Happy October!

The calendar indicates that today is the first day of October. I like October. It is my favorite month of the year. It was the 8^th month of the old Julian calendar and is now the 10^th month of the Gregorian calendar. October is one of seven months that contains 31 days. Where I live, October is synonymous with cool crisp autumn days, breathtaking clear blue skies, and colorful falling leaves. In the southern hemisphere, however, October is the harbinger of spring (their equivalent of our April).

The kids have been back in school for over a month and are settled in to their academic work and school functions, as summer activities of amusement parks and camping, and beach vacations slip slowly into their vaults of happy memories.

For sports fans, October is a cornucopia of activity. It is a month when major league baseball winds up its long season with its playoffs and World Series. Football and Soccer are well underway in October, and Basketball fans rejoice due to the beginnings of high school and college practices, and the NBA season tips it off this month.

It is the last month of peaceful living before the hustle and bustle of the Thanksgiving and Christmas seasons are upon us. There are no huge national holidays (Independence, Memorial Day, Labor Day, etc) in October, but as you can see from the list below, provided by Wikepedia, October is a pretty big month around the globe.

• Children's Book Week (England) – First Week of October
  


• National Day (China, People's Republic of) – October 1
  


• Dashain in Nepal
  


• Independence Day in the Republic Of Cyprus – October 1
  


• Independence Day in Nigeria – October 1
  


• International Day of Non-Violence – October 2^[1]
  


• German Unity Day (Germany) – October 3
  


• Proclamation of Portuguese Republic (Portugal) – October 5
  


• International World Teachers' day – October 5
  


• Armed Forces Day in Egypt commemorating the Yom Kippur War – October 6
  


• Independence day in Croatia – October 8
  


• Leif Erikson Day - October 9
  


• Free Thought Day – October 12
  


• National Day of Spain – October 12 (Discovery of America)
  


• Thanksgiving (Canada) – Second Monday of October
  


• Health and Sports Day (Japan) – Second Monday of October
  


• Columbus Day (Most of United States) – Second Monday of October
  


• World Food Day – October 16
  


• Alaska Day - October 18
  


• Constitution Day in Niue – October 19
  


• Apple Day – October 21
  


• Remembering the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 – October 23
  


• United Nations Day – October 24
  


• Day of the Romanian Army – October 25
  


• National Day of Austria - October 26
  


• Independence Day in St. Vincent & the Grenadines – October 27
  


• Independence Day in Turkmenistan – October 27
  


• Navy Day (United States) – October 27
  


• Ochi Day (No Day) in Greece – October 28
  


• Republic Day in Turkey – October 29
  


• Halloween – October 31
  

And there is a special day for me. Tucked quietly in there between Constitution Day in Nuie and Apple Day is the day I discovered America in October, 1950.

I love October, and I hope you have a good one. All 31 days of it!