As I was looking at my calendar which lists cultural events and religious celebrations from all over the world, I realized there is nothing to celebrate today. At least nothing of great enough importance to note on this calendar. But, as a retired sailor once told me, “Ever day is a holiday. Every meal is a feast.” So let’s all go out and celebrate October 19th by having a feast.

I have heard that comment so many times in the past few days. The gloomy, rainy weather has us all wondering whether we should be building an arc. But the grass keeps growing. The first day of sun and dry lawn will be interesting. People will be calling in “sick” so they can swath their 16″ grass.

This is the time of year when we might as well start putting away the remnants of summer - put away the hose, take down the hanging flower baskets, pull up the garden - none of it is going to grow anymore. But here in the midwest we cling to summer like a small child clings to a ratty blankie. ‘Just one more summer day,’ we hope. In fact, I was ‘in denial’ for so long one fall that the snow came down and froze all my lawn furniture to the deck.

Face it, folks, it’s time to start testing the Christmas lights.

O.k., this is embarrassing, but here goes. I’ve been taking a conversational Spanish class. The other day I get a phone call and the caller asks, “Habla usted Espanol?” Thinking it was one of the other students wanting to practice with me, I said, “Si.” Except it was someone who wanted information who did not speak English and he rattled off a whole bunch of stuff I did not understand with my rudimentary skills. So I did what anyone would do: “Wait, wait, wait. No habla Espanol.” Then I tried to give him the phone number of my teacher, but since I don’t know the numbers in Spanish, I think I botched that as well. Next time someone calls and asks if I speak Spanish I’ll say, “Muy poquito.”