bonds of steele: signs september succeeds

So September maybe one of my most favorite months!

(October is most definitely the all-time fave just so we'er clear).

September is the intro to the autumn season! It brings and end the the miserable, hotness that summer has become, it brings back school (which I loved), I can ditch my awkward summer wardrobe, my utility bills drop, outside events are actually inviting, this is the first year I'm looking forward to a new season (rather than re-runs or Netflix) of a current TV show Once Upon a Time, hot chocolate is acceptable, the light and dark hours make sense, birthday month is coming, fabulous holidays fall into place, and thanks to St. George's awesome elevation change I can still go boating!

Carefully note that I said nothing about winter or snow-don't misunderstand my love of season change! This is the obvious break-down of seasons by month:

Spring: March, April, May
Summer: June, July, August
Autumn: September, October, November
Winter: December, January, February

The fact that our seasons don't exactly line-up with the corresponding months is recognized, however I believe we come pretty close (here in Utah County). The reason Autumn is my favorite season is because I love all the months that fall in her grasp. Spring I like most of the time, but March, April, and May pick and choose when to have good days and when to have winter days. Summer I really only like June. And Winter-hmmm, is a toss-up, I like Christmas (expect for the (singing) music, over decorating, stores, and any time I have to travel), but hmm yeah Winter is a dreary time for the most part.

But back to September. Not wanting to forget Labor Day or Patriot Day I will refer readers back to another post: We Will Never Forget, by Riley Lewis.

Having that said, September is awesome because there two unofficial holidays that have become official. Talk Like a Pirate Day, September 19th and Hobbit Day, September 22nd.

Talk Like a Pirate Day

"Once upon a time -- on June 6, 1995, to be precise -- we were playing racquetball, not well but gamely. It wasn't our intention to become "the pirate guys." Truth to tell, it wasn't really our intention to become anything, except perhaps a tad thinner and healthier, and if you could see our photos, you'd know how THAT turned out. As we flailed away, we called out friendly encouragement to each other -"Damn, you bastard!" and "Oh, jeez, my hamstring!" for instance - as shots caromed away, unimpeded by our wildly swung rackets.

On this day, for reasons we still don't quite understand, we started giving our encouragement in pirate slang. Mark suspects one of us might have been reaching for a low shot that, by pure chance, might have come off the wall at an unusually high rate of speed, and strained something best left unstrained. "Arrr!," he might have said.

Who knows? It might have happened exactly that way.

Anyway, whoever let out the first "Arrr!" started something. One thing led to another. "That be a fine cannonade," one said, to be followed by "Now watch as I fire a broadside straight into your yardarm!" and other such helpful phrases.

By the time our hour on the court was over, we realized that lapsing into pirate lingo had made the game more fun and the time pass more quickly. We decided then and there that what the world really needed was a new national holiday, Talk Like A Pirate Day."

-taken from TalkLikeAPirate.com

This video (below) is courtesy of Jake and the Never Land Pirates, thank goodness for children allowing us to indulge in our young hearts!

Hobbit Day

"September 22nd is the Birthday of Bilbo and Frodo Baggins, two characters from J.R.R. Tolkien’s popular Middle Earth Cycle books (The Hobbit and Lord Of The Rings respectively) in which Hobbits, typically between two and four feet tall and nothing like your usual ‘hero’, accomplish great feats and amazing acts of courage. It is in honour of these creatures and those acts that the day is celebrated with events not unlike the birthday party described in the beginning of “The Fellowship of the Ring”.

In the United States Hobbit Day has gained some measure of legal dignity due to the elected officials who support the day and the goals of the American Tolkien Society. The Day has also attracted Bipartisan Support from places as the U.S. County Courthouse, to the White House, to the U.S. Capitol.

History
A separate event to Tolkien Week (although the Week will always fall over Hobbit Day, running Sunday to Saturday), Hobbit Day is perhaps the oldest running day celebrated by fans. There is some debate on the date that Hobbit Day should be celebrated on, due to the differences in the Gregorian and Shire calendars. Tolkien once said that the Shire calendar is ahead by about ten days depending on the month. A suggested alternative date by hardcore fans is September 14th. Although the day was not officially designated until 1978 and has had many names and designations, it has been celebrated since 1973, shortly after J.R.R. Tolkien died on September 2nd of that year.

Observances
Fans celebrate by anything from going barefoot all day and having seven meals, to Literary discussions and readings, Lord Of The Rings Movie Marathons, and throwing parties in honour of the ‘Long Awaited Party’ at the start of the Fellowship Of The Ring with events such as feasts, games, costumes and fireworks."

-taken from DaysOfTheYear.com