Les fleurs des mères: Maine's Mother's Day Traditions - Is It Mother's Day Yet?
Les Fleurs:
Planting season in Maine - Is it Mother's Day Yet?
By Juliana L'Heureux
Although Happy Mother's Day is truly today's greeting, I must hurry this message along because it's also the beginning of Maine's short planting season.
Maine's Mother's Day traditions include having lobster dinner and planting flowers. For those who own swimming pools, this is the day to pull back the winter cover and begin clearing up the water. Of course, it's much too cold to swim, yet. Moreover, we don't own a swimming pool anymore - so it's all about planting pretty plants.
Mostly, the symbolic swimming pool defrocking is just a ritual, meaning winter is almost, nearly, finally over.
Dick and I purchased over $300 in flowering plants and rhododendrons on Friday, after coming home from work. It was a laborious chore fitting them inside our small Dodge; the one Dick drives because we don't want another car payment.
Now, we must get these beauties, les fleurs des mères, into the ground this weekend, or Mother's Day will simply not be the same around here.
Oooops! We just checked our outdoor temperatures to see the morning thermometer dipping to 35 degrees Fahrenheit. Oh boy! We almost lost our Mother's Day investment. But, 35 degrees is not 32 degree, so we're safe for now. Thankfully, there's no frost predicted for Topsham, near the Maine coast, only scattered frost in some inland areas.
Maine's short growing season is dangerously pushed back by Les Fleurs des Meres, because the risk of frost continues until Memorial Day. Once upon a time, people patiently waited until Memorial Day to plant, for fear of damaging frost. These days, however, people ask, "Is it Mother's Day yet?"
Never mind the meteorologists! What do they know? Today is about Mothers, after all, not about science. On Mother's Day, it's all about les fleurs des mères.
We mothers live on the faith our decisions will prevail. We have faith in our families' traditions and knowing that every Mother's Day, at least in Maine, we'll bring forth flowers, like the new life we helped create, giving us the right to plant, if we want to. Besides, planting allows us to beautify the earth for other Mothers.
What about having lobster for dinner? Although it's another Maine Mother's Day tradition to eat lobster, we've made this a Father's Day event, instead. Rather, I'm having my favorite turkey dinner, because Dick can cook it for me, without needing instructions.
I see the temperature outside is climbing to over 40 degrees Fahrenheit, so it's getting close to being a warm spring Mother's Day.
I'm off to plant les fleurs des mères.
Happy Mother's Day to us, our plants and all.
Planting season in Maine - Is it Mother's Day Yet?
By Juliana L'Heureux
Although Happy Mother's Day is truly today's greeting, I must hurry this message along because it's also the beginning of Maine's short planting season.
Maine's Mother's Day traditions include having lobster dinner and planting flowers. For those who own swimming pools, this is the day to pull back the winter cover and begin clearing up the water. Of course, it's much too cold to swim, yet. Moreover, we don't own a swimming pool anymore - so it's all about planting pretty plants.
Mostly, the symbolic swimming pool defrocking is just a ritual, meaning winter is almost, nearly, finally over.
Dick and I purchased over $300 in flowering plants and rhododendrons on Friday, after coming home from work. It was a laborious chore fitting them inside our small Dodge; the one Dick drives because we don't want another car payment.
Now, we must get these beauties, les fleurs des mères, into the ground this weekend, or Mother's Day will simply not be the same around here.
Oooops! We just checked our outdoor temperatures to see the morning thermometer dipping to 35 degrees Fahrenheit. Oh boy! We almost lost our Mother's Day investment. But, 35 degrees is not 32 degree, so we're safe for now. Thankfully, there's no frost predicted for Topsham, near the Maine coast, only scattered frost in some inland areas.
Maine's short growing season is dangerously pushed back by Les Fleurs des Meres, because the risk of frost continues until Memorial Day. Once upon a time, people patiently waited until Memorial Day to plant, for fear of damaging frost. These days, however, people ask, "Is it Mother's Day yet?"
Never mind the meteorologists! What do they know? Today is about Mothers, after all, not about science. On Mother's Day, it's all about les fleurs des mères.
We mothers live on the faith our decisions will prevail. We have faith in our families' traditions and knowing that every Mother's Day, at least in Maine, we'll bring forth flowers, like the new life we helped create, giving us the right to plant, if we want to. Besides, planting allows us to beautify the earth for other Mothers.
What about having lobster for dinner? Although it's another Maine Mother's Day tradition to eat lobster, we've made this a Father's Day event, instead. Rather, I'm having my favorite turkey dinner, because Dick can cook it for me, without needing instructions.
I see the temperature outside is climbing to over 40 degrees Fahrenheit, so it's getting close to being a warm spring Mother's Day.
I'm off to plant les fleurs des mères.
Happy Mother's Day to us, our plants and all.
Labels: family traditions, Maine Mother's Day, Mother's Day, Mothers Day flowers, traditions
posted by Juliana L'Heureux at 7:52 AM
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