May Day

May Day

"first of May," mid-15c.. Accounts of merrymaking on this date are attested from mid-13c. Synonymous with "communist procession" from at least 1906. The May Queen seems to be a Victorian re-invented tradition.

mayday

"distress call," 1927, from Fr. m'aider, shortening of venez m'aider "come help me!" 

~ Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper

May Day   n. May 1, observed in the United States, Canada, and parts of Western Europe in celebration of the coming of spring. May 1, observed as a holiday especially in socialist countries in honor of labor and labor organizations.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.

Today is May Day. As the definitions imply, the First Day of May can be observed and celebrated differently by different folk. I remember from elementary school the May Day Dance my class (kindergarten, was it?) did a round a pole (May Pole?). each of us holding the end of a large colored ribbon until the pole was decorated.

Thankfully, in the various roles I have played in my life, I have never had to broadcast mayday as a distress call.

My father was a union organizer. I have marched in a May Day parade or two in honor of the proletariat and labor organizations. If I had the energy and knew where one was, I'd march again today and maybe play and sign this song:

There is Power (written by Joe Hill)

Closer to home, on a very wet Churchill Downs track here in Louisville, Super Savor splashed to win the 136th Kentucky Derby while about 165,000 race fans packed the Downs to watch. I wasn't one of them.

Very close to home, 65 years ago this May 1st my mother, Katherine Hertle, married my father, Robert Lawrence Temple.

Happy anniversary, Mom; I wish that Dad were still with us.

Almost Derby

Here in Louisville, just about everything and everyone is geared up for The Kentucky Derby, the 136th of which will be run on Saturday. If you have never been to The Derby or Louisville during the weeks leading up to The Derby, you have missed one hell of a good party! Unless, of course, you are from Louisville, as I am. Then there are times that all of The Derby stuff just kinda gets one down. (YAWN)

What I am leading up to is the first blog post that I ever wrote. It was posted to Nick's Bytes way back on May 6, 2005. It's about The Derby and it's about another Louisvillian, Hunter S. Thompson, and I have reprinted it right here:

Tomorrow The Kentucky Derby is run here in Louisville. I really don’t know if I shall pay attention to it. Several years ago I found myself standing on the edge of the Grand Canyon in Arizona on the first Saturday of May. Another resident of Louisville spotted my license plate and asked me what I was doing on Arizona on Derby Day? I began giving him an explanation of my trip when I stopped and asked, “Well, what are you doing here on Derby Day?”

He smiled and said, “I find being anywhere but Louisville the best place to be on Derby Day!”

I agree with him.

Last night I was driving home from a visit to Pennsylvania. It was almost midnight when I turned west from Cincinnati for the last leg of the trip. I was surprised by the large amount of traffic on the Interstate, but mostly surprised by all of the stretch limos that passed me. I had completely forgotten about the Derby until then. And, with it being brought to my attention, I had to fight the urge to drive back to Pennsylvania.

Yes, I like horses. I have even enjoyed watching and betting on a horse race. But there is something about the hoopla that takes over this town in the last weeks of April through the first Saturday of May that turns me off. It is as if the city goes crazy.

It isn’t that I don’t like crazy, but I rather prefer my own insanity to the insanity of others. In that respect I suppose that I am like another man born in Louisville: the recently deceased Hunter S. Thompson. When you read Thompson, you just feel his madness! But it is a craziness that was purely him and it was within him and generally wasn’t the result of others or situations created by others. Hunter’s craziness came completely from within Hunter.

 Hunter S. Thompson

That’s the way I like to be: crazy. I don’t need it coming at me from around me and I certainly don’t want to join in the madness of the Derby hoopla. All of that tires me and even this writing about it wears me out.

Speaking of which, I had best end this blog and get ready for tomorrow. I have a Kentucky Derby party to attend.

Too Bad It's Monday Jokes & Humor

In the spring of 2005, shortly after I began blogging, I began posting the jokes I had received in my previous week’s email under the title Too Bad It’s Monday (T.B.I.M.) as the reverse of T.G.I.F. (Thank God It’s Friday). So again I am going to share with you what I consider to be the best of the humor I have received in the past week. You may not agree with all of my choices, but if even one joke brings you a smile on T.B.I.M., my goal has been achieved.

Dear IRS,

Enclosed is my Tax Return & payment. Please take note of the attached article from the USA Today newspaper. In the article, you will see that the Pentagon is paying $171.50 for hammers and NASA has paid $600.00 for a toilet seat.

Please find enclosed four toilet seats (value $2,400) and six hammers (value $1,029). This brings my total payment to $3,429.00. Please note the overpayment of $22.00 and apply it to the "Presidential Election Fund," as noted on my return.

Might I suggest that you send the above mentioned fund a "1.5 inch screw." (See attached article...HUD paid $22.00 for a 1.5 inch Phillips Head Screw.)

It has been a pleasure to pay my tax bill this year, and I look forward to paying it again next year. I just saw an article about the Pentagon and "screwdrivers."

I saw a new local ad campaign being run for the northern snow birds by our county tourist board. Against a drop dead sunset beach picture, It reads:

Come to the SW coast of Florida this winter for your family vacation!
Florida has everything:

Sand for the children,
fishing galore for Dad,
sun for the wife,
and
plenty of sharks for the mother-in-law.