There are a number of reasons why this weekend, May's glorious long weekend named for some dame Victoria, is perhaps the best time of year.
It's the unofficial start of the sunny season, and puts us only a month away from the summer solstice, the longest day of the year.
Everything starts to get a little greener, giving us all a reason for hope and fewer excuses to curl up indoors to watch the final games of the NHL playoffs.
It's this weekend that many go to their cottage for the first time in the new year. Sure, it's too chilly to jump in the lake, but it's still nice to have a comfortable campfire and clear the grounds, falling any partially tipped over trees and making the place that has been empty for six months livable once again.
And there's yard work. There is so much yard work. I can be a little finicky when it comes to outdoor chores. While the idea of cutting grass sends me into a fit of irritable tantrums, I've never minded garden work.
I've spent time landscaping and working in greenhouses and fields. While I grew up in a farming community, I've never been one to have an idyllic perception of agriculture, but I still find something peaceful about turning earth in a garden.
There's a special connection with the Earth that everyone has when they're preparing it to bear new life.
There are a few simple pleasures, otherwise insignificant experiences that seem to be ingrained into us, experiences that hearken back to ancestors tens of thousands of years ago. Everyone has felt the relaxation sitting around a campfire and there is a similar sense of tranquility when we work the earth.
We're only where we are today because of our ability to grow our own food and become masters of fire. Because these things go back so far and have been necessary for our survival as a species, they continue to provide us warmth inside and out.
And this long weekend, lovingly referred to as May Two-Four where I'm from, gives us a chance to go back and experience those same things all people have been doing throughout our history. When you're cleaning out your garden and when you plant your 2014 annuals, you're making a connection with someone from the past.
When you're sitting around the campfire this weekend, you connect with someone who used that fire for protection, warmth and an oven.
We owe a lot to the people who came before us, growing their own food and plants, and starting fires, both things they did out of necessity rather than pleasure.
This long weekend we'll engage in activities that are ancient and tribal. They are considered simple pleasures nowadays and generally taken for granted, but it's still something special every May Two-Four when we get outside and continue doing what we've done throughout our lives.
This weekend gives us hope for the tidings that summer will bring in the months to come, but it also provides so much opportunity to connect with the past and a few simple activities that make us human.
