May has always been my favourite month, even though it is different in Norway, than in more temperate places I have lived. There, May was the month of lilacs and the first strawberries. Here in Norway, may is the month when the leaves come out on the trees, when daffodils and tulips bloom. When the woodlands are covered with white carpets of windflowers and blue anemones dot the moss. It has always been the month of my birthday, but in Norway May is punctuated with holidays. First comes May Day, which is the European equivalent of Labor Day; then there is the Norwegian National Holiday on May 17th. Also usually falling in May are the religious holidays of Ascension and Whitsun, both of which are observed with schools and businesses closed. Since ascension always comes on a Thursday, schools typically take a 4 day weekend. The following weekend, Whitsun, is observed as a long weekend with Monday off. And working on any of these holidays gives 133% overtime in Norway (hooray for social democracy!)
May Day this year has been a productive day for me. The rain that has been threatening for nearly a week finally began coming down in earnest. I spent some time out in the garden right after breakfast: planted a sweet cherry tree, and a rhododendron. Mulched the blueberries and the other rhododendron with the remaining sack of rhododendron soil, and raked the straw mulch off the iris’ that I had set in the fall. That was as far as I got before it started raining. Perfect weather for newly planted trees and bushes!
Husband and I and Topsy also went orienteering. It was a great course, not too easy, not too hard: 1.8 km with 10 controls! I love running through the woods, along paths or just by compass, stopping now and then to study the map. I’m really not very good. I just love the challenge, the exercise and the woods. This course took me 34 minutes.
I’m at work now. The rain continues to fall. It is quiet in the ER, but I have a patient coming in by ambulance in a little while. So I’m sure there will be some nursing challenges today also.
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