Greetings, August.

The Month of August

Full Moon: August 1st

 

Holidays

Friendship Day
Raksha Bandhan
Women's Equality Day
National Catfish Month

Harvest Month
National Water Quality Month
Peach Month
National Immunization Awareness Month
Get Ready for Kindergarten Month

Symbols of August

• Birthstone: Agate or onyx
• Flower: Gladiolus or poppy
• Zodiac signs: Leo and Virgo

History:

In the original Roman calendar the month of August was called Sextilis. This was because it was the sixth month of the year. Later, after January and February were added to the calendar, it became the eighth month of the year. At the time the month had 29 days. When Julius Caesar created the Julian calendar in 45 BC, two days were added giving the month 31 days. The month was later renamed Augustus in honor of the first emperor of Rome, Caesar Augustus.

Interesting Facts about August

• It is the last of the summer months.
• The Islamic holiday of Ramadan runs from July 19 to August 18 in 2012.
• August in the Northern Hemisphere is similar to February in the Southern Hemisphere.
• Augustus renamed the month of Sextilis because many of his greatest triumphs occurred during this month.
• August is a month of summer vacation and holiday for many children around the world.
• Many cultures call this month the harvest month or the time of harvest.

 

Doldrums of summer

 These are the doldrums of summer.  It's too hot to do anything strenuous outside so we're basically confined to indoor spaces.  I don't even like going for walks in hot, humid weather. So how do I fill the days, you ask?  Well, I'm still volunteering one day a week and I still have my weekly story to write for Volume II of my personal history.  I also read quite a bit or I busy myself with photography tasks. If that isn't enough I have Sudoku and word jumble puzzles I print out from the e-edition of my newspaper every morning.  Then there's the daily Wordle puzzle I do every morning.

Added to that list are a number of small, routine chores that need to be done around the house regardless of the weather.  

There's always something.  Nature even has a way of adding to my list as you can see below. We went for a long time without any problems with bears and our bird feeders until about a week ago. The two pictures taken by my trail cam that  I posted below show you what happened.  I managed to straighten out the pole and then I started taking the feeder in at night and putting it out during the day thinking the bears wouldn't come around when there was evidence of human activity.  Wrong! One morning two days ago I left the house at 9:30 and returned at 10:30.  Within that hour the feeder got hit again so that's it for feeding the birds until cold weather returns.

My next post probably won't be for a while unless something comes up.  Check back later.

A trip to St. John in U.S. Virgin Islands

 I haven't posted anything here since July 23rd.  These past several weeks have been extremely busy.  I've had cataract surgery, follow up doctor's appointments, other doctor's appointments and most recently a week long trip to St. John Virgin Island.

So here I am, back again, with some observations about the Caribbean island of St. John.  First of all if you're planning a trip there you need to know it does not have an airport so you're going to have to fly into St. Thomas first.  Then you get a private boat charter or a ferry to St. John.  It's not a long ride but it's a hassle considering you have to manage all your luggage.

The other thing about St. John is its geography.  It's extremely hilly and rather short on beaches.  I would recommend you stay somewhere like Weston Resorts where they have their own beach.  Also, try to avoid driving since they drive on the left and the roads are steep, narrow and there are numerous hairpin turns.

When all is said and done, it quite frankly is not one of my favorite islands.  It certainly doesn't lend itself to exploring by foot or just taking walks.  Fortunately we stayed at a beautiful villa with a great group of friends so it ended up being a fairly decent trip.