Memories of May Gone By
I sat outside for a while, "working" some stones I have found on the local beach during this past year...
Although rather breezy, I could feel that breeze having traces of warmth for the first time this year... and my mind started drifting; one of the things it does when I am doing something relatively mindless like sanding/polishing pieces of beach jade.
The first few days of May have always felt "uplifting" me... across pretty much all my life.
When I was in boarding school on the UK (late 1970s) the arrival of May meant school was almost over for the year and I would be able to get away and just relax into a very long summer break that would keep me free until the beginning of September.
That bit of warmth was the harbinger of that freedom... even though there was still several more weeks of school and exams.
It also meant football (soccer) season was over for the year; those of us who were rabid fans had been keeping our eyes on the league tables and particularly being mindful of whether "our" teams were getting promoted — or worse, relegated — to a different division.
Even though I have lived in the USA for 45 years, I still follow English football as well as both Danish and Spanish football — because we lived there.
University was brilliant because final exams were actually in the middle of May and I'd be out of class for three and a half months.
Maybe it wasn't as brilliant as all that because it typically meant I'd be on the first available plane back to Denmark to work all summer to make enough money to pay for books, tuition and most living expenses for the coming year.
AT the edge of the UT campus, Spring 1981 (scanned from old photo)
As an international student, I wasn't cleared to work in the USA — at least not in the general workplace — my F-1 visa meant I was limited to on-campus jobs, and could work for no more than 20 hours a week. Which I did... mostly at the central computer lab, or at one of the numerous on-campus libraries. In retrospect, I realize that I was extremely lucky to always be able to get a job.
As I recall, my wage was $3.50/hour, which gave me just about enough to pay my $225 share of rent at the apartment. Of course, it wasn't long before I got unofficial off-campus "cash jobs" helping a friend who had a rental property "make-ready" business for when landlords were changing out tenants.
I did end up homeless one time, because I had no money and the lease ran out at the end of May and I was not headed back to Denmark that year to work... and the people I knew locally were all scattered to different parts of the state (and country) so I took up "residence" in the wooded area of the municipal golf course close to where I had otherwise lived.
It could have been worse, I suppose... I had very little stuff to worry about (as a foreign student I had lived in apartments with other people's furniture), I was within a quick walk from the University free bus route to campus where I could shower and clean up at one of the gyms; being on the golf course, I would empty out all the beer and soda cans from the golf course garbage bins late at night and sell them to the local Safeway recycling center, which was also right across the street.
This was back at a time when they actually paid between $0.20 and $0.30 per pound of cans, and I could easily bring in 40-50lbs of cans per day without straining myself too much. That, combined with my on-campus job — which resumed when summer school started — meant I was homeless, but not exactly broke and penniless.
But it was my life for one June-July-August period. And I actually had enough money for tuition when the fall semester resumed!
Here's a scary statistic: When I was an undergrad at the University of Texas in the early 1980s, tuition and fees for a non-resident (foreign) student were about $1,600 per year. I just checked current estimates, and the estimated cost of tuition and fees for an international student in 2025-26 was $45,000-$50,000! That's 28 times higher than when I was there!
If the cost merely followed the official rate of inflation during the same time period, tuition and fees in 2025 should have been $5,665.
No wonder so many from the younger generations see no worthwhile future ahead.
I think my summer of being homeless was also when I really started to hate hot weather. I wasn't much for it to begin with... but spending so much time out in it made me really long for the coolness of the northern climate I was born into.
At a completely different level, May was a favorite time because "things started growing" in May, and that remains one of the things I love about this time of the year!
We're planting the vegetable garden, and expanding once again... trying a few "medieval plants" that supposedly will grow in poor soil and pretty much will take care of themselves, year anfter year. They used to be staples in cottage and farm gardens of old, but fell into disfavor because they are (A) not pretty on a grocery shelf (B) not harvestable by machine (C) slow growers and (D) would never make it through a week-long journey from farm to distribution center to supermarket.
It's funny (and tragic) the degree to which our fresh foods are determined not by wants or by nutrition, but by marketability.
And, on that light thought, I think I shall end for today. Thanks for stopping by, and have a wonderful Sunday!
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2026.05.02 21:18 PST
1557/2822
So what are these new plants you are adding?? I have some ideas, but would love to know...
In 1974 our rent was $150/mo and included everything except telephone. I made about $60/week, and my husband made $80/week. We kept gas in the souped up '69 Camaro, bought groceries, and had enough once or twice a month to go out dancing.