The Most Beltane of Beltanes!
May 1st hit with a bang.
Technically Beltane runs from midnight on April 30th to midnight on May 2nd, but the 1st day of May is what its really all about in the pagan / Celtic calendar - the start of summer celebrated with festivals and fire the world over. This year it was a day of notable events, in my little world at least.
It began early in the morning as I was standing by the water butt, filling the watering can for the third time. I heard squealing overhead, looked up and saw the first Swifts of the year zooming around - utter joy! For my entire life the day the swifts are back really implies that summer is here, and watching them fly like little spitfires is just great, especially over the river of an evening when they swoop down to catch some dinner. Pleased with that, I picked some Lily of the Valley to pop on my seasonal windowsill and headed inside to do some computer work all morning.
By lunchtime it was getting pretty warm outside, so to get some vitamin d I planted out the last of the beetroot (52 plants in total) and did some weeding. May first was officially the hottest day of the year so far and the vegetable plants are loving it! Heres what is growing at the mo:
With temperatures so high it certainly felt firey and summery as Beltane should be, and more drama was to come. By late afternoon as we were on our way to vote in the local elections, the sky started to grow dark…then fat raindrops began to fall creating the most wonderful aroma of petrichor. By the time we got home (luckily) and started eating our salad, incredible crashes of thunder began, complete with very showy lightening! I love a good storm, the electricity in the air gives me a unique energy and apparently it does the same for plants so I am hoping they will have had a boost from it.
So, a lot happened and it was a good day. The temperature is predicted to get cooler over the weekend and there will still be lots to do - a Beltane fire of our own, we are off to see The Vapors and Big Country tomorrow night, there is a walk to fit in at some point and hopefully the only thing left on my spring checklist…hear the cuckoo. Fingers crossed!
or you could…