Beltane

Mom, Brenda, Charles, and I went to the May Day/Beltane/pagan festival at the Rose Garden this morning at dawn. The Morris Dancers & Friends were out in full bloom, dancing and chanting and playing instruments while we the audience clapped, participated, smiled, and walked through the gardens. The sun was peeking out perfectly through fragments of clouds, and the brisk air felt so good on my cheeks. The dancers (and some of the audience) were dressed in ornate costumes, and some wore antlers and masks. During one dance -- to honor the phallic May Pole -- several audience members, including yours truly, each took a ribbon and bowed and twirled and dove/danced in and out to weave the ribbons around the pole. Naturally, my ribbon was purple. We returned home just as Amy, our next door neighbor, had finished placing a little surprise May Day package on our porch -- a tiny metal bucket filled with cookies, other treats, and a life-like sparrow and butterfly. Mom and I jumped in our cars to catch an early breakfast at Francis -- only to see Brenda and Charles there. We joined them for scrumptious food and coffee, and the sun heated my face and made me happy. All morning at work I've been chatting up a storm with people and giving them hugs and letting this beautiful energy course through my veins.