It is the Month of May! (Barely!)

"It is the month of May, Oh, it is the month of May!

Remember Lords and Ladies, it is the month of May!"

                                                                                             -- Bedfordshire May Song -- Traditional

The month of May has been full to the brim! We have been trying to spend some of every day out doors. That was my compromise for not taking my little ones out in the snow very much. I kept thinking, "we will go out side every day when it is beautiful out, and we don't have to deal with so many layers". So, now the beautiful weather is upon us, and I am dutifully, and even joyfully, taking my little ones outside!

I had a bunch of ideas and crafts planned for May Day, none of which actually got done. May Day surprised us for some reason. Luckily, I was already going out to do some errands, so I picked up two huge bunches of flowers and a Miraculous Mother candle to grace out table. In the Catholic liturgical year the month of May is dedicated to St. Mary, Mother of God. All of our little St. Marys are gathered on the seasonal table.

B's Seasonal Table. Yes, those are googly eyes on his Waldorf Seasonal table.
(That is the recently canonized Saint Pope John Paul The Second on the holy card. B seems to be developing an affinity for him.)

Although I like our little peg saints a lot, I have always admired more traditional Marian figures as well. Some of them are quite expensive, however. Since I was already curious about this clay recipe, I decided to try and sculpt a statue myself. The recipe warns that larger items might crack when drying, but the clay looked beautifully smooth, and perfectly white, and somehow perfectly Marian, so I decided to give it a try.

It was really nice to work with. I would say the consistency was closer to play dough than clay, but it was so smooth and easy to sculpt. I had a hard time believing that it would dry sturdy and hard, but sure enough it does! Unfortunately, it did crack as it dried. : (  So, perhaps next time we will try for smaller figures.

Speaking of small figures, our Fiddle Fern Baby and Garlic Baby grew up to be nice sturdy boys! B was especially excited to see that the Garlic Boy was wearing overalls. (Engineer overalls are B's self imposed, mandatory uniform these days.)

At the beginning of May I did make it to the Maryland Sheep and Wool festival. I had been wanting to go for several years to pick up some specific items. This year I had the treat of not only going, but going by myself! It was wonderful! A few little folks came home with me. The fellow is a little felt man from Kyrgyzstan, and the two alpacas are from Peru. (The two googly eyed llamas above also hitched a ride from the festival.)

Any time that has not been spent outside has been spent on several larger projects (one of which had a real deadline! I felt so professional for once!) which I hope to share soon! : )