Happy 30 Days Hath September Day

I came out of my self-imposed hibernation to wish everyone a Happy 30 Days Hath September Day!

This is one of the first days most of us ever heard of. When I was growing up, learning about the days of the year, no lesson would be complete without mentioning it. And thank God, because it rolls around every year.

Other than that, there's not much to say about it. Although, just giving it a minute's thought, wouldn't it be wild to have your birthday on September 30? As many people do, no doubt. Since no one can help when they're born. It's all up to their mom and dad. Still, let's say you were born on Sept. 30, and they were teaching you the calendar and your birthday and "30 days hath September" were the same day! You'd never forget it.

Halloween Is Coming

Although I guess it's still a month and a half till then.

I didn't think of that. It's still sort of far off.

But I was at the store and noticed a lot of Halloween stuff, so I guess I was thinking it was closer than that.

They definitely have a lot of Halloween merchandise setting around, in its trademark orange and black color scheme. I saw some children's clothes with really neat Halloween patterns. Of course candy, which might be about half stale by then. And some cards.

That's really a lot of advance notice, advance merchandising, for something that's a one day thing.

A Michael Jackson National Holiday

One of the questions that keeps popping up on Facebook involves whether there should be a Michael Jackson national holiday.

On the face of it, when you first hear the idea, you think, How absurd. Then the more you think of it the absurdity continues on.

It seems to me, though, that a lot of these Facebook questions are just a means someone has for generating traffic to their app (or whatever you call all these Facebook appendages.) I can't seriously believe we're going to have a national holiday for him.

He was a fine singer, etc., blah blah blah. But there are lots of those, including Elvis, who, unless you count the marathon movies on his birthday, doesn't have a holiday. And great actors. John Wayne didn't get a national holiday. Neither did Red Buttons, no national holiday for him.

I'm not strictly opposed to more national holidays but I have reluctant to support them, for one simple reason: I hate it when the post office is closed and we don't get mail.

St. Patrick's Day

I'm not a big fan of saints, in general. There's a couple saints I like. I think I mentioned Terese of Lisieux, the Little Flower. I have a few pictures of her and even a statue that I got at a garage sale. The statue was either a quarter or a dollar, and it's very gnarly. That's a bad picture of it. The skin is more white in fact than it appears in the picture.

I'm trying to think how I discovered her. I originally had a card but I didn't think much about it. But at some point I heard the story of her dropping roses on everybody on earth. Then I read her life story and it was very charming, although the discipline seemed very severe.

The other saint I have any idea about (except the biggies like St. Paul, Mary, etc.) is a guy named Sharbel. I don't know much about him either except I bought a book about him on eBay once for some reason. He was a hermit in Lebanon. And it's been a while since I looked at the book, so I can't remember why he ever appealed to me, except he looks crazy with holiness in the artwork that pilgrims made about his apparitions. I should look up Sharbel and see why I like him.

But today is St. Patrick's Day. He's got a lock on March 17, it would seem. No other saint in all of heaven can dislodge him.

We don't normally think of every day as some kind of saint's day. I'm not Catholic so I don't pay any attention to this stuff, virtually. But I got a calendar at a Mexican restaurant, and it tells of the various saints' days. It's in Spanish, so looking at today, that is "San Patricio." But yesterday, March 16, was the day for San Heriberto, the day before was the day for San Raymundo. Tomorrow is the day for San Narciso Ob., and the 19th is the day for San Jose. It goes on like that, apparently everyday. St. Therese's day is Oct. 1. I don't know if Sharbel has his own day. But if he doesn't have one, maybe I'll make one. I'll have to dislodge one of these other unknowns.

Punxsutawney Phil

This is one of the first years I've thought about Punxsutawney Phil before Groundhog Day actually got here. Usually it's here, then I see the news, the groundhog and all the guys in top hats, and think, well, there it is!

But today I'm thinking they're getting ready at Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, for the big day, their one and only day in the spotlight. And the poor groundhog has to crawl out of his hole for his one day of fame. Ya ha!

He predicts the weather and this is how we know that winter will eventually expire.