Will summer never arrive?

The first thing I want to say is Happy Birthday to the Best Mom in the World!  My gift (besides what should hopefully be delivered to you at your hotel) will be NOT singing "Happy Birthday" to you.  Aren't I nice?  :-)

I’ll always remember the weekend I moved to Roseville. It was the first weekend in May and I had my 3-horse trailer full of boxes (a mover moved the big stuff) to unload and the temperature was 105+! I would unload a couple boxes then jump in the pool. (Repeat until trailer was empty.) I thought I was going to die since I’d grown up in the Bay Area where the temp was considered  hot when it got in the 80s. But since that initiation by fire I’ve loved the heat and nothing has felt as hot since.

That said, a few weeks ago I saw a weather report on TV that mentioned that this year we’ve had only 2 days in the 90s (we DID???) and none in the 100s yet. Normally we have had something like 7 days in the 90s and 2 over 100. But it also mentioned that last year we didn’t have ANY days over 90 or 100 in May. So, maybe this is the new May weather? If so, yuck!

There's the tanbark and notice it is NOT a sunny day...

We haven’t been able to jump in the pool yet, and we still don’t have our patio furniture out!  It keeps raining.  And is 60 degrees. What’s with that? It’s the Memorial Day weekend.  However, it will help with the load of tanbark we had delivered this morning.  Shoveling, wheelbarrowing (is that a word/verb?), and raking tanbark in 100 degree weather wouldn't be ideal.  So I guess I shouldn't complain and will enjoy my Memorial Day weekend.

And speaking of Memorial Day weekend...I have borrowed (with permission) a portion of an email from my CIO because it struck a chord. I wanted to share.

In case that you were unaware, Memorial Day, originally called “Decoration Day,” is different from Veterans’ Day in that it is a day of remembrance for those who have died or been killed in our nation's service. The Memorial Day “Red Poppy” tradition was inspired by the poem “In Flanders Fields” by Major John McCrae, a Canadian military surgeon who saw horrific fighting on the Western Front near France during World War I. His poem reads:

In Flanders Fields

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

 

Regrettably, Major McCrae was killed in action in 1918. However, in 1915, inspired by Major McCrae’s poem, a Miss Mona Michael, replied with her own verse:

We cherish too, the Poppy red
That grows on fields where valor led,
It seems to signal to the skies
That blood of heroes never dies.

Miss Michael then conceived of an idea to wear red poppies on Memorial Day in honor of those who died serving the nation during war. She was the first to wear one, and sold poppies to her friends and co-workers with the money raised going to benefit war-orphaned children, widowed wives and veterans in need. Shortly before Memorial Day in 1922, the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) became the first veterans' organization to nationally sell poppies and to this very day their “Buddy Poppy” Program continues to sell artificial red poppies made by disabled veterans.

You will very likely see veterans offering little, red, artificial poppies this weekend – at traffic lights or at your local grocery store. If so inclined, please consider making a donation and wearing your red poppy with pride.

Have a nice Memorial Day Weekend everyone.