Just a thought… Do things that make you happy within the confines of the legal system. [Ellen DeGeneres]

Hello May! If you don’t have that Mother’s Day card in the mail yet, you’re risking it being late. Yes, in the three years we call self-isolation, it’s easy to lose track of things that are coming in the month ahead. While everything’s been cancelled, Mother’s Day has not. It’s a week this Sunday: just a word to the wise.

So, what else can we look forward to in May? Warmer temperatures, for one thing, and, of course, the cheery optimism of flowers and blossoming trees.

In Toronto, some screens will be filled with High Park cherry blossoms, whose impending silent explosions are now being streamed live. But don’t go to see them in person; fines range from $750 to $5000. And since flowers may, but money definitely does not, grow on trees, you’re better off staying home – as in all matters these days.

Meantime, if gardening is your thing and you’ve been itching to get your knees dirty, this is for you. (A friend brought us a plant the other day and assured me that even I couldn’t kill it, so you know that I’m including this info solely for readers!)

According to a story in the 2011 Neuroscience journal, research showed that a beneficial bacterium common in soil triggers the release of serotonin in the human body, elevating mood and decreasing anxiety. This is just what a lot of us need right now!

And in case you don’t garden, a little joke is included in the article. Did you hear about the guy who hauled in a load of soil to top off his garden? The plot thickened.

Ba-dum-bum.

From the green, to your screen: May 5th, there’s a new Jerry Seinfeld special dropping on Netflix. It’s called 23 Hours to Kill and, if the trailer is any indication, it promises to be fun. I’ll link to it at the bottom so you don’t go away from there and then start perusing weather guys with their dogs or something. Oh, I know how the youtube rabbit hole works!

Here’s some more great news for May if you loved her book, as I did (from TeenVogue.com):

Author and former First Lady Michelle Obama will soon be inspiring viewers on a Netflix screen near you. The streaming service shared a first look at Becoming, out May 6, which follows Obama as she tours the U.S. for her memoir of the same name.

The initial look at the documentary shows Obama meeting with a group of young people in Philadelphia and opening up about the transition from First Lady to author. Responding to a question, she admits that all paths in life are different, and each requires a new lens of viewing. “It takes time to process your life and figure out what it all means,” she says at one point, explaining that “so much” of who she is was formed before her time in the White House.

There are lots of familiar shows and movies returning to Netflix this month – and there’s a link to a list of them here. Love Actually? Why not? Have the kids seen Back to the Future and B2TF2? They’re coming back, too.

May 18th is Victoria Day or, as we might well call it, another day at home. Hopefully, it means extra pay for those who are doing their jobs so we can stay safely in our houses and apartments; our thanks are appreciated but some extra income to help make ends meet would, I’m sure, lessen the burden of their daily lives just a little.

Hang in there and please continue to do your part to flatten the curve and make sure that there’s not a rebound of this virus, an occurrence that is being predicted by many in the know. All we can do is take care of each other – of ourselves – and wait this out. With patience and maybe impatiens (the flowers of course) we’ll avoid becoming patients. Try that sentence in your next spelling sessions with the kids!

Here’s that Jerry Seinfeld trailer. And I’ll be back here tomorrow with a Saturday journal (or whatever day tomorrow is).