NOVEMBER - Transitioning to Winter

 by Judy Ann Davis

                                          HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

It’s November—our transition into winter. Bare tree limbs shiver in stiff winds. Wayward leaves scurry across the chilly ground, and clouds gather in gray skies. Inside, people search closets and drawers for wool and flannel clothing, and warm shoes and boots.

It’s the time when everyone dashes outside to get their homes battened down and ready for the first snows to fly. The bushes and trees have been trimmed, and perennial plants are leveled to the ground for a spring rebirth. Leaves from trees, now drab brown, wet, or maybe crispy and dry, have been raked or swept up in lawn mowers. In our small development here in Central Pennsylvania, when one mower roared to life, another followed shortly, and the race was on to see which house finished first.

November brings back many memories from childhood in Northeastern Pennsylvania. I remember school days when we watched out the windows in our classrooms to look for the first snowflakes. For farm kids, snow meant outside fun as we rode sleds, shovels or saucers down a slippery slope. There were outside chores, too. Clearing snow from the front porch, sidewalk, back steps and entrance were unspoken activities after every storm. Almost daily, we hauled stacks of wood from outside into our cellar to dry and feed our hungry, wood-fired furnace.                                     

I loved our cellar furnace. The light sweet smoky smell of wood still reminds me of a toasty warmed-by-air ducts ending at metal floor registers above. In high school and before bedtime, I would find a register, grab a blanket and wrap it tent-like around me to trap the heat while I did my homework.

And I’ll never forget the tasty winter foods of November. Falling temperatures brought warmer hearty dishes to our table—roasts, ham, meatloaf, stuffed cabbage, and stews, to name a few. Delicious scents from homemade soups like chicken noodle, beet, creamy potato, or vegetable beef wafted through the rooms. Hot chocolate, cider, tea, and coffee made winter meals even more savory and inviting. Thanksgiving was a feast. If we didn’t have a turkey, we enjoyed a chicken or roast. Mother froze or canned every imaginable vegetable, so cranberries were our only purchased item for the holidays.

As the eleventh month of the year, November can rightfully boast it’s the transition from fall to winter. It also announces we are approaching the end of the year. For children who love and wait for winter, it's so much more as they ask the curious and often blissful question swirling in their heads and hearts—will it snow today?  

JUNE ~ The Pianist

(Book 1 of the Musical Christmas Series)
NOW ON SALE $0.99

MAGICAL SEPTEMBER

 by Judy Ann Davis

“By all these lovely tokens, September days are here.

With summer’s best of weather and autumn’s best of cheer.”

– Helen Hunt Jackson

 Magical September waltzed in with her cooler temperatures and autumn splendor.

 Let’s remember to:

      Admire September’s magical sunsets and the harvest moon

      Enjoy the beauty of goldenrod along our roadways.

      Appreciate the last green leaves before Jack Frost hauls out his paint box

      Take a few minutes to watch the rolling fog lift itself from the land.

      Drink a glass of refreshing apple cider.

      Call a friend and grab lunch to share in the fall merriment.

If I were to ponder the summer of 2022, I’d have to admit Central Pennsylvania had a hot humid season with temperatures rolling upward near ninety degrees many days. We received enough rain to encourage every weed in our flowerbeds to flourish. I grew a horse weed plant taller than I am. I filled buckets with purslane, plantain, dandelion, dollar weed, quack grass and clover. Humid conditions during the day and hot muggy nights encouraged white mold on many plants’ leaves, but our ferns went crazy, loving the humidity. Ironically, my tomato plants were stubbornly lazy and didn’t produce as well as they had in other years.

But now, it’s time to watch September spin the last of its magic as it blows a farewell kiss to us in less than a week. The hummingbirds have disappeared. Crows gather in noisy flocks. Geese honk farewell as they wing their way south.

Hans - Pixabay

  Acorns plummet to the earth with a plop. Mushroom 

  silently pop up from the ground. Milkweed pods 

  burst open sending seeds sailing into the air on 

  fluffy floss. Pleasing scents fill the air: smoky wood 

  fires, hot chocolate, cinnamon and nutmeg spices, 

  roasts in the oven, and apple   and pumpkin pies. 

  Oh, and let’s not forget pumpkin spice coffee

  sold in every establishment in town

                                   

JIMaro Morales - Pixabay

In many northern states,  September delivers the first frost of the season and signals autumn is approaching. I love autumn because of the exquisite colors it brings. Maple trees cover our landscape in gold, scarlet, and orange. It’s a painter’s paradise.                                

 

September is also jacket weather on cool nights. It’s the season when we dig into the back of our closets and pull out those jeans, flannel shirts, and fleece coats. Dry leaves rustle beneath our feet when we take a walk in the brisk outdoors.

Do you have a favorite sign of the autumn season? Share it with others in the comments below. And watch out for those falling acorns!

JUNE - The Pianist

Book 1 in the Musical Christmas Series 

Now on Sale for $0.99

LUCY ~ THE CLARINETIST by Judy Ann Davis

October reminds us of cool, crisp days, a rainbow of colored leaves, and Halloween. October is also National Dessert Month. With seasonal ingredients like spicy cinnamon, rich caramel, and decadent pecans, autumn is one of the best seasons for baking. Who doesn’t enjoy pumpkin pie heaped with Cool Whip? Or apple pie or crisp? How about pecan pie and the many cobblers?

This month, on October 26th, I’m releasing my last novella in the Musical Christmas Series. It’s Lucy –The Clarinetist, and like the preceding novellas, it includes a recipe that one of the main characters enjoys. This time it’s Andre Almanza, my main character, who likes apple pie with a cinnamon crumb crust.

APPLE PIE with Cinnamon Crumb Crust  

INGREDIENTS:

¾ cup sugar
¼ cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp. cinnamon
½ tsp. nutmeg (optional)
Dash of salt
6 cups thinly sliced pared apples
(McIntosh work well)
2 Tbsp. butter or margarine

Deep Dish Pastry for a 9-inch pie
(You need only the bottom crust)

 Heat oven to 425 degrees. Prepare pastry or use one purchased from the store.
(Frozen deep dish varieties work best.)

Stir together sugar, flour, nutmeg, cinnamon, and salt, and mix with apples.

Turn into pastry-lined pie pan and dot with butter.

CINNAMON CRUMB CRUST:

Mix 1 cup flour, ½ cold cup butter, and ½ cup (packed) brown sugar.

Cut dry ingredients into butter with pastry cutter until crumbly.
Carefully spread the mixture on top of the apples, packing it down around the edges, and sprinkle the top with cinnamon.

Bake 40 to 50 minutes.

NOTE: You may need to cover topping with aluminum foil for the last ten minutes to
prevent excess browning. Serve warm with ice cream or whipped cream.

BLURB:

A merry novella for the holiday season!

Lucy Ciaffonni wants nothing more than to start her own public relations firm, but she’s stuck at the local bank performing boring communications and advertising duties. When her best friend and computer guru, Andre Almanza, buys an area farm to create a barn theater, Lucy is pulled into the mystery of discovering where a rare, German, H.F. Kayser clarinet was hidden on the property during Prohibition.

Andre Almanza has always adored Lucy from afar. He hopes she’ll take the position of barn theater manager. When she agrees to help him renovate the barn and update and furnish his huge Victorian house, he is delighted—that is, until the entire town becomes involved in locating the missing antique instrument. To complicate matters, there are ruthless people who want to recover the expensive clarinet and cash in on its legend and value.

Will Lucy and Andre locate the clarinet and finally acknowledge the sparks of romance that have been smoldering between them for the longest time? Will it be the perfect Christmas?

LINK for Lucy ~ The Clarinetist

LEARNING PATIENCE - by Judy Ann Davis

 With fall officially here, I start to think of all the projects I have to accomplish before the winter snows fly in Pennsylvania. I'm reminded of a phrase: “If you don’t have the time to do it right, when will you get the time to do it over?”

Everyone loves to finish his or her projects. Completing them gives you a feeling of self-confidence and personal joy. But sometimes I find myself rushing through chores, not enjoying the moment, but always thinking of the next thing that needs to be done after I’m finished with the work at hand.

I’ve learned my need to find closure with one chore, if done quickly, can sometimes lead to carelessness and can sometimes add more complications and time while I fix what I’ve done in haste.

My mother called it “patience.” And boy, oh boy, did she have patience with every task she accomplished. She was a perfectionist, but she never grew tired of performing at only her best.

This fall I’m going to try to be more patient even if I don’t accomplish my long list of “things to do.”

What fall tasks are on your list for October?  Whatever they are, I’m wishing you lots of patience to get them done!
                       

                                                      COMING SOON: 

                  The third book in the Musical Christmas Series!

                                                      LUCY ~ The Clarinetist 

                                                               NOW AVAILABLE!