When it comes to months, there is something special about a snowy day, a blue skied summer weekend in the mountains or the changing colors of the trees. However, despite the fact that I love summer and would be outside every day if I could, spring is my favorite season because it feels like a fresh start, and more specifically, the month of May is my favorite month. I may be a little bit biased, since it is the month of my birth, but celebrating my birthday is not even on the top ten for the month. Here are a few things that are on the top ten list!
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.
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| 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!)
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| 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.
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| 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!
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| Backyard reading with Gato |
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| Woof! 102 in May, go away! |
To top that all off, I think as the sun starts shining more and the weather gets nicer, motivation levels go up, as do the serotonin levels, so when May arrives, it feels like it is time to get out of our winter shell and get ready to tackle the world.
What is your favorite month of the year and why?
Yes, I can definitely see why May is your favorite month! If I lived where you do, it would probably be my favorite month as well. Living in Florida... it's hard to say. Weather-wise, January and February are the best, but there are other things I don't like about those months. I like June and July when school is out, but those months are so HOT. I think I'm going to have to go with November! It's usually when our weather starts to cool down and I love Thanksgiving. And now that my son is away at college, Thanksgiving is the first time we see him after August, so that's exciting. November it is!
ReplyDeleteNovember is a great month! I love family time, and fall colors in some places, and the cool, crisp smell of trees and fall and that "changing season" smell... I also agree with you re Florida. I lived there for about 9 months, from January to September and I would definitely say January/February all the way! I would run on my lunch break and by May or June it was already hot! I also played soccer when I was there and it was in the evenings and I remember being a sweaty red (and SMELLY, oh so smelly) mess most of the time. Did you know that soccer cleats never dry in Florida? It was so gross. Plus there were huge mosquitos. :)
DeleteMay is definitely my favorite month. My husband finishes teaching for the year, it's his birthday and our anniversary, the weather finally changes to something resembling not cold, and it's as if a switch has flipped and I can finally be my true self. I love it!
ReplyDeleteYay, favorite month twins! I agree, the nice weather seems to flip a switch inside and the happiness can let itself back out! Happy birthday to your hubby and happy anniversary to you both!
DeleteMy anniversary is in May just shortly after your birthday but May is NOT my favorite month. Sorry! The weather is not predictable here and it's not reliably nice or sunny. For me, my favorite month is probably August or September. Both have nice weather - August is HOT generally but it's lake season and splash pads/wading pools are open so we have lots of ways to keep cool. September is usually very nice weather wise and I like the fresh start feel that comes w/ the start of the school year (schools generally start the day after Labor Day here).
ReplyDeleteDon't they say about May - in like a lion, out like a lamb? So I guess that guy was from Minnesota, or maybe he wasn't if you guys are still in lion territory by the end of the month! We are sometimes a bit lion-lamb-lion-lamb over here (so far it has rained here, snowed in the mountains, was 93 degrees one day, then was in the 30s and now is back in the 60s, and so far, and we are only on day 8!) Don't get me wrong, I would probably pick August or September as my second favorite month (and this is why I usually take my two weeker the end of Aug/beginning of Sept!) I love the fact that I can swim all day if I want to, the hiking weather is great, the sun is shining, there is not too much rain... it is great too!
DeleteI probably like May when I was living in the US too for similar reasons. but now that we live in tropical country, I like December the most because it's both my and my husbands birthdays, and usually we take a big family vacation. I also like July because it's school and work break and I feel like doing nothing and just feel the summer chill.
ReplyDeleteI agree with that; when I lived in the south I definitely liked the cooler winter months much more! When I lived in the mountains growing up, I would probably never pick a month where I had to shovel snow...but here in the Bay Area, I am pretty happy in February too...but I can't get out into the mountains, and the days are darker, so I still prefer the May - September range for outdoor opportunities!
DeleteOkay, this got me all excited about May!!! Even though it is a busy, stressful month in many ways, it DOES have a lot of benefits! Thanks for all the enthusiastic reminders. :-)
ReplyDeleteI don't think I have ever thought about a favorite month. I like January, I think, because everything seems fresh and new and all the stressful holidays are in the rearview.
I think that January is a great month, as it is also one where things feel like they are starting fresh again, which is always nice! Also, I rarely have to shovel snow now, but when I was a kid, winter consisted of (seemingly) a lot of shoveling and I was not a fan of that! Although I did love getting days off of school. If I am inside where it is warm and I have a good book and plenty of food and I don't have to go anywhere or drive or chop wood, I love winter/snow (and January)!
DeleteMay is definitely NOT my favourite month; I think mostly because the weather is still all over the place. Sometimes it's hot and sunny, other days it's frigid and wet. Though May IS my birthday month and I always love the excuse to enjoy Cherry Cheesecake in celebration of that special day!
ReplyDeleteMid-September to mid-October (is that cheating?!) is my favourite "month." Crisp mornings, warm afternoons and stunning fall foliage.
Agree Elisabeth!! Early September is often still very hot here. And there seem to always be a ton of bees. haha. But late Sept/ early October is usually glorious.
DeleteI agree with both of you as well; fall is a very nice season! I always vacation in September because it is not too hot and it is not too busy, although it is not quite shoulder season so October would be better for crowds, but I have been hiking in early September and been snowed on, so I can't push back an active vacation too much more in some cases!
DeleteOoh I'm a hard NO on March or April or May in my state!!! May *sometimes* gets better by the end, but I find it still often highly unpredictable and the yard is always a mess and needs a ton of work and it's often windy (which seems to be the only way we get warmer temps in the spring...)...so yeah. Spring is by far my least favorite season here. I am certain if I lived somewhere with nice actually spring-like springs, I would love spring, because it seems lovely in the movies. HA.
ReplyDeleteI would say my favorite month is October. For some reason, the cool weather doesn't bother me in the fall.... I like the crisp temps after the hot summer, and I love the changing leaves, and my birthday is in October. I like the cozy orange Halloween decorations and that it's usually time to light candles and the fireplace again. The thing for me with spring is that by this time I'm tired of the cold and it always looks nice out the window, but then it's not. And that drives me crazy because I'm just done with it already! In October, I'm expecting/ welcoming the change, so I tend to happily put on boots and a jacket, etc which again, feels novel and fresh after several months of hot weather.
If I lived where it was colder, I would probably pick August or September as my favorite month; they are warm, I love swimming and hiking and all of the things you do in the summer, and when I was a kid, I didn't start school until after Labor Day so August was great! (although they have seemingly moved the start date up inch by inch until it seems like soon the kids will be starting in July!)
DeleteRe the yard being a mess...sigh! It seems like it is always a mess for me. If it is not weeds, it's leaves, or maple seeds (spiky!) or plums or...something! It feels like a full time job!
It's so interesting to me to find people love May! My favourite month is October. I would like May if it reliably didn't rain, but so far we are 7 for 9 on rainy May days. But, I think if I still lived in the Bay Area I would love May. I used to visit California in April/May and have had some awesome trips there. We have been to Yosemite in April twice and it's just awesome - one of my favourite places on earth!
ReplyDeleteFavorite month... October in New Jersey! The weather is crisp, the leaves are incredible but it's still relatively warm. You can still go to the beach (maybe not swim though). We are big Halloween people so anticipation builds, we decorate the house, get candy, eat it just to realize that candy was for trick-or-treaters. Husband is usually working on Halloween decorations (dementors, turning out house into a haunted house with foam boards, etc): can be seen here ->
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOsWnEbtOTo&list=PLwX32QB0OS6LDVLJdSvdpGLbjxHpLquBD&index=3
I also love the smells of fall and October finally brings relief from NJ summer heat! September can oftentimes feel like an extension of summer...
Wow, that is a fun house! Is that your house? Do you decorate it every year like that? If so, you are one of those houses that I always covet but am too lazy to do the work myself (so I just go around oooohing and aaahhing about other people's houses!) My cousin is a huge Halloween fan and he decorates his house every year; here is a video he took: https://youtu.be/2V8ztf2g594
DeleteWow, amazing!! Last year was the first time we did the foam boards, the dementors have been there for a few years.
DeleteI am a November girl! It's my birthday month, it's Thanksgiving, and it's the kickoff to the holiday season, which is my very favorite time of the year. While the weather is still hot in November in Florida, we do start seeing some cooler temps and sometimes even get a surprise cold front, which is always nice!
ReplyDeleteI do like May, but that's when the weather really starts getting hot and humid and I'm just trying to prepare myself for it to get HOTTER and MORE humid. Ugh.
It is interesting how a lot of people's comments about their month have to do with weather! I guess it can't be great when we are sweaty and uncomfortable! I lived in FL over the summer and it was miserable! I used to run on my lunch break and that was not very fun; also the mosquitoes were pretty bad, if I recall. The other thing about the south is that summer = rain, and so it is not that fun when it is raining every day! I remember times that I had to pull off the road because it was raining so hard in the summer sometimes.
DeleteI can see why May is your favorite month. The weather is nice, the garden starts blooming, there are family events... :) I think my favorite month is October (for California) because the summer heat is behind us but it's still nice out... and I love the start of fall.
ReplyDeleteI love the start of fall too. Really it is hard to pick a "best" month! I really like August and September too because they are prime hiking and swimming months! And I love January and February in the Bay Area because even if they are a bit rainy at times, they are great running months for running in the Headlands! There is not really a month that I cannot find something I like about!
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