This Sunday we welcome in the new month of May.  For many of us May brings back a lot of images and memories.

 

My first memory of May is the May Procession at our church when a statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary is crowned by a young member of the first communion class or in my day a teenage girl was chosen as the May procession queen and she had the honors.  All of the young ladies participating in the ceremony wore white and indeed it was a beautiful sight.

 

In my day, May was the month when all the graduation ceremonies took place and usually our proms were held in May.  May has always been the month when elections were held in West Virginia and since it was pretty close to the first week in May we ended a long spring of campaigning and took a rest before the elections in November.  Most of these events are still held in May except it seems that proms have been moved up a little. Of course, the end of May with Memorial Day heralds in the beginning of Summer and all that fun stuff that we plan.

 

Well, I am going to take a different turn here and let you know that the most exciting thing I am planning is waiting for May 15 to get our gardens started and to plant all those pretty flowers in my pots on my porches.

 

You might say "gee, that Rosalyn is getting old' and indeed I am. I know I cannot be the May Procession queen nor can I go to the prom, but I did that in my day and now I get such fulfillment out of taking care of the garden and watching it grow and produce. I GUESS IT IS TRUE THAT TIME HAS A WAY OF TAKING CARE OF THINGS AND I HAVE EARNED THE RIGHT TO CHANGE MY FEELINGS.

 

May is National Barbecue Month and it is also Strawberry Month.  Both of these bring a lot of pleasure to a lot of people.  There is nothing better than having a steak grilled or even a hamburger on the grill and ending up the meal with a big dish of strawberry shortcake.

 

After spending the bigger part of the winter in my home on the couch, no one will ever know what it does for me to be able to be outside. My hats are all put away and I have now appeared as the silver fox or old gray mare, whichever suits my mood. I truly hope that I will never need them again and that no one else will ever need them. Unless you have been through this you cannot imagine the toll it takes on you and your family and the sooner we realize that we are not in control the better off we are.

 

I was advised this last treatment that I should be done with Chemo by the end of August and this was good news for me and for my cousin, Ruby Oldaker who has been with me from the beginning.  We are hoping for good results.

 

This is still time for a good bowl of soup, clean out the freezer and use up all those vegetables you saved from last winter.  Soon we will have fresh ones. Now is the time to try out a good garden salad and fresh bread with that bowl of soup.

 

This past week I spoke to the Clarksburg Women's Club and what a wonderful time I had.  This is a great group of women. I spoke about my most recent trip to Spain and shared with them some of the great food that comes from there.  Lyda Lister is the president and Patty Martino is the program chairman.  Thanks to them and the club for their wonderful hospitality.

 

On behalf of the Progressive Womens Association, I want to thank Sams Club for their donation of $1,000 to use for our Food Pantry.  We have great plans for expanding this to better serve the clients of Harrison County.

 

Keep in touch I love hearing from you and until next week "Now You Have Heard It From The Grapevine."