Victoria Day in Canada is a federal holiday. It has existed since at least 1845, and was established in celebration of Queen Victoria’s (known as the mother of confederation) birthday on May 24.
The actual holiday is observed on the last Monday in May preceding May 25, so the date changes from year to year.
The weekend of the holiday is affectionately referred to as the “May long”.
This is, in many areas, including ours, the weekend that campgrounds open, gardens are seeded, and grain farm seeding is at full speed ahead.
Often, Lilacs, as in my feature photo (that I took in 2024) are starting to come into bloom by the May long. Not so this year, because the holiday is a little earlier and the weather has been cooler and drier than usual.
Hopefully the rains yesterday and today will change that.
One of my go-to phrases in recent years is that the favourite F-word for seniors is “free”.
This week, I visited a new boutique that opened here while we were wintering in Texas.
It’s a unique shop in that almost all of the many products from chocolate to liquorice to glassware are imported from Holland. As far as I know, there isn’t a large Dutch population in this area, so it’ll be interesting to see how the store makes out. I wish them well.
I made one small purchase and as I was leaving, the shopkeeper told me to select a fresh cut flower bouquet from the many that were on a table near the door.
The arrangements were made by a home business florist in a nearby town, and were no doubt brought in for Mother’s Day. It was nice to realize that the shopkeeper chose to gift these bouquets (while they were still good) to customers vs tossing them out once they were wilting.
What a lovely gesture, and …. free sure works for me!!
On the second day of our celebration of spring weekend 2026, we attended the 35th annual RGV Big Bloom Home and Garden Show at the McAllen Convention Centre.
Even though this was the 35th year of the show, it was the first time we’d heard of it.
With over 200 vendors, this event featured literally everything from bedknobs to broomsticks and everything in between.
It was a wonderfully apt way to welcome spring.
This section had plants native to the RGVCreative use of BurlEvery cactus and succulent one could imagineFlower pot decorations Glass flowersHand carved military memorabilia Funky clothingMany food vendors, most with tasting samplesLawn furniture galoreBBQ’s and Smokers of every type and sizeApparently the leaves are used in India to make a med that lowers blood sugar This large outdoor courtyard was filled with plants and potsTalavera pottery – my favourite These ceramic plant pots caught my eyeHubs bought two for me 😊
Now that we know about this event, we’ll definitely attend again next year. It was a couple of well spent hours that truly brought home the feeling of spring.
Because the official first day of spring fell on a Friday, hubs and I decided to spend the weekend welcoming the new season by doing new things.
On Friday, we visited the Veterans War Memorialof Texas in McAllen, TX.
Hubs and I have passed this park many times over the years, but have never stopped to take it in.
The 3.5 acre site was opened in 1990 and pays tribute to the 1.4 million Americans who were killed or missing in action in every conflict the nation has been involved in.
There are 160 tall granite panels, each engraved with a plethora of historical information. To read it all, one would have to spend several hours there. Because it was a hot day, we browsed and read a bit from each plaza and I took photos of every block, so we could read them later.
Each plaza is made up of several granite panels arranged in a circle and has its own theme.
At the centre of the site is a 104 ft tall granite monolith. It’s named the American Spire of Honour.
There is a statue of a female officer at each entrance A Sobering experience Memorial to WAC and WAVE membersGeneral Bernardo de GalvezPatrick HenryGeorge WashingtonMartha Washington This shows the amount of engraving on each panel
This was well worth the stop and we’ll definitely visit again on a cooler day.
On Wednesday this week, hubs and I hosted a dinner party for two couples in our park who we consider to be friends.
Sherry and Den are from Wisconsin and Sue and Pete from Minnesota.It was a bittersweet evening because Sherry and Den are moving to Italy soon. It’s always difficult to say goodbyes to friends, especially when you don’t know when or if you’ll ever see them again.
I decided to do a raclette meal, as it’s a fun way to dine and visit, while everyone prepares their preferred foods on the table top raclette grill.
I requested that our guests bring nothing besides their appetites because we had lots of everything.
Sherry did bring something … a beautiful bouquet of tulips. These have been my favourite flowers for a very long time because they’re the first sign of spring at home. Sherry had no way of knowing this, so that made the gesture all the more special.
Radically Retired 