Sweet May hath come to love us,

Flowers, trees, their blossoms don;

And through the blue heavens above us

The very clouds move on.

Heinrich Heine

Yesterday was May Day and it was a beautiful one here.

The birds were singing, the sun was shining, the flowers were blooming…

And the field behind us was filled with the sounds of children’s laughter as all the neighborhood kids gathered after church and played on the dirt hill and rode their bikes up and down the street.

It was a bit bittersweet for me because when we moved here, our kids were at the ages where they still did those things and now they’ve grown and flown (well, mostly). It’s shocking how quickly time passes!

While I am happy that they have made it safely to adulthood, some days I miss their giggles and innocent shouting so it was nice to hear that over the din of our pups playing happily and the quail, pheasant and chickens clucking and cooing and cock-a-doodle-doing.

The robins were never too far off as we worked outside, chirping and chittering and singing their spring songs for us, too.

They are so friendly I think if I tried I could get one to land on my hand!

We planted the wild garlic and some pepper seeds I’ve been saving from all the bell peppers I’ve been dehydrating the last few weeks.

I put those into the little greenhouse since it’s staying about 80F during the day now with the door open. If I close the door, it goes up over 90F and that’s a bit too hot so I will leave it open during the day from now on and shut it at night.

Hopefully they’ll sprout in there and I’ll be able to move them to the raised beds in a few weeks.

As we rested in our reclining lawn chairs with a cool drink, we counted no less than five hawks circling overhead. Some were so high they disappeared completely from view!

I love to hear their calls as they hunt in the fields that surround us.

For now, that is.

Our area is growing so quickly and, like the kids we raised, will someday be unrecognizable from how it was when we first moved here a decade and a half ago. I know things in life always have to change, but I’m not quite ready for that yet. 😪