End of May Friday Funnies

The last Friday in May is upon us - I remember as a kid, this was the final full month of school, since we were usually out for the summer vacation by mid-June.  The end of May meant Memorial Day on actual Memorial Day, talk of final exams, and also the promise of the school picnic, which was always a highlight since it meant we got into the pool at the local park not just for free (as always), but we had tickets for 3 free snacks once there - now THAT was living!  I remember spending way too much time trying to figure out what my free snacks would be, since when we went to the pool otherwise, we never had money to get snacks, so other than the water fountains, that was it.  One given was that I would get a Lance Cake (chocolate covered of course), which at least to me, was a rare treat. 

I have a feeling that today it would make me gag, but then it was perfection!  😋

Anyway, I wanted to end the month with some things to make us laugh, since the world is a sad place right now.  I always think that even something just makes you smile for a minute, that is a gift in times like these.  So I hope you will find something to do that for you below.

First up, I'll bet you haven't given this a thought during quarantine:

I just think this one is hilarious - I think because I can almost hear the person at the podium saying this ...

This just plain amuses me:

And this last one is so ridiculous, I laughed until I cried.  

Have the best weekend that you can.  See you in June!

Queen of the Angels

May has arrived.  As happens every year, I am immediately taken back to my school years, particularly those in Catholic schools, where May was the Month of Mary.  As in Mary, the mother of Jesus, the Blessed Virgin, etc.  All through the month, there would be special programs to honor her.

Two were my particular favorites:  May Devotions, and the May Procession.  For anyone who was a child in Catholic school at a certain period of time, these were a Big Deal.

May Devotions were not necessarily a thing at every parish, but at the ones where I grew up between 4th and 8th grades, they were.  They took place each weekday evening, usually at ~ 7 p.m.  If you had flowers available to you (even dandelions were acceptable), you would pick a few and head to church.  The usher would open the church doors, and you would file in an orderly fashion (well, for the kids at least, the adults did pretty much their own thing) into pews, and the service would start.  First up was my favorite part: the priest would enter the sanctuary, and come to the front of the altar rail with a basket.  Then everyone who had a flower would go up to the front of the church, and lay the flower in the basket, while everyone sang this hymn:

Bring flowers of the rarest,

Bring flowers of the fairest, 

From garden, and woodland

And hillside and dale.

Our full hearts are swelling,

Our glad voices telling

The praise of the loveliest

Rose of the Vale.

Oh Mary, we crown thee with blossoms today,

Queen of the Angels, Queen of the May!

Oh Mary, we crown thee with blossoms today,

Queen of the Angels, Queen of the May!

(I still sing this in my head during the month of May. Also - the world "vale"!)

The basket of flowers would then be placed in front of the statue of Mary, given prominent place on the altar during May.  Then there would be a couple of prayers led by the priest, one of the litanies recited, and we would leave to the sounds of one of the other hymns about Mary.

Total time:  approximately 30 minutes.  I loved it - flowers, singing, not much time spent in church, no boring sermon, and the evening still young.  

But the big deal of May - I mean BIG DEAL. in that we took time out of the school day to practice for it - was the May Procession.  It was generally held on Mother's Day (sappy but true), and was a major event when you usually got a new dress or maybe at least a new pair of shoes.  And the May Queen and Her Court would be named (probably by the nuns, I don't know.  It was usually a group of girls who seemed particularly holy).  The May Queen was either an 8th grader (elementary school) or a senior (high school), and she got to wear A GOWN, place a crown of amazingly pretty flowers on the head of the statue of Mary, and lead us in the Memorare:

Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who fled to thy protection, implored thy help, or sought thy intercession was left unaided. Inspired with this confidence, I fly unto thee, O Virgin of virgins, my Mother; to thee do I come; before thee I stand, sinful and sorrowful. O Mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not my petitions, but in thy mercy hear and answer me. Amen.  

Amazing stuff, and such an honor to the be the May Queen!  The closest anyone in our family ever got was the time in high school when my sister Mary Ellen was on the May Queen's Court.  (She was *very* holy.  Now she is an atheist.)

The church would be packed to the gills for the May Procession, and the dramatic parts were worked into the regular Sunday Mass.  But oh the pageantry, the incense, and the "specialness" of the whole thing was just intoxicating as a kid.  Especially since it was one of the rare times when females were the focus of church events.  

For better or for worse, this is all a thing of the past now.  I don't know of any churches that still have formal May Processions.  But every year I am reminded of the anticipation, the mystery, and the events that made May so special, even for a kid who was not necessarily ever very "holy."

*****

On a slightly related note, I read this article yesterday, and found it quite interesting.  (And no, I'm not trying to turn anyone into a Catholic, or a believer.  It just so happens that this article is in a Jesuit publication.  What can I say, I have catholic tastes in reading!  (See what I did there?)

Do you have any special things that May brings to mind?

And Now For Some Knitting!

Before I go any further, thanks very much to all of you for your kind comments and concern about my fall.  It's still a mystery what happened, though I am still of the belief that I tripped, fell, and knocked myself out.  In any case, I'm feeling better a little bit each day, and have gone from really swollen and purple to slightly swollen with more of a yellow tinge. :-)  I got the stitches on my upper lip taken out, and head back to work this coming Monday.  The dentist even put a temporary fix on my tooth!  So, I'm getting there.

*****

As promised above though, I have a knitting project to show you.  This is one I am really pleased with, and that was fun to knit.

On May 10, we added another great-niece to my family when my niece Julie and her husband Keith became parents to baby Penn.  You may recall from a previous post or two, that I had been wanting to make the Baby Tea Leaves sweater for her.  Well, I got that really well underway when I realized that I wasn't gonna have enough yarn to finish it!  (Sometimes I wonder about myself.   But that's a post for another day.)  But thanks to Ravelry, I could search for projects based on the amount of yarn I had, and found one that I thought was worth a try.  And before I knew it, I had a sweet little baby sweater for a sweet little baby.

I just love the way it turned out!  If you are looking for a baby knit that has some interest but is not overly involved to knit, this is it.

Details:

Project:  Penn's First Sweater
Pattern:  Liliana, by Irishgirlieknits
Size:  3 months (smallest)
Yarn:  Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sport Solid, in the Lace Kelly colorway (I used most of one skein)
Needles:  Size 5 US
Modifications:  None
Comments:  I got this yarn as part of a Soakbox package, and had every intention of using it for myself.  But when I decided to make a sweater for my new great-niece, I wanted to use stash yarn if at all possible.  I decided since I'd had this for a while already and had not used it, I'd go ahead and use it for this project.  I'm so glad I did, because not only is it a beautiful color, and lovely yarn to work with, but it's a little different for a baby.

The pattern is really well-written, and once you get going on the lace part, it's very easy to memorize and finish.  If you want a quick and lovely project for a small amount of yarn, I recommend this one!

Not only did I have yarn I liked for the sweater, but I found the perfect button for it:

I truly love this little birdie button!  The little bit of blue in the middle matched the yarn perfectly, and it added a perfect touch of whimsy to the whole thing.

The package including the sweater was sent, and was a big hit.  My niece said that the sweater fit now, but also had plenty of room to grow.  And since they would be leaving their apartment in Brooklyn to go to Los Angeles during June and July for her work, she said it would be especially useful.

Here is a picture of Penn wearing her sweater.  (She looks rather shocked about the whole thing, don't you think? Please note that the color in the picture above is closer to the actual color of the finished item ... but that one doesn't have a baby wearing it!)

We are looking forward to meeting her in person once they get back from California.  In the meantime, I'm glad that a little bit of us is already part of her life.

*****

Have a lovely weekend!

Ending May

Today is the second-to last day of May.  This year May actually contained a true springtime here in Philadelphia.  Instead of the two-days-of-spring-let's-go-right-to-awful-summer, we had actual spring temperatures and the real feeling of moving from winter to spring.  It was sometimes too rainy all at once, but I have really enjoyed this spring.  

Anyway, there are still things I want to tell you about that happened in May and are long overdue: Maryland Sheep and Wool, a finished knitting project, our trip home for the Memorial Day weekend, and probably other things that don't immediately come to mind.  And I'll get there ... :-)

Reading some of the other blogs I usually do, it seems that there are some others who had a mishmash of things going on in May, and to be honest, it made me feel better, because even though it was a good month, I felt somewhat all over the place with everything.  

In any case, I still have all kinds of projects - knitting and otherwise - in my head that I want to do/work on, and I also hope to take some of my vacation time, even if just to enjoy not being at work.  (Of course, the problem is being allowed to take the time, but I will not bore you with the annoying saga of that whole thing!)

So in the event that you wondered what had become of me, the answer is, I've just been going along, and have either not had the time or the ambition to sit down and check in.  In that way, I hope June will be a little bit more amenable to me doing the things that *I* want to do.

Have a lovely weekend, I'll be back soon!