep an eye out for fairies. We'll make this maypole centerpiece. We'll make May Day Baskets, fill them with flowers, and hang them from doorknobs. We'll eat flower shaped sugar cookies. It should be fun.

And look, I just planned a May Day party for you. Have one! And don't forget to swing by here on the actual day. I'll be having my own little May Day giveaway, but you have to come by on May Day to leave a comment to enter the drawing.

If you're really dying for more May Day info you can look here, here or here.