A beltane with fires

The last day of april is one of the years celebrations that lasts from the pre christian time. It is also a day when students put on their caps (graduating students) and lots of young people get drunk. We use to visit a local bonfire  with fireworks and choir singing, but stayed at home this day to do some pet friendly fireworks. 

The photo below is from a few weeks ago when I had my yearly bonfire of garden scrap burnt. The ashes and coal makes perfect fertilizer for the veg garden.

Johan made the classical rascal trick; mixing sugar and potassium nitrate and lit it to fire. The heat of the reaction is very high and nitrous fumes is produced. Keep the kids away...

I made a smaller firework, actually in a test tube. This video below shows the result of it. I couldn't shoot the part when it started as I helt the tube in my hands and the crackling was a lot more violent than you can see here. A bit scary actually, I repeted in my head "please don't explode, don't explode".....

I also made a few more not so explosive experiments to show the kids, I guess you understand that we had as much fun as them. I absolutely love my job as a science teacher :-D

Tonic lit by an UV-pocket lamp. 

I love every season but one of my favourite is the return of May. Everything bursts in green and the delicate springflowers are the one we love most. 

The ash tree is full with budding flowers.

Around the foot of our tree is a small patch of wild anemones, these are very precious.

The most lovely scent of all spring flowers comes from the porcelain hyacinte (directly translated). Why isn't bottled in a perfume??

My pillow of primroses is coming to bloom.

Yellow star grows like weed in my vegetable garden

Soon to be rubarb pie.

Last but not least. Congratulations to Emma from Little Gothic Horrors for winning the candle in my giveaway. I have to find a proper box to ship it in. If you haven't read her blog I can highly redommend it to you, it's filled with lots of lovely, spooky and kooky posts.