Today is Sunday, September 30 and there are only 42 days until my birthday. Don’t wait until the last minute to shop or all the good stuff will be taken.  Today we remember the birthdays of Robinson Crusoe (according to Daniel Defoe), Elie Wiesel and Marilyn McCoo. On this day in 1452 Johann Gutenberg’s Bible was published, in 1846 the anesthetic ether was used for the first time and in 1960, on Howdy Doody’s last show, Clarabelle finally talked saying, “Goodbye kids.” In Botswana it is Botswana Day and in the US it is National Gold Star Mother’s Day, National Chewing Gum Day and National Hot Mulled Cider Day.

In the past I have discussed the Gold Star Mothers and would like to mention them briefly, again. Gold Star Mothers is a private, nonprofit organization of American mothers who lost sons or daughters in service in the US Armed Forces. Its name came from the custom of families of servicemen hanging a banner called a service flag in the windows of their homes. The service flag had a star for each family member in the Armed Forces. Living servicemen were represented by a blue star, and those who had lost their lives in combat were represented by a gold star. Membership in the organization is open to any woman who is a U.S. citizen or legal resident that has lost a son or daughter in active service in the U.S. military (regardless of the place or time of the military service, regardless of whether the circumstances of death involved hostile conflict or not, and including mothers of those missing in action). 

I have set a goal for myself. I am going to start saving money so that I can buy an expensive, up-scale car. I have noticed that certain brands are the ones that are always flying by me on the highways. There is apparently a certain cachet in owning one of those cars that allows them to disregard speed limits. I have noticed that there are generally three brands that regularly flout the laws. Interestingly, when I do see a car pulled over by police, it is usually not one of those three brands. Maybe it is because the police cannot catch those cars. I don’t know. What I do know is that if I drove one of them I could make the trip to South Carolina a lot faster than I do now.

We have now come into the time of year that I am both fond of and not fond of. I love this fall season for a number of reasons. I like the cooler temperatures, I like the colorful foliage (or foilage as I heard it pronounced in a store announcement  once), I love having fresh apples, apple cider and apple cider donuts. I am not fond of it because I cannot stand how everything suddenly has to be pumpkin spice – coffee, tea, cakes, cookies, coffee creamers, pastries, toothpaste, candles, air fresheners and so on. I love when the day is cool enough to wear a light jacket when you are out. 

What I don’t like is that halfway through the day it gets so warm that you have to take the jacket off and you wish you had worn shorts instead of jeans. It is almost like Mother Nature is having hot flashes and we are getting to enjoy (??) them with her. Just recently the temperatures dropped down to the mid-60’s and it was great. Watching the weather report last night they said the temperature is going back to the mid to upper 70’s by the middle of the week. Aside from the issue of wearing or not wearing a jacket, I now have to make sure that I have both short and long sleeved shirts ironed so I can be ready for whatever comes along. 

To some of you the shirt issue probably does not bother you too much. It becomes a problem for me. Most of my short sleeved shirts are Hawaiian shirts. Again, to most people that would not matter, but it does to me. I can see some of you shaking your heads and thinking, “this guy has some real issues.” I suppose you are right, but that is the way I am. This late in the year Hawaiian shirts don’t seem to fit the season. Unless you are in Hawaii. Unfortunately, I am not. Honestly, I am just ready to move out of short sleeves, shorts and sweating and into cooler weather. 

Not much else to discuss this week. We went down the shore this past week and it was nice. The weather was warm enough to sit and enjoy the waves and the fresh air, but not so hot that you felt like someone should be basting you. We enjoyed several hours sitting, reading and relaxing. The show was not as good, because fewer people were there, but it was still fun. We decided to leave when a sizable fog bank came in and things got much cooler and breezier. Being able to spend time on the beach is one thing I will miss as the seasons change. Yes, we can still go down, but sitting on the beach huddled in jackets and wrapped in a blanket sort of takes some of the fun out of it.

This week our fact tells us that Geniophobia is the fear of chins. Why do we have to have a fancy word that few people can pronounce correctly for something like that. Wouldn’t it be simpler to just say a person has a fear of chins? It is easier to pronounce and everyone would know what you meant.