May Field Notes

Apr 17
2 min read

Updated: Apr 27

Welcome to Field Notes.

This is a new series that is accompaning my Postcard Club. Field Notes is a reflective scene to inspire the month ahead. It’s a day worth remembering, not a to-do list, but rather the types of things worth writing down.

May is a unique month. The window between the first shoots of green, and the explosion of summer is much faster than the other transitions throughout the year. Blink and one misses it. I think typically May is that moment when the world finally feels filled with the return of nature’s life. It exsists as the perfect moment to truly engage outdoors again.

There is a particular kind of morning that only exists in May, on a lake or by a river. It is crisp, dewy, and filled with a rich new cadence of spring smells. I was inspired this month by my particularly strong desire to be out camping in a tent. I grew up tent camping all the time and I remember the best times when the nights were cold. I even loved the trips when it mostly rained. It wasn’t too difficult to accept sitting under a tarp or inside of the tent playing cards all day.

May is asking us to slow down as the world speeds up.

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Field Notes for May

Wake inside the tent. You don’t have a sense of what time it is, but you’re the first up.
Leaving the sleeping bag feels difficult, but you pull it around your shoulders, put on your heavy socks and to get coffee started.
Listen to the loon calls across the water.
Coffee takes longer to make on the camp stove.
The ice went out this week on the lake, it looks frigid but the air is warming.
Take a slow walk without a destination. The tree leaves are a shade of green lighter than at home, something you forgot to notice two weeks ago.
Come back to breakfast of pancake batter made ahead of time and thick sausages, strawberries and toast.
Read or write or simply watch the rhythm of the day unfold.
Afternoon light turns the water a golden hue, take the canoe out, stay close to shore.
Cook over the fire slowly, herbed-stuffed fish, vegetables, whatever the farmer’s market had.
Play a game of Euchre next to the glow of a camp lantern.
The stars up here are unreasonable, get comfortable as you find the full shape of the milky way in the trees.
Sleep with the rainfly off, one less layer between you and this universe.

May Moodboard

The May Moodboard is the companion to this month's Field Notes. It's where I work out the visual language of the season, and explore what objects can support these endeavors. Things don't make the life, but the right quality, and purposeful ones get out of the way and let you live it. Take a look.

See Full May Moodboard