June 1, 2015

There are so many things to celebrate this month:  Juneteenth commemorating the ending of slavery in the United States (http://www.juneteenth.com/history.htm); June 12^th is when the Baseball Hall of Fame first opened its doors in 1939; June 14^th is Flag Day; June 21st is Father’s Day; and the Summer Solstice.  For more information check out:  http://www.suelebeau.com/june.htm.

In this Issue:

          Quote of the Month

          Recommended Read of the Month

          Recipe of the Month

Father’s Day

Ghost Bustin’ in Iowa

          News/Updates/Reviews

          Upcoming Appearances

          Coming Next Month

Quote of the Month:  “All men dream, but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds, wake in the day to find that it was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act on their dreams with open eyes, to make them possible.”  Thomas Edward Lawrence

Recommended Read:  Published in 2001, Knight Errant is the first in a three book series centering around the War of the Roses.  R. Garcia y Robertson has penned a marvelous, historical time-travel taking us back to the 13^th Century where England is ruled by King Henry. Walk alongside Robyn Stafford as she finds her true love and an era she’d never imagined would captivate her.

A thrilling time-travel romance of Renaissance England. Robyn Stafford, a young American executive, has flown from Hollywood to England to surprise her lover on his birthday, only to find that he's married and it's his wife who's giving the party. She takes a few days off to recover from her outrage and dismay, travelling and hiking near the Welsh border. There she encounters a handsome young man on horseback, wearing a sword, plate armor and a surcoat, who confidently identifies himself as Edward Plantagenet, Earl of March, and asks directions to a nearby abbey. He thinks the year is 1459 and is amazed by her detailed, printed map and working cell phone. She doesn't know what to think. But when three hostile knights and two dozen bowmen arrive, he sweeps her up in front of him and carries her off to safety, before turning back to valiantly fight off his enemies. Then, the immediate danger past, he returns and asks her to come and be his lady once he has beaten the king. After a parting kiss, he rides away, into the distant past, to the age of the War of the Roses. Now Robyn Stafford must find a way to leave the world of today for the fifteenth century, where she fell in love with a young knight.

Google Books / MacMillan

Recipe of the Month: 

Crock Post Beef Stew

1 pkg beef stew meat     1 pkg frozen stew vegetables     1 pkg beef stew seasoning

1 can stewed tomatoes   1 can water

Put stew meat in crock pot along with vegetables.  Mix together tomatoes, water and seasoning; pour over meat and vegetables.  Cook on low all day. 

Compliments of Sherry Derr-Wille, Author

Father’s Day:  Sonora Dodd, of Washington, first had the idea of a "father's day." She thought of the idea for Father's Day while listening to a Mother's Day sermon in 1909.

Sonora wanted a special day to honor her father, William Smart. Smart, who was a Civil War veteran, was widowed when his wife died while giving birth to their sixth child. Mr. Smart was left to raise the newborn and his other five children by himself on a rural farm in eastern Washington state.

After Sonora became an adult she realized the selflessness her father had shown in raising his children as a single parent. It was her father that made all the parental sacrifices and was, in the eyes of his daughter, a courageous, selfless, and loving man. Sonora's father was born in June, so she chose to hold the first Father's Day celebration in Spokane, Washington on the 19th of June, 1910.

President Calvin Coolidge, in 1924, supported the idea of a national Father's Day. Then in 1966 President Lyndon Johnson signed a presidential proclamation declaring the 3rd Sunday of June as Father's Day. President Richard Nixon signed the law which finally made it permanent in 1972.

http://wilstar.com/holidays/fathers.htm

Ghost Bustin’ in Iowa:  My husbanded and I head out on Friday, May 23^, 2008, for Bonaparte, Iowa. We’ll staying at the Bonaparte Inn along the Des Moines River; an inn that is reported to be haunted. We’ll meet up with the conference group in Bentonsport at Greef Store around 5pm for a meet and greet. The actual conference begins at 9:30 on Saturday. The big attraction, of course, is the investigation at 9:30pm. Here’s the highlights from the WISPexpo.

Friday:  The meet and greet was small but nice.  Got to talk with a lot of interesting members from various paranormal groups. 

Saturday:  The conference started out slow and a bit shaky, but this is the first one for WISP…all in all it wasn’t too bad.  The main speakers were in the afternoon … Steven LaChance (Children of the Grave, seen recently on SciFi) and Patrick Burns (Haunting Evidence seen on Court TV / TruTV).  Next year’s conference is already gearing up for Mansfield, Oh.

Investigation:  There were a lot of people investigating three areas; two of which were the Greet General Store and the Mason House. 

Evidence:  I didn’t seem to pick up any EVPs, but got a number of pictures with questionable things in them.  I’ll upload to the group site and you can take a look.

Overall:  The experience was fun and interesting; although I did miss the possibility of going to Mansfield the next year.

Divas Update:  Congratulations to Mary Wirth of North Dakota! Mary won a bag full of RT Swag with her review of The Queen:

4Stars! A Must Read

By mary wirth on May 12, 2015

Format: Kindle Edition Verified Purchase

This book is a must read if you enjoy ghost stories. I enjoyed the fact that it makes a person realize that even though our ancestors are gone from this life their life story goes on through us. I would recommend for you to read it.

I've got some things planned toward the end of the year so if you want to get on in the fun become a Maxine's Book Diva where we share stories about ourselves, talk about romance books and where it's always an affair of the heart.

Coming Next Month:  My thoughts on RT in Dallas, and featured author Mary Jo Springer on what's too hot to handle.

With much gratitude, until next time…keep reading.

Maxine           

Spark your imagination and entice your mind

Be adventurous in your own home

Take a journey into a new world and be inspired

Enjoy the pleasures of reading ~~

It does the mind and body good. 

May 1, 2015

Happy May Day ~~ Mother’s Day ~~ Memorial Day!  Lots of birthdays in my family the first 11 days of May; ages ranging from 14 all the way up to 60!  AND with all the showers April sent, my garden is in full bloom with May flowers.  AND I’m so looking forward to being in Dallas for the Romantic Times Convention on May 12 through May 17.  I haven’t even started to sort out what to pack yet, and it’s in two weeks!

In this Issue:

          Quote of the Month

          Featured Author

          Recipe of the Month

Mother’s Day

          News/Updates

          Upcoming book signings

          Coming next month

Quote of the Month:  “That a man can change himself . . . and master his own destiny is the conclusion of every mind who is wide-awake to the power of right thought.”  Christian D. Larson (1866-1954).

Featured Author:  Robbi Perna

The Roman Phalera is the story I started writing fiction to tell. As an author, the first question at least one person in a group will always ask is, “where do you get your ideas.”  For me, answering that question is easier than writing the blurb for the story after it’s finished.  My stock answer is all my stories start with the basic premise “what if” and I build on whatever the answer is to the question.  In the case of The Roman Phalera, the idea for the setting of the story grew out of a conversation with an Army colleague.  We were chatting over lunch one day and she remarked that with my love of houses, I should write a story about one in which everyone who visits it has a different experience.  The idea grew abetted by my desire to work through the grief over the loss of one of my brothers.  While Paul and I were not twins, we were as close as a brother and sister born four years apart could be.  The idea of a house where one twin would have a shared experience with his lost twin and find peace and a level of acceptance held an irresistible appeal for me.  Since my educational background is the art and architecture of ancient Rome, the choice of the Divine Twins’ appearance at the battle of Lake Regillus in the fifth century before the Common Era was a logical choice for the twins’ shared experience.

The actual writing of the story was not smooth sailing.  I found composing the funeral scene very difficult on both an emotional and a humorous level.  The emotional one was of course because it brought my brother’s back as fresh as if it were last week instead of ten years ago.  On the humorous side, I found it difficult to keyboard through tears while attempting to reassure the dog that nothing was amiss.  He couldn’t get it through his little doggy brain that there wasn’t a lot he could do to stem the flow.  The other problem stemmed from the quantum mechanics of time travel to the past.  In the end, I gave up on a logical scientific explanation, which no one would want to read anyway, and fell back on the New Age beliefs of ley lines.

Twins Paolo and Carlo Cavaleri are inseparable and share everything as they’ve done for their entire lives. When tragedy strikes, one of them must continue alone. Carlo buries himself in his work as a wine broker, his grief submerging the other facets of his life. Then the Fates intervene, setting the stage for the twins to share one last adventure. Carlo wakes up in the middle of a battlefield with Paolo as his comrade in arms. As rational man, Carlo knows it’s only a dream, but it teaches him one of life’s basic truths. As long he keeps Paolo alive in his memories, they will both fulfill their destinies. Not even the antagonism between Carlo and Andiana Allegretti, the daughter of the mysterious owner of an abandoned vineyard near his parent’s winery, can dim the experience. Will Carlo’s destiny include Andiana...or must he find another path? A bronze and silver Roman phalera may hold the answer.

Amazon / Barnes and Noble / Smashwords / KOBO / All Romance Books / Muse

Robbi’s Website / Facebook

Recipe of the Month: 

Easy Corned Beef Brisket

3-pound corned beef brisket

3 wholes cloves

Water to cover

Combine all ingredients in slow cooker.  Cook on low for 10-12 hours, or on high for 5-6 hours.  Makes 6 servings.

From:  How to Make Love and Dinner at the Same Time

By Rebecca Field Jager

Mother’s Day:  The history of Mother's Day is centuries old and the earliest Mother's Day celebrations can be traced back to the spring celebrations of ancient

Greece in honor of Rhea, the Mother of the Gods. During the 1600's, the early Christians in England celebrated a day to honor Mary, the mother of Christ. By a religious order the holiday was later expanded in its scope to include all mothers, and named as the Mothering Sunday. Celebrated on the 4th Sunday of Lent (the 40 day period leading up to Easter), "Mothering Sunday" honored the mothers of England.

During this time many of the England's poor worked as servants for the wealthy. As most jobs were located far from their homes, the servants would live at the houses of their employers. On Mothering Sunday, the servants would have the day off and were encouraged to return home and spend the day with their mothers. A special cake, called the mothering cake, was often brought along to provide a festive touch.

As Christianity spread throughout Europe the celebration changed to honor the "Mother Church" - the spiritual power that gave them life and protected them from harm. Over time the church festival blended with the Mothering Sunday celebration . People began honoring their mothers as well as the church.

With the passage of time, the practice of this fantastic tradition ceased slowly. The English colonists settled in America discontinued the tradition of Mothering Sunday because of lack of time.

For more information on Mother’s Day: 

·       http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mother%27s_Day_%28United_States%29

·       http://theholidayspot.com/mothersday/history.htm

·       http://d.webring.com/hub?ring=originofmothersd

·       http://mothersday.about.com/od/entertainment/a/mothersday.htm

May Day:  Well, it is a fact that May Day, which the children do enjoy with all vibes, is not an overly prominent holiday in America. Yet, it does have a long and notable history as one of the world's principal festivals. The origin of the May Day as a day for celebration dates back to the days, even before the birth of Christ. And like many ancient festivals it too has a Pagan connection.

For the Druids of the British Isles, May 1 was the second most important holiday of the year. Because, it was when the festival of Beltane held. It was thought that the day divides the year into half. The other half was to be ended with the Samhain on November 1. Those days the May Day custom was the setting of new fire. It was one of those ancient New Year rites performed throughout the world. And the fire itself was thought to lend life to the burgeoning springtime sun. Cattle were driven through the fire to purify them. Men, with their sweethearts, passed through the smoke for seeing good luck.

Then the Romans came to occupy the British Isles. The beginning of May was a very popular feast time for the Romans. It was devoted primarily to the worship of Flora, the goddess of flowers. It was in her honor a five day celebration, called the Floralia, was held. The five day festival would start from April 28 and end on May 2. The Romans brought in the rituals of the Floralia festival in the British Isles. And gradually the rituals of the Floralia were added to those of the Beltane. And many of today's customs on the May Day bear a stark similarity with those combined traditions.

For more information May Day:

·       http://www.theholidayspot.com/mayday/history.htm

·       http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/May_Day?redirect=no

·       http://www.crystalinks.com/mayday.html

·       http://cw178.tripod.com/mayday.htm

News:  As you know I held a contest to name my new street team.  There were many good entries and names.  So good in fact that it was a hard decision but Debra Knotts won with the title Maxine’s Book Divas!  Debra chose Rings of Paradise for her prize and is now a Diva.  You can be a Diva also by clicking Maxine’s Book Divas and joining.

Upcoming Appearances:

May 12-17:  Romantic Times BookLovers Convention, Dallas, TX.

Coming Next Month:  Father’s Day Tradition; Romantic Times Convention in Dallas

With much gratitude, until next time…keep reading.

Maxine           

Spark your imagination and entice your mind

Be adventurous in your own home

Take a journey into a new world and be inspired

Enjoy the pleasures of reading ~~

It does the mind and body good.