“Queen of the Angels and Queen of the May.”
Today is spring on Cape Cod, cool and sunny with a cloudy deep blue sky. Skip, my factotum, is here which is why I’m late. I have a day’s worth of stuff for him to do, and I was out on the deck for a long while with him explaining all the different chores. He took the covers off the furniture while we chatted and seeing the furniture again has made me itchy for warm days on the deck with a good book in hand. We checked the umbrellas to make sure they’d light. They did and then Skip started the fountain. My backyard haven is almost there, almost my summer paradise again. I can hardly wait to see all the candles hanging from the trees and lighting up the night.
When I was in elementary school, we had a May procession every year. We’d practice our songs in class until we knew all the words by heart. On that special day we wore our Sunday best. The second graders wore their first communion white dresses and suits. We were lined up by grade, youngest to oldest. Walking at the end of the procession was the girl who would crown the statue of Mary in the grotto beside the church. We marched around the block from the school to the grotto. The block was a square and the procession ended almost at the same spot where it had started. Parents with Brownie cameras lined the route. You could hear names being called so pictures could be snapped. We walked as if we were in prayer with our hands in front. The nuns walked beside their classes making sure there was no talking between the songs. We managed to talk anyway. I remember when I was little I’d check out the crowds looking for my parents. The religious significance of the day was totally lost on me. When I was in the eighth grade, I did the crowning. I remember people snapping pictures of me on the route as I walked by them. I think I may have even posed a little. At the grotto, I had to climb a set of stairs and then put the crown on the statue. I was wearing my neighbor’s wedding dress, and I almost tripped on the train, but I managed to get up and down those stairs without falling, a major accomplishment for me. I remember the day was sunny, warm and beautiful.
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keepthecoffeecoming.blog 
May 3, 2011 at 12:48 pm
On Sunday, White House officials canceled all West Wing tours so unsuspecting tourists and visiting celebrities wouldn’t accidentally run into all the high-level national security officials holed up in the Situation Room all afternoon monitoring the feeds they were getting from Mr. Panetta. A staffer went to Costco and came back with a mix of provisions — turkey pita wraps, cold shrimp, potato chips, soda. (New York Times, Tuesday May 3rd)
Where was the Bud Light ?
May 3, 2011 at 2:33 pm
My Dear Hedley,
Bud Light? Nope, Sam Adams summer ale or one of their other seasonal beers. They needed an American brew.
That was quite interesting by the way!
May 3, 2011 at 3:07 pm
I really like the imagery of the Prez snacking on potato chips and watching the live feed from Seal Team Six.
Meanwhile, Osama had just finished watching Pakistani Apprentice (mostly involving turning goat hair into a hair piece for the host) when suddenly the door swings open and a young American delivers Retribution
May 3, 2011 at 1:24 pm
Quite the opposite here today, we even had a small snowfall 🙂
We protestants have nothing like that so it´s almost a bit exotic when I read about those processions 🙂
Have a great day now, soon summer will be here 🙂
Christer.
May 3, 2011 at 2:34 pm
Christer,
My sister in Colorado had a snowfall yesterday, and she isn’t even in the mountains.
We also had a procession for our first communion but that was just the second graders then another for confirmation, just the sixth graders. Those are the only ones I remember.
May 3, 2011 at 3:07 pm
Oh yes, I remember the processions. We’d march around the entire block our Church/School was on:
We’d dare not crack a smile for fear of being thought of as irreverent. It really seemed to me that there was no joy in our religious life at school and church, just piety and propriety.
In the “off hours”, when we be in a more social environment, we’d enjoy ourselves, laugh and smile with the priests and nuns. But, when the rituals of Catholicism came into play, we did not.
May 3, 2011 at 6:33 pm
No broken bones climbing the stairs. Goood for you! Great post today Kat.
May 3, 2011 at 9:17 pm
Thanks, Z&Me,
First broken bone, my wrist, done when I was 4 jumping off the chain link fence backwards on to pavement.
May 3, 2011 at 7:16 pm
Hi Kat,
The pictures of the President and all of his security staff watching the events of taking Osama’s compound unfolding live in Pakistan was really amazing. I am surprised that they had to go to Costco to purchase the snacks. Maybe the White House is not stocking snacks as a means of balancing the budget.
The part where science fiction and reality cross was that the President could watch the operation live in the White House from around the world. The fact that they can do a DNA test, a photographic analysis and leave safely in 40 minutes without any detection from the Pakistani intelligence agency or their military was unbelievable. After all Pakistan is a police state.
We should all rejoice that Osama got exactly what he deserved. When I first heard the news the song ‘Ding Dong the Witch is Dead’ came into my head.
May 3, 2011 at 9:19 pm
Bob,
I remember one of the Clancy movies, a Harrison Ford Jack Ryan, when they watched a raid in the desert in real time. It wasn’t the actual scene but rather movement from heat the signatures of people. Even that seemed like science fiction.
I couldn’t believe either how quickly everything was accomplished, including burial at sea. \
No argument here on him getting what he deserved.
May 3, 2011 at 7:16 pm
Hi Kat,
I was remembering the May Queen procession while reading your previous post. The Catholic parish near me would have one in May to crown the Virgin Mary. I’m not Catholic but all my cousins on my father’s side are so I would go to their celebrations just because. 🙂
May 3, 2011 at 9:22 pm
Hi Caryn,
The entire St. Patrick’s Elementary School was part of the procession. I think it was actually pretty with all the spring flowers in bloom and all the kids dressed in their Sunday best, mostly, I think, the new Easter dresses we all had gotten.
May 4, 2011 at 10:26 am
we celebrated May Crowning last evening, this is my favorite holiday!
May 4, 2011 at 9:36 pm
splendid,
I remember ours was always on a Sunday, and I swear it was always sunny.
May 4, 2011 at 5:24 pm
One of my favorite photos is from early 60’s when my youngest sister , perched on a ladder wearing a white dress, crowned Mary as my youngest brother, in his altar boy garb, stood next to her holding a pole with a candle.
Our classroom was filled with the scent of lilacs we brought in to put in front of the statue of Mary.:)
May 4, 2011 at 9:37 pm
Marcia,
That’s funny as I have a similar photograph, but it’s me on that ladder.
Nothing is so lovely as the smell of lilacs.
May 4, 2011 at 6:14 pm
Strangely enough, all I remember is a scene far from maypoles and religious matters. Quite the opposite. I recall the endless vehicles passing with missiles and weapons galore in Red Square. May Day.
The first time I got to participate in an actual maypole event was at a fun and quirky event held annually in Austin. It is Eeyore’s Birthday Party. Yep, that’s right…a birthday party for the imaginary donkey of the Pooh series. You can look it up on Google. It used to be far more fun than it is today. Or so it seems to me. As I age, a little of the magic of some ceremonies seems to flit away with the calendar pages. Others grow richer.
Pax, and good riddance to OBL.
May 4, 2011 at 9:39 pm
Rick,
I was older when the Red Square march made me think of May Day. I always thought them a bit ostentatious.
I love that there was a birthday party of Eeyore. He would have loved it!
I love magical and every August when the fireflies come out I’m a little kid again sitting on the edge of the field watching the fireworks of the fireflies.