April is a Month to Celebrate...

No joke, April is National Humor Month. We celebrate humor because it plays an essential role in our overall health. Smiling and laughing release hormones and endorphins, increase our heart rate and blood flow to oxygenate our brain and vital organs which all reduce pain and stress. So the next time you want to lift your spirits, smile or laugh. It will make you feel better immediately.

April is the fourth month of the year in the Gregorian calendar. Its name is derived from the Latin word aprilis, which means to open. That makes sense because April is the month when the growing season starts and trees and flowers begin to 'open.' The birthstone for April is diamond. The zodiac sign is Aries (March 21 - April 19) and Taurus (April 20 - May 20). The birth flowers for the month of April are the sweet pea and the daisy.

April is also National Black Women's History Month, Keep America Beautiful Month, Month of the Military Child, National Autism Awareness Month, and National Pecan Month.

Other than being the birthday of our Fairchild LINK magazine, what other birthdays are celebrated in April:

• Maya Angelou
  
• Asa Butterfield
  
• Alec Baldwin
• Charlotte Bronte
  
• Charlie Chaplin
• Leonardo da Vinci
  
• Billie Holliday
  
• John Muir
  
• Saoirse Ronan
• William Shakespeare
  
• Kristen Stewart
• Pharrell Williams
• Robin Wright
  

Famous dates in April:

• America's first astronauts were announced by NASA on April 9, 1959.
• The first Webster Dictionary was copyrighted by Noah Webster on April 14, 1828.
• The Titanic sand on April 15, 1912.
• The Revolutionary War in America began on April 19, 1775

In honor of National Poetry Month...

In April a poem by James Hearst  (https://poets.org)

This I saw on an April day:

Warm rain split from a sun-lined cloud,

A sky-flung wave of gold at evening,

And a cock pheasant treading a dusty path

Shy and proud.

And this I found in an April field:

A new white calf in the sun at noon,

A flash of blue in a cool moss bank,

And tips of tulips promising flowers

To a blue-winged loon.

And this I tried to understand

As I scrubbed the rust from my brightening plow:

Them movement of seed in furrowed earth,

And a blackbird whistling sweet and clear

From a green-sprayed bough.