✯ Day 121 of Vintage 365 ✯
May is a fascinating month, perched squarely in the middle of spring (for those north of the equator). It's busy and charming, adventurous and often highly beautiful.
The fifth month of the year, May has always struck me as being confident, yet not nearly as cocky as, say, August. It's sweet, yet bold, fun and lively. Ready for anything from a gloriously pretty rainbow to a week of solid precipitation. Generally speaking, I enjoy May and look forward to it a lot each year.
I love that it houses Mother's Day, Victoria Day, and my paternal grandma's birthday. It's a stellar month for talking strolls outdoors, perhaps venturing to the beach for the first time in ages, dusting off the grill, painting your nails a punchy hue, twirling around in your favourite vintage sundresses, and smiling as the earth heats up and begins to readies itself for summer's upcoming return.
Today, the first delightful day of this sparklingly new month, is May Day. A longstanding observation in many parts of the world, which celebrates the (traditional) point of the year when conditions were said to become more favourable for farming once more. In more recent years, it has also become many countries Labour Day, too, and is known in such locations as International Worker's Day.
{This splendidly lovely vintage Better Homes and Gardens magazine cover from 1929 depicting children joyfully dancing around a traditional maypole hails from Woof Nanny on Flickr.}
Should you be in the mood to keep the merriment of May going beyond the first, there are lots of interesting things to observe and celebrate this month, a shortlist of which includes:
-May 5th is Cinco de Mayo. Why not celebrate by holding a fiesta and cooking your favourite Mexican foods?
-May 8th is VE Day, which commemorates the date on which the Germans surrendered to the Allies, thus effectively ending world war two in Europe.
-May 12th is International Nurses Day (what better way to celebrate than by reading your favourite vintage Cherry Ames book?).
-As well, May 12th is the International Awareness Day for Chronic Immunological and Neurological Diseases (CIND). As someone with more than one CIND, I am grateful that there's a day of awareness for this group of medical conditions, which affect millions of people the world over. On May 12th, I always wear purple (as discussed in this CV post from 2009), the colour of fibromyalgia awareness, in recognition of all CINDs and those who are afflicted by them.
-In honour of famed sci-fi writer Douglas Adam's classic book, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, May 25th is Towel Day.
May is a time to kick back and relax. The dog days of summer are still a ways off, and - Mother Nature willing! - the long, dreary months of snow and ice are behind us.
This month is suited to marvellously to picnics and parties, peep-toe shoes, cute parasols, days spent at outdoor carnivals, weekends of camping, hanging out with friends and family, and enjoying so many of the simple, wonderful pleasures of springtime - and life itself.
I wish you each, my dear friends, a truly gorgeous month of May that overflows with happiness, as well as equal parts serenity and excitement! 
