For Thursday, October 18th, 2012

ON THE BRIGHT SIDE

OCTOBER 18th,  2012

If you can't see the Bright Side, polish the dull side

It's THURSDAY!  

St. Luke's Little Summer

Lovely, summerlike days that occur around October 18 are called St. Luke's Little Summer in honor of the saint's feast day. In olden days, St. Luke's Day did not receive as much attention in the secular world as St. John's Day (June 24) and Michaelmas (September 29), so to keep from being forgotten, St. Luke presented us with some golden days to cherish before the coming of winter, or so the story goes. Some folks call this Indian Summer, but that officially occurs between November 11 and November 20.

In many rural communities in northern Britain, St. Luke’s tide coincided with harvesting the potato crop and the half term school holidays were fixed so that children could help with potato picking. Often a fair would visit a nearby town to provide some relaxation and amusement. The weather always seemed to be good, and people looked forward to what was known as St. Luke’s little summer.

Because of St. Luke Little Summer we can be thankful for a quiet dry spell.

Whether it’s cold or whether it’s hot; 

We shall have weather, whether or not!

NEWS FROM HOME

The more rain, the more rest; fair weather’s not always best.

I am hoping for some nice days here.  The leaves from the tree in front of house are just about gone now, but we'll still have leaves blowing in from down the street.  

I love weather folklore and it is interesting to hear how some of it came to be. The beliefs of the times that were often taken from past experiences.  Some of it can be better than the weather forecasts we get in our daily news.  

Here in Ohio we watch for signs from the wooly bear caterpillars that appear this time of year.  The prediction for this year seems to be that we'll have a normal winter this year.  Normal winters for our part of the world mean some cold weather, some snow and even some ice.

For now we just enjoy those nice days when we have them.

 Our Little Lad with his cast

PRAYER REQUEST

Please join me in praying for one of my little grandsons who has a forearm fracture.  He fell of the couch Sunday night.  He had to go to the ER and back to the doctor on Monday.  He will be wearing a cast for four weeks.  He is doing well and managing with the cast.  May the dear Lord bless him with healing and a speedy recovery.

SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT

Once winter finally does arrive, use this rhyme to predict approaching snowstorms:

Halo around the sun or moon,
Rain or snow soon.

Halos are caused by sunlight and moonlight refracting off of ice crystals incirrus clouds (the cloud type that precedes an approaching warm front). Seeing high level moisure is a good sign that moisture will soon also be moving in at increasingly lower levels. So the association between a halo and rain/snow is one bit of folklore that rings scientifically true.

PRAYER FOR OUR TROOPS

Please pray for God's protection of

our troops and HIS wisdom for their

commanders.

Lord, hold our troops in

your loving hands.

Protect them as they protect us.

Bless them and their families for the

selfless acts they perform for us

in our time of need. I ask this in the

name of Jesus, our Lord and Savior.

AND bless our Police Officers, Firefighters

and Paramedics and EMT's

GOD BLESS YOU!

COUNTING THE DAYS

Evening red and morning gray speed the traveler on his way. 

Evening gray and morning red bring down rain upon his head.

 

64 DAYS UNTIL WINTER

36 DAYS UNTIL THANKSGIVING

68 DAYS UNTIL CHRISTMAS !

Celebrate the happiness
that friends are always giving,
make every day a holiday,
and celebrate just living!

Amanda Bradley

 

A little smile, a word of cheer,
A bit of love from someone dear…

Love,

ma