September means seven. I know. I hear you. It’s the ninth month. But remember - the old Roman calendar originally only had ten months. January and February didn’t exist yet. Obviously they hadn’t discovered Alberta or they would have been included.
When they added January and February, none of the old calendar names changed. Yup, it confuses me too. Lets just skip past what the name means and agree that September is the start of autumn in the north part of the earth and the start of spring in the south.
In Canada, kids are back in school. Parents catch their breath. And teachers smile as they survey all the new faces in their classroom. Some even begin the countdown until Thanksgiving long weekend. Retired folk acknowledge the movement of the shiny orange school buses and notice playgrounds are a hub of noise and activity during recess again.
After everyone's on board with their new routines, the season pauses … for a few weeks, days or maybe only a few hours. Some folks believe whatever the weather was on the 1st day of September indicates what the entire month is going to look like. Just an FYI - it was totally wrong this year.
43 years ago, I
got married on the September long weekend. I know, 43 years, how did that
happen? So fast? It was a beauty of a fall day. Crunchy leaves. No need for
coats, umbrellas, toques ...
Two days later we
headed out on our honeymoon … in the snow. See what I mean? Mother nature.
Alberta. September. Quite a combination.
Signs I relate to the changing of seasons in Calgary are:
- after
months of silence, the furnace starts to kick in at 6 AM again
- blue
jays stop in and squawk (they’ve been gone all summer)
- robins show up in flocks instead of on their own
- hares develop white blotches
- Northern Flickers
use their long beaks to aerate the lawn (we really should hire them -
every spring and fall they do a thorough job)
- squirrels become more neurotic (seasonal? or maybe they're looking for their stash?)
Google, of course,
has its own ideas on how to determine when winter will pounce on us:
- mice find ways to get indoors (I have experienced this)
- if
hornet or wasp nests seem higher in the trees than normal, it means we’re in
for deep snow (how the heck could they know that? And why in the world would
we trust hornets or wasps?)
- a narrow orange band between the black ends of a caterpillar means a harsh winter is coming. If the band is brown, it will be a mild winter
I have no idea what kind of winter these caterpillars are predicting
- when
you pull an onion out of the garden and the skin is tough and/or thick, it’s
going to be a cold one
- tucking a chestnut in your pocket wards off arthritis and headaches (nothing weird about that)
Baker, Barbara - BWL Publishing Inc.
(bookswelove.net)
Barbara Baker Author Page Facebook
Summer
of Lies by Barbara Baker — BWL Publishing
