Welcome June!

There are so many beautiful things about the month of June in the northern states. It heralds the beginning of summer. The weather turns warm and balmy while vegetation sprouts and turns greener and greener. Even the drone of the bees grow louder and more pronounced as the multitude of blossoms appear. And the song of the birds in the bushes and trees are an old welcome melody--and many times a morning alarm clock.

The fresh smell of mowed grass and summer roses in full bloom wafts through our open windows and forces us to pause for a second and just enjoy.

Summer is a reminder that we can slow down a bit. We can take a leisurely stroll or sit by an open camp fire. We can take a break in the sunshine—or in the shade—and read, observe wildlife, listen to the hum of insects, or just meditate.

For me, June is a month that allows for peace of mind. My favorite spot is a swing

on our covered patio where I can sit and watch the sun set, or close my eyes and

listen to the sounds of summer around me.There is something soothing  about the dip and sway of a porch swing.

Where is your favorite spot on a pleasant June day? 

 KEY TO LOVE 

Only on sale for $0.99 until the end of June.

https://www.amazon.com/Key-Love-Judy-Ann-Davis-ebook/dp/B00DNO9S8K/

BLURB:

When architect Elise Springer’s father is injured, she immediately leaves San Francisco to care for him. The last person she expects to encounter in her Pennsylvania hometown is her childhood friend Lucas Fisher. Lucas is investigating his brother’s death, and Elise can’t resist lending a hand.

Lucas longs for the close family ties he never had. He’s back in Scranton to set up a classic car restoration business and build a future. The torch he carries for Elise burns brighter than ever, but before he can declare his love, he must obtain the legal rights to adopt his nephew—and prove his brother’s death was no accident.

As they unearth clues pointing to find a murderer and a missing stash of money, Elise faces a dilemma. Is her career on the West Coast the key to her happiness, or is it an animal-cracker-eating four-year-old and his handsome uncle instead?

Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/Judy-Ann-Davis/e/B006GXN502/ 
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JudyAnnDavis4 
Twitter ID:  JudyAnnDavis4 
Blog Link: “A Writer’s Revelations” ~  http://judyanndavis.blogspot.com/ 
Website: http://www.judyanndavis.com/ 
Goodreads Author Page: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4353662.Judy_Ann_Davis
Yahoo Groups:  wrppromo@yahoogroups.com and ahachat@yahoogroups.com and pennwriters@yahoogroups.com 
 

 

June Is Haying Season in Pennsylvania

June is the month that kicks off haying season in Pennsylvania. Along the byways and roads, you'll see farmers cutting, tedding (aerating the grasses), and baling their fields of hay.

It is the barns that fascinate me, especially the bank or banked barns. They are a unique style of barn noted for their accessibility on two separate levels. Often built into the side of a hill, or bank, both the upper and the lower floors area could be accessed from ground level, one area at the top of the hill and the other at the bottom.

 
In a typical Pennsylvania barn, the upper floor was a hayloft and the lower was a stable and milking parlor where the cattle were held in stanchions and milked twice a day.

The doors on bank barns were typically on the long sidewall. They were usually double doors, often on tracks, and were wide enough to allow for the hay wagons to enter. With William Penn's promise of freedom and inexpensive land, many settlers came to Pennsylvania. Among these settlers were the Germans, who are given credit for designing  bank barns on their lands.

My family were farmers and we owned a bank barn. I have many childhood memories of playing in the loose hay in the loft. Later, of course, square hay balers came into existence, eliminating the need for hay loaders. Later, round balers became widely used because they allowed tractors to move the heavy bales which were cut, bound, covered, and stacked along the sides of fields—eliminating the use of the hayloft.

Rainy Days in May

Living in Pennsylvania is always a treat when spring rolls around. This year was exceptional because we had a late spring with endless days of rain. As glossy raindrops drum against my dining room window again, I think of the farmers’ axiom, “Rain in May, a barn full of hay.”

Our flowering crab tree in bloom

In such a busy world, I’m thinking the Almighty sends down the rain to allow us time to slow down and take a breath. Rainy days are for dawdling. This is the time when we can enjoy our second cup of coffee, or we can peruse that tall stack of magazines or paperwork we’ve labeled, to be read.  We can listen to a favorite song, read a good book, and finish an art project or indoor chore that’s been bugging us for months. It’s also a great time to write without the guilt that outside tasks are awaiting us.

I often say I’m glad that humans can’t control the weather, because it reminds me who’s really in charge. It also teaches us to embrace the unpredictable, to be flexible, and to welcome change in our lives. For those who like to plan or follow a daily routine, inclement days remind us that deviations from our conventional days can be enjoyable… and maybe, just maybe, there might be a rainbow as an added bonus.

What do you like to do on a rainy day?

                             A GENTLE REMINDER:

"Four White Roses" in digital is on sale for $0.99 only until May 31sr. It's a romance and mystery with a touch of paranormal. "Can a wily old ghost help two fractured hearts find love again?" https://www.amazon.com/Four-White-Roses-Judy-Davis-ebook/dp/B06XPBKY7F/

Amazon: https://www.amzn.com/B06XPBKY7F 
Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/Judy-Ann-Davis/e/B006GXN502/ 
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JudyAnnDavis4 
Twitter ID:  JudyAnnDavis4 
Blog Link: “A Writer’s Revelations” ~  http://judyanndavis.blogspot.com/ 
Website: http://www.judyanndavis.com/ 
Goodreads Author Page: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4353662.Judy_Ann_Davis 
Yahoo Groups:  wrppromo@yahoogroups.com and ahachat@yahoogroups.com and pennwriters@yahoogroups.com 
ITunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/four-white-roses/id1222189126/ 
Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/four-white-roses-1

 

Let's Remember Anna Jarvis on Mother's Day

May is a month of spring in the Northern Hemisphere and is named for the Greek Goddess Maia, who was identified with the Roman era goddess of fertility. It’s no surprise that May’s birthstone is the emerald, green in color, and emblematic of love and success. The lily of the valley and the common hawthorn are its symbolic birth flowers. For the majority of the population in the United States, May is best known for Mother’s Day, an official national holiday proclaimed by Woodrow Wilson in 1914.

How did it come about? It was first celebrated in 1908, when Anna Jarvis held a memorial for her mother at St. Andrews’s Methodist Church in West Virginia. She sought to make Mother’s Day a recognized holiday in the United States in 1905, when her mother, Ann Reeves Jarvis, died. Ann Reeves Jarvis had been a peace activist who cared for wounded soldiers on both sides of the Civil War and created Mother’s Day Work Clubs to address public health issues.

Ironically, in 1908, our U.S. Congress rejected a proposal to make Mother's Day an official holiday, joking that they would also have to proclaim a "Mother-in-law's Day. It should be mentioned that Congress at that time was comprised of all men until 1917, when Jeannette Rankin of Montana became the first woman to serve in the House of Representatives.

 But Anna Jarvis didn’t give up, and by 1911, all the states had some sort of recognition for mothers in the month of May, many of them recognizing it as a local holiday. In 1912, Anna Jarvis trademarked the phrases "Second Sunday in May" and "Mother's Day,” and created the Mother's Day International Association. In his proclamation, President Wilson continued with the second Sunday of the month for the national and yearly celebration of Mother’s Day. 

To all the mothers of our nation and the international community, I wish you a Happy Mother’s Day.  May your day be cheerful, bright, and full of joy.

Amazon: https://www.amzn.com/B06XPBKY7F 
Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/Judy-Ann-Davis/e/B006GXN502/ 
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JudyAnnDavis4 
Twitter ID:  JudyAnnDavis4 
Blog Link: “A Writer’s Revelations” ~  http://judyanndavis.blogspot.com/ 
Website: http://www.judyanndavis.com/ 
Goodreads Author Page: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4353662.Judy_Ann_Davis 
Yahoo Groups:  wrppromo@yahoogroups.com and ahachat@yahoogroups.com and pennwriters@yahoogroups.com 
ITunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/four-white-roses/id1222189126/ 
Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/four-white-roses-1

MENTAL HEALTH MONTH - Creativity Is Not Without Disappointments

Musicians, writers, painters, scientists, and many more people share a skill that many call creativity. Where does it come from besides the activated frontal lobe of the brain? It’s a tough question that has been explored for years and has often been linked with mood disorders. Many artists, when their brains or hands are busy, have learned to channel depression into some type of creation.

First Steps

March 30, 1953, was the birthday of well-known painter, Vincent Van Gogh, who lived to be only 37 years old. At the age of 27, he abandoned his unsuccessful careers as an art dealer and a missionary and concentrated on his painting and drawing. When he began painting, he used peasants and farmers as models and then flowers, landscapes and himself because he was too poor to pay his subjects.

Noon Rest

In less than ten years of his life, he painted almost 900 paintings. One of his best known works, Starry Night, was painted in in an asylum at Saint-Remy-de-Provence, France where he voluntarily admitted himself there to recover from his 1888 nervous breakdown and his ear-cutting incident. The painting depicts the view from his bedroom window.

The Pink Peach Tree

Ironically, he sold only one painting in his life time. The Red Vineyard which went for 400 francs in Belgium seven months before his death. His most expensive painting Portrait of Dr. Gachet was sold for $148.6 million in 1990.

Why Vincent Van Gogh?  Because he’s just one of scores of visual artists, writers, musicians and other creative people, including Ludwig van Beethoven, Mark Rothko, Sylvia Plath, T.S. Eliot, Irving Berlin, Virginia Woolf, and Ernest Hemingway, who are known or believed to have suffered from mental illness. He was a prolific artist—not recognized until after his death. Yet, his paintings are marvelous. I particularly like many of his lesser known works.

I also mention Vincent Van Gogh because we celebrate Mental Health Month in May. We need to realize that mood disorders occur in all people in all walks of life, but more particularly in creative people. So, as a writer, if you’re feeling a little down and out with your current situation, please realize you are not alone. Everyone suffers mood disorders and feelings of failure, but the key to thwarting them is activity. So write gobble-gook, paint, ponder, hand wash the dishes, clean out a closet, try your hand at a knitting, take a walk, but stay active until those next brilliant thoughts pop up.

I have chosen some pictures by Vincent Van Gogh that are my favorites. Enjoy!

_________________________________

Amazon: https://www.amzn.com/B06XPBKY7F 

Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/Judy-Ann-Davis/e/B006GXN502/ 

Twitter: https://twitter.com/JudyAnnDavis4 

Twitter ID:  JudyAnnDavis4 

Blog Link: “A Writer’s Revelations” ~  http://judyanndavis.blogspot.com/ 

Website: http://www.judyanndavis.com/ 

Goodreads Author Page: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4353662.Judy_Ann_Davis 

Yahoo Groups:  wrppromo@yahoogroups.com and ahachat@yahoogroups.com and pennwriters@yahoogroups.com 

ITunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/four-white-roses/id1222189126/ 

Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/four-white-roses-1