Marvelous May

For Lovin’ Life this week I wanted to shine a light on the month of May.  Why?  Because I love the month of May! 

It’s Autumn in Australia and here in Brisbane it’s finally starting to cool down.  After a long, hot and humid summer a cooler climate is most welcome.  It’s a nice time of year to get out in the garden.  The sun is warm and pleasant during the day and our mornings and evenings are comfortably cool and sometimes even crisp!  The downside is shorter days but I can live with that as a trade-off for more comfortable weather – easy peasy!

I’ve been spending quite a bit of time outdoors in the garden – making up for the neglect it suffered during summer.  We filled in our leaking pond and are in the process of creating a new water feature with surrounding paved garden.  It’s nearly done!  I’ve also ticked off oodles of inside jobs, with many more planned for completion soon.

A couple of recent posts to Instagram:

 

Easter Monday project: install water feature where once there was a pond (been filled in). It’s ‘a work in progress’. Need some plants and some pretty polished stones and a bit more tweaking but good progress today! ????? #waterfeature #inprogress #eastermondayproject #urn #workinprogress #nomorepond #landscaping

A post shared by Min (@writeofthemiddle) on Apr 16, 2017 at 8:38pm PDT

 

Planted the first lot of plants today. Need more but made a good start! ??? #wotmfrompondtowaterfeature #waterfeature #mondograss #nature #grasses #garden #ididthemosaictilesmyself #mosaic

A post shared by Min (@writeofthemiddle) on Apr 24, 2017 at 10:32pm PDT

Late April and into May is the turning point for me.  It’s when it finally gets cool enough that I feel more energised and inspired to get projects done and I am much more productive.  During summer I go into survival mode, either staying indoors in the air-conditioning or spending time in the pool.  It’s too hot to garden or do anything much else at all.  My energy is zapped!  Exercise is generally done very early morning hopefully before the heat of the day sets in.  The good thing about summer is that I do tend to get more writing done!

May is also a month of celebrations here at the WOTM household.  Let me show you what I mean!

May 1
Labor Day Public Holiday 2017

Niece’s birthday
Was father-in-law’s birthday (now deceased)

May 3
My Daughter’s birthday
My Mother’s birthday

May 14
Mother’s Day!

This year all the family are coming over for a barbecue lunch
to celebrate Mother’s Day as well as my Mother and Daughter’s birthdays.

May 15
Sister-in-law’s birthday

May 18
Niece’s birthday

May 20
Husband’s birthday

May 31
My birthday!

I intend to enjoy May to the fullest this year because in mid-June I’m scheduled for a hospital stay with a little surgery involved and in late June my son travels overseas for a 3 week holiday.  So from mid June to late June and into July I’ll be recovering and farewelling my boy (and welcoming him home again in mid-July).  I’m hopeful that once recovered from the surgery my 2017 will be healthier and happier for me so I can get on with Lovin’ Life! 

Meanwhile, I’m living in the moment day by day and enjoying May 2017.  I’m trying to be more mindful, a practice that I have let slip a bit.  A lovely mindful moment was one morning recently where I made myself a cup of coffee and went outside to sit in the sunshine to drink it.  The sun was warm on my skin.  The birds were singing.  The coffee was delicious.  I closed my eyes and absorbed and felt it all.  Ahhhhh the simple things can be so delightful can’t they?

Anyone else got a birthday in May?  Do you feel more productive at certain times of the year more than others?  Got any plans for Mother’s Day?  How good is coffee?!!

Ciao for now,

P.S.  If you’d like to know more about being ‘mindful’ or ‘mindfulness’ – have a look at the series of posts I’ve written on the subject here.

Link up here at WOTM or with another of us in the Lovin’ Life Linky team:

Leanne of Deep Fried Fruit
Lyndall of Seize the Day Project
and Jo of And Anyways

[Note:  Kathy of 50 Shades of Age is currently holidaying in Europe]