Chaucer wrote about pilgrimages in April at the beginning of his Canterbury Tales:"WHAN that Aprille with his shoures soote
The droghte of Marche hath perced to the roote,
And bathed every veyne in swich licour...
Than longen folk to goon on pilgrimages"
But I like to travel in May. Lee and I have been in Paris four Mays in the last ten years, and last year I went to Lisbon by myself as I did research for Making Waves. This is a great month to be on the road. The days are long in the Northern Hemisphere and the weather is usually nice. In many places, it also is a month of explosive growth.
This was taken on a Sunday last year as I wandered around Lisbon. The difference in street levels is due to the rejigging of the city after the 1755 earthquake, and the architecture is a fine example of the way old and new are mixed in this lovely city which was full of green leaves and purple flowers when I was there. I didn't know it at the time, but I learned later of a connection between Chaucer and Lisbon. He appears to have been the tutor for Philippa of Lancaster who married the king of Portugal in 1373. The couple had a brood of illustrious children, including the famous Infante Henrique, Henry the Navigator, who started the whole Portuguese golden age of exploration. The world was small, even then.
Of course, May is a lovely month in Montreal too, so even though we're not on the road for various reasons, I should console myself with the wonder of growth surrounding us. Lilacs are in full bloom and the crabapples are still glorious although they are beginning to lose their blossoms. We had very warm weather in early April, which meant that spring got a quick start, but cooler temperatures have allowed the flowers to linger longer than usual. As Chaucer might put it today: "of such virtue engendered is the flower."
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