Green hills: the Bay Area has various different outdoor spaces, but is mostly either redwood forests on the coastal areas or savannah like grasslands on the inland areas. The grasslands are pretty much dry and yellow for 9 months of the year and on a hot year, it could be even less. However, in April and May, they are green for a fleeting moment and I love looking out over the green hills; it feels so fresh.
Green hills
Flowers: The same hills described above have wonderful wildflowers in the spring. Also, my garden flowers are all in bloom too and they are so pretty (and due to the rain, I did not even have to water yet!)
April showers bring May flowers
Food: All of my edible perennial garden items have started to flower or fruit. Currently, the following are ready to eat: artichokes and strawberries. These are coming along nicely: peaches, plums, blueberries. These are getting new leaves and are showing promise: fig, apple. It's going to be a good year and the early heavy rains seemed to have helped more than they hindered (expect for my avocado, which I suspect got drowned or suffocated. So sad.)
Friends/Family: Aside from my birthday, May is also the month of my parent's anniversary and Mother's Day. We have an annual tradition to get together with my family and a good friend's family for an all encompassing celebration and I really cherish this time spent together every year.
Outdoor adventures: Memorial Day weekend is essentially the unofficial start to summer for me, as I often do my first backpacking trip over this three day weekend. This year I have an outing scheduled but due to our high snowpack, it may look very different than it did for the last few years.
May 2022 backpacking in Yosemite
Running: if you like trail racing, May is the month where races kick off in earnest and in my area there is basically one in every weekend. There have been some years that I have done three races in May! This year I will do none, but many of my friends are out there getting it done!
Weather: the weather starts to warm up, time is spent in the backyard reading books and life it good! Sometimes in May we get some freakishly hot weather, but overall it is usually nearly perfect!
Backyard reading with Gato
Woof! 102 in May, go away!
What is your favorite month of the year and why?
