Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Thanksgiving, a national holiday in our United States, originated as a harvest festival. The first Thanksgiving was celebrated by the Pilgrims after their first harvest in the New World in October 1621. As a farmer’s kid, I especially like the idea of celebrating the fall harvest. It means all the hard work in the fields is done for the year.

Thanksgiving has been celebrated on the last Thursday of the month since the time of Abraham Lincoln. In 1941, President Roosevelt made the final permanent change by signing a bill making Thanksgiving Day fall on the fourth Thursday of November, regardless of whether it is the last Thursday of the month or not. This year it falls on November 28^th.

I’m a fan of Thanksgiving. It’s a day of celebration where gifts are forgotten and the food is plentiful. I love the smell of a turkey roasting with the scent of sage and spices filling the entire house. And I am a huge fan of pumpkin pie piled high with whipped cream.

In the northern states, Thanksgiving also is a reminder that Old Man Winter is on his way with flying fat snowflakes and sparkling white snowbanks. For many, the national holiday also heralds the start of the holiday season as stores and shops blare carols, hymns, and contemporary songs of Christmas from their speakers.  And Christmas music is something I can get behind, even if I dislike shopping for presents.

This year, I created a “Musical Christmas Series,” consisting of three novellas. My first one, JUNE ~ The Pianist, was released the end of October. Each female main character plays a musical instrument and has a story to tell. I’m excited to say that ADELENE ~ The Violinist is also releasing at the end of this month in time for the Christmas season. LUCY will be released next year. What is her instrument? It’s a secret. [wink, wink]

Wishing everyone a Happy Thanksgiving. Enjoy the holidays. 

JUNE ~ The Pianist

Adelene ~ The Violinist

  

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Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

St. Patrick’s Day in the United States is the only day when everyone is Irish. It’s a time for wearing green, reveling with friends, drinking beer—often also green—eating Irish food, watching parades, and generally celebrating Irish culture, heritage and traditions. 

St. Patrick’s Day was officially declared a Christian feast day in the early seventeenth century in honor of St. Patrick. It was observed by many (Christian) religions because it commemorates the arrival of Christianity in Ireland.

Patrick was born in Roman Britain in the fourth century to wealthy Roman Christian aristocrats. His father was a deacon and his grandfather was a priest. At the age of sixteen, he was kidnapped by Irish raiders and taken as a slave to Gaelic Ireland where he spent six years there working as a shepherd.

After making his way back home by escaping to Gaul, now France, Patrick became a priest and studied for fifteen years before returning to Ireland in 432. According to legend, St. Patrick used the three-leaved shamrock to explain the Holy Trinity to Irish pagans.

The first organized observance of St. Patrick’s Day in the British colonies was in 1737 when the Charitable Irish Society of Boston gathered to honor their motherland. During the American Revolution, George Washington, realizing his troops had a morale problem and in acknowledgment of the valiant Irish volunteers who served in his army, issued an order declaring the 17^th of March to be a holiday for the troops in honor of St. Patrick’s Day.

Throughout the years and throughout the United States, cities with Irish populations continued to celebrate the special occasion with parades and festivities. Even the White House celebrated St. Patrick’s Day, starting with President Harry Truman.

So to everyone, whether you are Irish or wannabe Irish, I lift my glass of ale and wish you this Irish blessing:

These things, I warmly wish for you
Someone to love, some work to do,
A bit of o' sun, a bit o' cheer.
And a guardian angel always near.

To your good health—“Slainte.”

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