Break

In the heat.

Up north, where the seasons are winter and road repair, they eagerly await the spring, with the promise of warmth.

Down here, where the seasons are wet and hurricane, and the only real difference is that hurricane is hotter, we like spring, but we really look forward to the arrival of cooler weather.

Sometimes we wear shorts well into December.

Yesterday, thanks to a quick moving very cloudy cool front, we will actually have a bit of autumn, with highs that won't get above 70ºF. Of course, the temps in the 80's will be back by the weekend, but the nights will stay cooler.

So, a break in the weather. Just when we wondered if we really were going to melt this year.

Of course, i'm not thrilled about what it may do to my hands, but this will be a test, see if i can keep the pernio at bay, at least until later in the season.


Today is:

Armilustrium -- Ancient Roman Calendar (festival of Mars)

Bettara-Ichi -- Japan (Pickle Market Fair, enjoy the pickled radishes, a specialty; through tomorrow)

Constitution Day -- Niue

Day of National Concern About Young People and Gun Violence -- US (go to www.pledge.org to take the pledge that you won't resort to gun violence to solve your problems)

Evaluate Your Life Day -- a day to make sure your life is heading where you want, and course correct if it isn't

Feast of St. Paul of the Cross

Greasy Spoon Day -- internet generated, a day to go revel in the love of your favorite greasy spoon diner

Hagfish Day -- a day to celebrate the uniqueness and necessity of even the ugliest of sea creatures, like the hagfish

Jesuit Martyrs' Day

Medical Assistants Recognition Day -- US

Mother Teresa Day -- Albania

National Seafood Bisque Day

National Support Your Local Chamber of Commerce Day -- US

Samora Machel Day -- Mozambique

Seeking of King Look Under Your Mattress -- Fairy Calendar

St. Frideswide's Day (Patron of Oxford and the University of Oxford)

St. Rene Goupil's Day (Patron of anesthesiologists)

Yabusame Festival -- Koyama, Japan (horseback archery, samurai costumes and dragons, oh, my!)


Birthdays Today:

Ty Pennington, 1965
Evander Holyfield, 1962
John Lithgow, 1945
Jeannie C. Riley, 1945
Peter Max, 1937
Robert Reed, 1932
John Le Carre, 1931
Jack Anderson, 1922


Today in History:

Battle of Zama, Scipio Africanus and his Roman legions defeat Hannibal Barca and the invading Carthagian army, BC202
King Gauseric and his Vandals take the city of Carthage, 439
The Thirteen Years' War ends with the Treaty of Thorn, 1466
Martin Luther becomes a doctor of theology, 1512
The first general court is held in Boston, 1630
Cornwallis surrenders at Yorktown at 2PM, end of the US Revolutionary War, 1781
Napoleon begins his retreat from Moscow, 1812
Elizabeth Blackwell becomes the first woman to receive a medical degree, 1849
The first 4 blacks are elected to the US House of Representatives, 1870
The USPS first used an automobile to collect and deliver mail, 1914
Streptomycin, the first antibiotic which could treat tuberculosis, is isolated at Rutgers University, 1943
Black Monday - the Dow Jones Industrial Average falls by 22%, 508 points, 1987
Mother Teresa is beatified by Pope John Paul II, 2003
Saddam Hussein goes on trial in Baghdad for crimes against humanity, 2005
Hurricane Wilma becomes the most intense Atlantic hurricane on record with a minimum pressure of 882 mb, 2005