June Ahern's Blog - Posts Tagged "mother-daughter"
Shopping at San Francisco's Woolworth Store
Having had lived in San Francisco since 1956 I find it a fascinating city for it's picturesque hills and valleys, and waterways and therefore set my story about a Scottish immigrant family in the city.
Growing up in San Francisco some of my most enjoyable memories were trips downtown to shop at Woolworth’s Department Store. The building was on Market Street and wrapped around and up Powell Street. Woolworth was such a San Francisco experience that I just had to include it my book, The Skye in June. See an excerpt below.
The store was filled with just about everything you'd ever want to find; clothing, beauty products, sewing goods,inexpensive jewelry, so much stuff!
Perfect for Christmas shopping where my money would be spent carefully. I’d jump on the number 8 Castro bus at 19th and Castro with usually a sister or two and head downtown for fun. My wallet would be filled with money saved from babysitting. The first floor was tight to walk with aisles or counters and in the basement was Budgies, Canaries and gold fish –– gifts I bought at one time or another for family. It took hours to shop. At the end of the shopping I’d go upstairs to the lunch counter –– always busy –– for a Patti-melt and milkshake or a burger and coke. Afterward, if there was time, we would take a cable car ride (no lines back then - just hop on.)
From "The Skye in June"
The grinding noise of the cable car’s brakes as it slowed to their stop was ear piercing. June stood and took hold of the metal pole. She swayed outward as she readied herself to jump from the platform when they reached the intersection of Powell at Market Streets. The thrill of hanging out of the cable car and the feel of the brisk wind against her face had charged her energy. She felt a sense of freedom. As they lurched to a stop, she hopped off and hollered to her mother, “Did you get a transfer?”Cathy nodded a “yes,” and gingerly stretched out a foot to get down from the cable car. June took hold of her hand to help her mother. Arm in arm, they walked over to the Woolworth’s department store on Market Street to look at the items for sale in the window.
Please read more chapter excerpts www.juneahern.com
The Skye in June
Growing up in San Francisco some of my most enjoyable memories were trips downtown to shop at Woolworth’s Department Store. The building was on Market Street and wrapped around and up Powell Street. Woolworth was such a San Francisco experience that I just had to include it my book, The Skye in June. See an excerpt below.
The store was filled with just about everything you'd ever want to find; clothing, beauty products, sewing goods,inexpensive jewelry, so much stuff!
Perfect for Christmas shopping where my money would be spent carefully. I’d jump on the number 8 Castro bus at 19th and Castro with usually a sister or two and head downtown for fun. My wallet would be filled with money saved from babysitting. The first floor was tight to walk with aisles or counters and in the basement was Budgies, Canaries and gold fish –– gifts I bought at one time or another for family. It took hours to shop. At the end of the shopping I’d go upstairs to the lunch counter –– always busy –– for a Patti-melt and milkshake or a burger and coke. Afterward, if there was time, we would take a cable car ride (no lines back then - just hop on.)
From "The Skye in June"
The grinding noise of the cable car’s brakes as it slowed to their stop was ear piercing. June stood and took hold of the metal pole. She swayed outward as she readied herself to jump from the platform when they reached the intersection of Powell at Market Streets. The thrill of hanging out of the cable car and the feel of the brisk wind against her face had charged her energy. She felt a sense of freedom. As they lurched to a stop, she hopped off and hollered to her mother, “Did you get a transfer?”Cathy nodded a “yes,” and gingerly stretched out a foot to get down from the cable car. June took hold of her hand to help her mother. Arm in arm, they walked over to the Woolworth’s department store on Market Street to look at the items for sale in the window.
Please read more chapter excerpts www.juneahern.com
The Skye in June
Talking to the Dead-Gift or Curse?
I just watched the movie Hereafter with Matt Damon as George, a retired psychic medium, who is called back into service against his will. I know how he felt.
I’m one of those people who easily sees and talks to the dead––those who have passed over. In the movie George tells another how he became psychic: As a child he had become very ill and needed surgery on the back of his head. Because of it something happened in his brain resulting in him “knowing and seeing” things about people he had no prior access to and this information was told to him by dead people.
I appreciated how the scriptwriter presented a correlation between head/brain surgery and changes in one’s psychic abilities. I also had a similar experience where a head injury had awoken my psychic abilities.
When I was nineteen I was in a very serious car accident and received grave injuries to my face and head and for a moment in the ambulance I “died”. That brief moment profoundly changed the course of my life forever, although it took me years to, not only understand what happened, but talk about it openly. Like one character in Hereafter I went to the“otherside”.
The physical part in time healed but the true miracle was what happened afterward.
Within a couple of months I began to have strong premonitions, about people’s past (recognition) visions of future events (precognition) and dead people spoke to me. It was not pleasant. Heck it scared the bejeevus out of me! Not that I was new to accepting psychic occurrences. My mother had a curiosity in it, even having a few prophetic a few dreams and for fun read tealeaves, but my experiences surpassed this greatly.
One of my strong abilities is mediumship and I rather enjoy it. I’ve mostly given up giving spirit communication (aka séances) because of the physically living beings as George experienced.
Of course the dead can be an annoyance as Oda Mae Brown (Whoopi Goldberg) in the movie “Ghosts” learned where she was deluged by spirits all coming through (talking) at one time––it can happen like that when they find a person who can see and hear them.
Do they haunt you like Oda Mae was by the dead character Sam, Patrick Swayze? You bethca! This happened to me once. The spirit didn’t lighten up until the police contacted me for all her information (her killer was successfully prosecuted.)
There are many rewards having these abilities’ and talents. I’ve met people from all over the world and been invited to travel to share my abilities. People have told me the information I shared changed their lives. Then again there’s a downside. In the movie George says that some people say he has a gift, but he thought of it more as a curse. I can relate. The curse is seeing and knowing too much as George says.
Psychics do become tired. Its takes a lot of energy, much focus and a certain detachment as information surges through. I’ve worked with law enforcement and even the believers have a particular way that can make one feel a bit blocked. There’s the need and expectations of clients to fulfill (or not) and neediness of the people seeking help and connections to dead loved ones. Let’s not forget the testing doubters, the ridiculing critics and the condemning haters (oh yes!) of psychics.
After having used my abilities for 40 years I believe that psychic energy must retire and the person must live for her or himself. But then, like George, there’s always that one more person who truly needs that information.
In my novel, my main character has "unusual" abilities that prove to be more of a curse than a blessings.
The Skye in June
I’m one of those people who easily sees and talks to the dead––those who have passed over. In the movie George tells another how he became psychic: As a child he had become very ill and needed surgery on the back of his head. Because of it something happened in his brain resulting in him “knowing and seeing” things about people he had no prior access to and this information was told to him by dead people.
I appreciated how the scriptwriter presented a correlation between head/brain surgery and changes in one’s psychic abilities. I also had a similar experience where a head injury had awoken my psychic abilities.
When I was nineteen I was in a very serious car accident and received grave injuries to my face and head and for a moment in the ambulance I “died”. That brief moment profoundly changed the course of my life forever, although it took me years to, not only understand what happened, but talk about it openly. Like one character in Hereafter I went to the“otherside”.
The physical part in time healed but the true miracle was what happened afterward.
Within a couple of months I began to have strong premonitions, about people’s past (recognition) visions of future events (precognition) and dead people spoke to me. It was not pleasant. Heck it scared the bejeevus out of me! Not that I was new to accepting psychic occurrences. My mother had a curiosity in it, even having a few prophetic a few dreams and for fun read tealeaves, but my experiences surpassed this greatly.
One of my strong abilities is mediumship and I rather enjoy it. I’ve mostly given up giving spirit communication (aka séances) because of the physically living beings as George experienced.
Of course the dead can be an annoyance as Oda Mae Brown (Whoopi Goldberg) in the movie “Ghosts” learned where she was deluged by spirits all coming through (talking) at one time––it can happen like that when they find a person who can see and hear them.
Do they haunt you like Oda Mae was by the dead character Sam, Patrick Swayze? You bethca! This happened to me once. The spirit didn’t lighten up until the police contacted me for all her information (her killer was successfully prosecuted.)
There are many rewards having these abilities’ and talents. I’ve met people from all over the world and been invited to travel to share my abilities. People have told me the information I shared changed their lives. Then again there’s a downside. In the movie George says that some people say he has a gift, but he thought of it more as a curse. I can relate. The curse is seeing and knowing too much as George says.
Psychics do become tired. Its takes a lot of energy, much focus and a certain detachment as information surges through. I’ve worked with law enforcement and even the believers have a particular way that can make one feel a bit blocked. There’s the need and expectations of clients to fulfill (or not) and neediness of the people seeking help and connections to dead loved ones. Let’s not forget the testing doubters, the ridiculing critics and the condemning haters (oh yes!) of psychics.
After having used my abilities for 40 years I believe that psychic energy must retire and the person must live for her or himself. But then, like George, there’s always that one more person who truly needs that information.
In my novel, my main character has "unusual" abilities that prove to be more of a curse than a blessings.
The Skye in June
NEGATIVE THINKING POISONS THE BODY
It's true, scientific studies reveal what metaphysics has said for years: the poison of your mind (negative, fearful thinking) causes health problems, emotionally and physically.
BAY AREA: WORKSHOP: Heal your thoughts, heal your health. I'll talk about this, how, give scientific facts by neurosurgeons and true and tried methods to reverse negative thinking in a free workshop, Saturday, April 27th, 1:30-3 p.m. at Irving and 3rd Ave (entrance on 3rd), San Francisco.
Published in Frontiers in Psychiatry, the study was the brainchild of Dr. Nian-Sheng, an acting clinical at Tzeng, a psychiatrist at Tri-Service General Hospital in Taipei told ScienceDaily that he began the research after noticing a pattern, “I observed that some patients with the three A’s - asthma, allergies, and atopic dermatitis (eczema) appeared to suffer emotionally." Like YEAH. Come hear how to help your physical ailments ease.
Also! Don't forget my first novel's free Kindle in the next few days:
CELEBRATE "The Skye in June's" 10th year anniversary. FREE Kindle April 25 - April 29 Celebrate
Don't miss this powerful mother daughter tale, a proven favorite for young and older readers with monthly sales since its April '08 debut.
Scotland to San Francisco, an immigrant family in a unique time and place, a historical fiction told in a strong woman's voice.
Never a dull moment in with MacDonald family!
Overwhelming positive reviews on Amazon (US, UK, France and Japan) and Goodreads, Smashwords, Barnes and Noble and many other book sites.
About me and other books at june ahern dot com.
Amazon link above or cut and paste see below.
Amazon link above FREE Kindle or cut, paste https://www.amazon.com/Skye-June-Ahern-ebook/dp/B001AJKQHM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1524676879&sr=8-1&keywords=June+Ahern&dpID=51PuZN7vu4L&preST=_SY445_QL70_&dpSrc=srch
June Ahern
BAY AREA: WORKSHOP: Heal your thoughts, heal your health. I'll talk about this, how, give scientific facts by neurosurgeons and true and tried methods to reverse negative thinking in a free workshop, Saturday, April 27th, 1:30-3 p.m. at Irving and 3rd Ave (entrance on 3rd), San Francisco.
Published in Frontiers in Psychiatry, the study was the brainchild of Dr. Nian-Sheng, an acting clinical at Tzeng, a psychiatrist at Tri-Service General Hospital in Taipei told ScienceDaily that he began the research after noticing a pattern, “I observed that some patients with the three A’s - asthma, allergies, and atopic dermatitis (eczema) appeared to suffer emotionally." Like YEAH. Come hear how to help your physical ailments ease.
Also! Don't forget my first novel's free Kindle in the next few days:
CELEBRATE "The Skye in June's" 10th year anniversary. FREE Kindle April 25 - April 29 Celebrate
Don't miss this powerful mother daughter tale, a proven favorite for young and older readers with monthly sales since its April '08 debut.
Scotland to San Francisco, an immigrant family in a unique time and place, a historical fiction told in a strong woman's voice.
Never a dull moment in with MacDonald family!
Overwhelming positive reviews on Amazon (US, UK, France and Japan) and Goodreads, Smashwords, Barnes and Noble and many other book sites.
About me and other books at june ahern dot com.
Amazon link above or cut and paste see below.
Amazon link above FREE Kindle or cut, paste https://www.amazon.com/Skye-June-Ahern-ebook/dp/B001AJKQHM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1524676879&sr=8-1&keywords=June+Ahern&dpID=51PuZN7vu4L&preST=_SY445_QL70_&dpSrc=srch
June Ahern
