Causes of procrastination - fear of failure

Fear of failure is widely regarded as one of the main causes of procrastination. If you have a task to do and you're unsure of your ability to do it, then it's only natural that you'll put if off. You want to protect your own ego, and not have to admit that for whatever reason you can't successfully complete your job.

The trick is to work out the exact reason why you're afraid of failing.

Often, you'll realize that there is some technical reason you don't want to attempt the task - that is, you just don't have the knowledge or skills required to do it. The answer is to be straight up about it with both yourself and others. Either you have to learn the skill to the point where you can do the task (in which case, you'll find that the task becomes rewarding once you are competent at it, rather than a driver for procrastination), or you have to delegate or abandon the task. Don't just leave it! We all know where that leads - a bad place of bad consequences in your life, and just more stress.

Sometimes, there is nothing physically stopping you from doing the task, but the problem is all in your head. What are you afraid of? Perhaps it's looking like a fool if you fail, being embarrassed. Perhaps you don't want to fail for yourself - you feel like you just can't live with yourself if you fail. Perhaps you have a parent, spouse or co-worker who will censure and criticize you if you fail. Regardless, you have to realistically think to yourself, "What's the worst that can happen?" In 99% of cases, the worst case scenario is some hurt feelings - and even that can be alleviated by teaching yourself to be a little more thick skinned. In any case, it's got to be better to have tried and failed than to not have tried at all - think of that enormous stress you have to carry around when you don't even attempt the thing you're procrastinating about in the first place!

The main lesson to take away is that failure is a natural part of life. Just because you fail once at a particular task doesn't mean that you yourself are a failure. The guy who doesn't try at all is the real loser, who doesn't have the courage to at least try once, and lives his life crippled by his fear and doubt. The guy who tries, fails, then picks himself, learns from his mistakes and tries again until he succeeds is the real winner - that takes real guts! But you'll find that the rewards and the boost to your self esteem far outweigh the pain of any purely temporary setbacks.

Procrastination quotes to help you overcome procrastination

Nothing is so fatiguing as the eternal hanging on of an uncompleted task. ~William James


Procrastination is the art of keeping up with yesterday. ~Don Marquis


Only Robinson Crusoe had everything done by Friday. ~Author Unknown


Every duty which is bidden to wait returns with seven fresh duties at its back. ~Charles Kingsley


The sooner I fall behind, the more time I have to catch up. ~Author Unknown


If it weren't for the last minute, I wouldn't get anything done. ~Author Unknown


Anyone can do any amount of work, provided it isn't the work he is supposed to be doing at that moment. ~Robert Benchley


There are a million ways to lose a work day, but not even a single way to get one back. ~Tom DeMarco and Timothy Lister

Anti- Procratination Month

Anti-Procrastination Strategies

This month I will be adding posts to help us all over come procrastination. Hope it helps!

Preparing to get your work done

Here are three things you can do which will help you overcome the inertia of just getting started:

1) Clear the calculator
Motivation expert Brian Tracy talks about “clearing the calculator” before you start. This means taking a moment to clear everything extraneous off your desk, and sitting back in your chair, closing your eyes, and just focusing on the task at hand. Run through the steps you need to take in your mind, focusing on the benefits of completing the task and how great you’re going to feel once you’ve got it off your plate. Get everything out of your mind except for the task at hand. It’s like pressing the “Clear All” button on a calculator - all that messy stuff from the day up until now just slides away, and you’re clear, focused and ready to go.

2) Make a list
If you’re like me, sometimes you just flounder around with no direction when you’re trying to work, doing a little on this thing, a little on something else, and by the end of the day you feel like you’ve got nothing done. The solution is to make and work from a good list. Make a list of all the main jobs you have to do today, or in this work session, then make bullet points of all the subtasks to complete each job. Once you start, you whack through them start to finish, always building on the work you’ve just done and getting everything done in a fraction of the time, with no wasted energy. Your productivity will soar once you start consistently working from a list, and you’ll feel fantastic about the way you’re churning through your to-do list.

3) Prepare everything you need before you start
Before you start, assemble everything you need in one place - all your notes, resource materials, pens and scrap paper, water bottle etc. Make sure your desk is clear and organized, with only the stuff you need laid out exactly where you need it. This means you can just come in, sit down and get started. This one works even better if you do it the night before, and especially well if you write your to-do list the night before too - your brain will be working subconsciously on the list over night, and you’ll find yourself just nailing that to-do list like never before.

Do at least one thing today you have been putting off! Good Luck!

My list today:

1. Make appointments I have been putting off.
2. Catch up on some laundry.
3. Put away Halloween decorations.

HALLOWEEN TREATS

The ghosts are out tonight! Feed those hungry spirits with homemade treats.


HALLOWEEN POPCORN PUMPKINS

ingredients

• 5 cups popped popcorn
• 1 cup candy corn
• 1 cup chopped salted peanuts
• 1/2 cup butter or margarine
• 3 cups miniature marshmallows
• 4 drops red food coloring
• 3 drops yellow food coloring
• 4 sticks red or black licorice, cut into thirds

Directions

1. Grease a muffin pan and set aside. Place popcorn, candy corn and peanuts into a large bowl and set aside.
2. Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Stir in marshmallows, red food coloring and yellow food coloring, adjusting color if needed to get a nice shade of orange. When the marshmallows are completely melted, pour over the popcorn and stir to evenly distribute the candy, nuts and marshmallow.
3. Use a greased spoon

   

   to fill the muffin cups. Insert a piece of licorice to act as the stem, and mold the popcorn around it. Let stand until firm, 10 to 15 minutes, and then pull the pumpkins out by their stems and admire your pumpkin patch!

SPOOKY WITCHES FINGERS

Ingredients

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup confectioners' sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon almond extract
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup whole almonds
• 1 (.75 ounce) tube red decorating gel

Directions

1. Combine the butter, sugar, egg, almond extract, and vanilla extract in a mixing bowl. Beat together with an electric mixer; gradually add the flour, baking powder, and salt, continually beating; refrigerate 20 to 30 minutes.
2. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Lightly grease baking sheets.
3. Remove dough from refrigerator in small amounts. Scoop 1 heaping teaspoon at a time onto a piece of waxed paper. Use the waxed paper to roll the dough into a thin finger-shaped cookie. Press one almond into one end of each cookie to give the appearance of a long fingernail. Squeeze cookie near the tip and again near the center of each to give the impression of knuckles. You can also cut into the dough with a sharp knife at the same points to help give a more finger-like appearance. Arrange the shaped cookies on the baking sheets.
4. Bake in the preheated oven until the cookies are slightly golden in color, 20 to 25 minutes.
5. Remove t he almond from the end of each cookie; squeeze a small amount of red dec orating gel into the cavity; replace the almond to cause the gel to ooze out around the tip of the cookie.

HALLOWEEN EYE OF THE NEWT

Ingredients

• 12 eggs
• 2 drops green food coloring, or as needed
• 1 tablespoon sweet pickle relish
• 1 tablespoon mayonnaise
• 1 pinch celery salt
• 1 (6 ounce) can sliced black olives, drained
• 1 tablespoon prep ared yellow mustard

Directions

1. Place all of the eggs into a large pot so they can rest on the bottom in a single layer. Fill with just enough cold water to cover the eggs. Bring to a boil, then cover, remove from the heat and let stand for about 15 minutes. Rinse under cold water or add some ice to the water and let the eggs cool completely. Peel and slice in half lengthwise.
2. Remove the yolks from the eggs and place them in a bowl. Mix in the relish, mayonnaise, celery salt and food coloring. Spoon this filling into the egg whites and place them on a serving tray. Round the top of the filling using the spoon. Place an olive slice on ea ch yolk to create the center of the eye. Dab a tiny bit of mayonnaise in the center of the olive as a finishing touch.

HALLOWEEN BRAIN DIP

Ingredients

• 2 avocados
• 1/2 cup prepared salsa
• 1 head cauliflower
• 6 thin slices red and blue fruit leather

Directions

1. Slice the avocados in half. Remove the seeds and set aside. Scoop the avocado out of the skin into a bowl. Mash with a fork or whisk and stir in the salsa. Set aside. Slice off one side of each pit to make it f lat and expose the cores of the pits. They will look like eyes.
2. Remove all of the leaves from the cauliflower and remove the stem, leaving a nice hollow area with the outer part of the head intact. Use toothpicks to hold it together if

   

   it starts to fall apart.
3. Place the cauliflower into a small bowl, so that the hollow is facing upwards and most of the cauliflower is up out of the bowl. The bowl is just for stability. Fill with the avocado dip and arrange the pits as eyes. Decorate the white ''brain'' by weaving thin strands of red and blue fruit leather between the florets to make veins and arteries. I wrap the bowl with chees ecloth and decorate with red food coloring to make it even more horrific!

HALLOWEEN BLOODY BAKED RATS

Ingredients

• 2 pounds ground beef
• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 cup dry bread crumbs
• 1 (1.25 ounce) packet meatloaf seasoning mix
• 1 cup cubed Cheddar cheese
• 3 (10 ounce) cans tomato sauce
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 ounce uncooked spaghetti, broken into fourths
• 1/2 carrot, cut into 1/8-inch thick slices
• 1 tablespoon frozen green peas

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. In a large bow l, combine the ground beef, onion, egg, bread crumbs, and meatloaf seasoning. Use your hands to mix until well blended. Measure out 1/3 cupfuls of the meat mixture and mold around a cube of cheese like a meatball. Shape into a point at one end and lengthen the body a bit by rolling between your hands. Place your ''rat'' into a shallow baking dish, and continue with the remaining meat. Insert pieces of uncooked spaghetti into the rounded end of the rats to make tails.
3. In a medium bowl, stir together the tomato sauce, sugar and Worcestershire sauce. Pour over the rats in the dish and cover the dish with a lid or aluminum foil.
4. Bake for 45 minutes in the preheated oven. Uncover the dish and continue to bake for another 20 to 30 minutes, basting occasionally with the sauce to glaze the rats.
5. While the rats finish baking, heat the peas and carrots in a small bowl in the microwave for about 15 seconds.
6. Carefully transfer the rats to a serving platter so that their delicate tails don't fall off. Press peas into the pointy end to make eyes, and insert carrot slices to make ears. Spoon some of the tomato sauce around them and serve.
   

Witches Brew

Ingredients

• 1 (10 ounce) package frozen raspberries, thawed
• 2 1/2 cups cranberry juice
• 2 envelopes unflavored gelatin
• 
  
• 2 liters ginger ale
• 2 liters sparkling apple cider (non-alcoholic)
• 6 gummi snakes candy

Directions

1. To make the frozen hand: Wash and rinse the outside of a rubber glove. Turn glove inside out and set aside. In a 4 cup measuring cup, combine the thawed raspberries and cranberry juice.
2. Pour 2 cups of the raspberry mixture into a small saucepan. Sprinkle the gelatin ov er and let stand 2 minutes. Warm over low heat, stirring constantly, just until gelatin dissolves. Mix back into the reserved raspberry mixture in the measuring cup.
3. Pour raspberry mixture into the inverted glove. Gather up the top of the glove and tie securely with kitchen twine. Freeze until solid, or several days if possible.
4. To serve: Carefully cut glove away from frozen hand. Place frozen hand, palm side up, leaning against side of a large punch bowl. Pour in ginger ale and sparkling cider. Garnish with gummy snakes.

SPOOKTACULAR * HALLOWEEN * APRONS

BECOME BEWITCHING WITH ONE OF THESE APRON IDEAS.......

Light Up Halloween Night !

Make Spooky Halloween Lanterns

Punching Bag Luminaries

To create spooky luminaries, cut a few inches off the top of a paper lunch bag and lightly draw the letters B-O-O near the top. Fold one side of the bag in and crease lightly through the middle of the letters. Punch holes through both layers of paper along the letter bottoms (make holes close together but not touching). Pull the folded side up to reveal "BOO." Fill the bag with sand and a candle.

Light up the night with witch and moon lanterns

You'll need:

• Witch and moon templates
• Click for moon template,
• Click for witch template

• Printer and printing paper
• Scissors

• 3 orange paper bags (partycity.com)
• Tape
• 3 votive candles
• 3 glass votive holders

1. Print out template.
To make three luminaries, print out three copies of each template. Cut out shape, following image outlines as closely as possible.

2. Tape a moon shape inside each bag. Position in the upper right hand corner of each bag.

3. Center a witch inside one bag. Tape it in place. This will be the center luminaria. On a second bag, position a witch almost directly below moon. Tape in place, folding bristle end of broom around inside of bag. This luminaria will go on the right. On the third bag, position a witch to left of moon, so she appears to be flying off left-hand edge of bag. Tape in place, folding broom handle around side.

4. Place each candle in a holder. Light, then set in bag. (If you're using luminarias outdoors, fill bottoms with sand first to weigh bags down.)

Join in the fun of Halloween by making your own spooky Halloween lantern and scare away those ghouls and goblins!

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Paper lunch bags
• Scissors
• Flameless candles

  

1. Create a design on lunch-sized paper bags. This is something you can do with your kids. You can create lanterns that all look the same or each lantern could have a different look. Use the same type of designs you might use on a pumpkin. The design can be as elaborate as you like, but simple designs are easier to work with.

2. Use scissors to cut out the design. This is just like being back in grade school. You'll fold the design so that you can cut it out. If you let your children help with this step, make sure they use child-safe scissors.

1. Insert flameless candles into the paper bags. Halloween lanterns were typically lit with regular candles. This can be extremely dangerous. Fall is a dry time of the year and if the lantern gets knocked over, you could have a widespread fire on your hands. If you visit your local dollar store, you'll find flameless votive candles. This option is not only safe, but some flameless candles even flicker like real candles, causing a beautiful effect.

2. Place the lanterns down the sides of your driveway. Halloween lanterns can be placed anywhere, but they look beautiful when placed down the sides of your driveway or walkway. You can also place them

   on your porch or even in your windows.

Roast Some Pumpkin Seeds

Roasted Pumpkin Seed Recipe

• Preheat the oven to 300 degrees.
• Clean as much of the “stringy stuff” off of the seeds as you can. This is done most easily right after the seeds have been removed and before the pulp dries.
• Rinse the seeds in a colander, pat dry with paper towels and put them into a small bowl.
• For every one cup of seeds that you’ve “extracted,” add 1 T. of olive oil and ½ t. coarse salt, stirring to coat.
• I found that a medium sized pumpkin yields about one cup of seeds. (Don’t ask how many pumpkins were harmed in the preparation of this recipe!)
• Spread the seeds in a single layer on a baking sheet and roast for about 40 minutes, maybe a little less, stirring occasionally.
• You can serve the seeds warm, or let them cool and store in an airtight container!
• If you want to get creative, season the seeds before baking with a pinch of a spice like chili, garlic, cumin, cayenne pepper, flavored salt, onion, or curry.

Try roasting pumpkin seeds this Halloween and let me know how it goes! Happy Halloween to all of you!

Halloween Poems Nice & Spooky

Five Little Pumpkin Sitting On A Gate

Five little pumpkins sitting on a gate,
The first one said,
"Oh my, it's getting late."
The second one said,
"But we don't care."
The third one said,
"I see witches in the air."
The fourth one said,
"Let's run, and run, and run."
The fifth one said,
"Get ready for some fun."
Then whoosh went the wind,
and out went the lights,
And five little pumpkins rolled out of sight!

Only Naughty Children See Spooks on Halloween

by Winifred Sackville Stoner, Jr.

Witches and goblins, spooks and elves, With sprites and gnomes from elf-land delves, Tonight are flying here and there, Yes, up and down and everywhere. For this one night in all the year They rule the earth and bring great fear To all the naughty little boys Who tease good girls and break their toys. These spooks they also make girls sad When they are selfish, cross and bad; So when it's dark, bad boys and maids, They see these awful fearsome shades, And that is why with covered heads, They trembling lie in their warm beds. But even there they goblins see, Spooks and gnomes, and all that be Abroad upon weird Halloween When all the wizards may be seen By naughty kids and grown-up folks Who like to play most wicked jokes. But good young girls and gentle boys, The kids who are their mothers' joys They like the dark just as the light, For spooks never come within their sight, And in their dreams they lovely elves Show them bright scenes from fairy delves. So, if tonight you are afraid Of any spook or any shade, We'll know you are a naughty child, So cross and wilful, rude and wild.

Spooks
- by Sandra Liatsos

There's a goblin at my window,
A monster by my door.
The pumpkin at my table
Keeps on smiling more and more.
There's a ghost who haunts my bedroom,
A witch whose face is green.
They used to be my family,
Till they dressed for Halloween.

Fraidie Cat

by Clinton Scollard

I shan't tell you what's his name: When we want to play a game, Always thinks that he'll be hurt, Soil his jacket in the dirt, Tear his trousers, spoil his hat,-- Fraidie-Cat! Fraidie-Cat! Nothing of the boy in him! "Dasn't" try to learn to swim; Says a cow'll hook; if she Looks at him he'll climb a tree; "Scart" to death at bee or bat,-- Fraidie-Cat! Fraidie-Cat! Claims there're ghosts all snowy white Wandering around at night In the attic; wouldn't go There for anything, I know; B'lieve he'd run if you said "Scat!" Fraidie-Cat! Fraidie-Cat!

Walk Into My Parlor
- by Mary Howitt

"Will you walk into my parlor?"
said the spider to the fly;
"Tis the prettiest little parlor that you ever did spy.
The way into my parlor is up a winding stair,
And I have many curious things to show when you are there."
"Oh no, no!" said the little fly,
"to ask me is in vain;
For who goes up your winding stair
can never come down again."

Seein' Things

by Eugene Field

I ain't afeard uv snakes, or toads, or bugs, or worms, or mice, An' things 'at girls are skeered uv I think are awful nice! I'm pretty brave, I guess; an' yet I hate to go to bed, For, when I'm tucked up warm an' snug an' when my prayers are said, Mother tells me "Happy dreams!" and takes away the light, An' leaves me lying all alone an' seein' things at night! Sometimes they're in the corner , sometimes they're by the door, Sometimes they're all a-standin' in the middle uv the floor; Sometimes they are a-sittin' down, sometimes they're walkin' round So softly an' so creepylike they never make a sound! Sometimes they are as black as ink, an' other times they're white— But the color ain't no difference when you see things at night! Once, when I licked a feller 'at had just moved on our street, An' father sent me up to bed without a bite to eat, I woke up in the dark an' saw things standin' in a row, A-lookin' at me cross-eyed an' p'intin' at me—so! Oh, my! I was so skeered that time I never slep' a mite— It's almost alluz when I'm bad I see things at night! Lucky thing I ain't a girl, or I'd be skeered to death! Bein' I'm a boy, I duck my head an' hold my breath; An' I am, oh! so sorry I'm a nau ghty boy, an' then I promise to be better an' I say my prayers again! Gran'ma tells me that's the only way to make it right When a feller has been wicked an' sees things at night! An' so, when other naughty boys would coax me into sin, I try to skwush the Tempter's voice 'at urges me within; An' when they's pie for supper, or cakes 'at's big an' nice, I want to—but I do not pass my plate f'r them things twice! No, ruther let Starvation wipe me slowly out o' sight Than I should keep a-livin' on an' seein' things at night!

Halloween
- by Mary Jane Carr

Witches flying past on broomsticks,
Black cats leaping here and there,
White-robed spooks on every corner,

Mournful moaning in the air,

Goblins peering out of windows,
Spirit-things that rap and run-
But don't be scared-it's just October,
Having one last hour of fun!

The

Skeleton Dance

After the German of Goethe

The warder looked out at the mid-hour of night, Where the grave-hills all silently lay; The moon-beams above gave so brilliant a light, That the churchyard was clear as by day: First one, then another, to open began; Here came out a woman - there came out a man, Each clad in a shroud long and white. And then for amusement - perchance it was cold - In a circle they seemed to advance; The poor and the rich, and the young and the old, But the grave-clothes impeded the dance: And as no person thought about modesty there, They flung off their garments, and stripped themselves bare, And a shroud lay on each heap of mould. They kicked up their heels, and they rattled their bones, And the horrible din that they made Went clickety-clackety - just like the tones Of a castanet noisily played. And the warder he laughed as he witnessed the cheer, And he heard the Betrayer speak soft in his ear, "Go and steal away one of their shrouds." Swift as thought it was done - in an instant he fled Behind the church portal to hide; And brighter and brighter the moon-beam was shed, As the dance they still shudderingly plied; But at last they began to grow tired of their fun, And they put on their shrouds, and slipped off, one by one, Beneath, to the homes of the dead. But tapping at every grave-hill, there staid One skeleton, tripping behind; Though not by his comrades the trick had been played - Now its odour he snuffed in the wind: He rushed to the door - but fell back with a shock; For well for the wight of the bell and the clock, The sign of the cross it displayed. But the shroud he must have—not a moment he stays; Ere a man had begun but to think, On the Gothic-work his fingers quickly he lays, And climbs up its chain, link by link. Now woe to the warder - for sure he must die - To see, like a long-legged spider, draw nigh The skeleton's clattering form: And pale was his visage, and thick came his bre ath; The garb, alas! why did he touch? How sick g rew his soul as the garment of death The skeleton caught in his clutch - The moon disappeared, and the skies changed to dun, And louder than thunder the church-bell tolled one - The spectre fell tumbling to bits!

The Witches’ Spell

Act IV, Scene 1 from Macbeth (1606) by William Shakespeare

1 WITCH. Round about the caldron go; In the poison’d entrails throw.— Toad, that under cold stone, Days and nights has thirty-one; Swelter’d venom sleeping got, Boil thou first i’ the charmed pot! ALL. Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn, and caldron bubble. 2 WITCH. Fillet of a fenny snake, In the caldron boil and bake; Eye of newt, and toe of frog, Wool of bat, and tongue of dog, Adder’s fork, and blind-worm’s sting, Lizard’s leg, and owlet’s wing,— For a charm of powerful trouble, Like a hell-broth boil and bubble. ALL. Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn, and caldron bubble. 3 WITCH. Scale of dragon; tooth of wolf; Witches’ mummy; maw and gulf Of the ravin’d salt-sea shark; Root of hemlock digg’d i the dark; Liver of blaspheming Jew; Gall of goat, and slips of yew Sliver’d in the moon’s eclipse; Nose of Turk, and Tartar’s lips; Finger of birth-strangled babe Ditch-deliver’d by a drab,— Make the gruel thick and slab: Add thereto a tiger’s chaudron, For the ingrediants of our caldron. ALL. Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn, and caldron bubble. 2 WITCH. Cool it with a baboon’s blood, Then the charm is firm and good.

CONSTITUTION DAY SEPTEMBER 17TH

On September 17, 1787, forty-two of the 55 delegates to the Constitutional Convention held their final meeting. Only one item of business occupied the agenda that day, to sign the Constitution of the United States of America.

Independence Hall - Philadelphia, PA Photo Courtesy US National Parks Service

Since May 25, 1787, the 55 delegates had gathered almost daily in the State House (Independence Hall) in Philadelphia to revise the Articles of Confederation. By the middle of June, it became apparent to the delegates that to merely amend the Articles of Confederation would not be sufficient. Instead, they would write an entirely new document designed to clearly define and separate the powers of the central government, the powers of the states, the rights of the people and how the representatives of the people should be elected.

After being signed in September of 1787, Congress sent printed copies of the Constitution to the state legislatures for ratification. In the months that followed, James Madison, Alexander Hamilton and John Jay would write the Federalist Papers in support, while Patrick Henry, Elbridge Gerry, and George Mason would organize the opposition to the new Constitution. By June 21, 1788, nine states had approved the Constitution, finally forming "a more perfect Union."

No matter how much we argue about the details of its meaning today, in the opinion of many, the Constitution signed in Philadelphia on September 17, 1787 represents the greatest expression of statesmanship and compromise ever written. In just four hand-written pages, the Constitution gives us no less than the owners' manual to the greatest form of government the world has ever known.

We have no tribal council, nor can we vote anybody off the island. But, we do live in the land of the free, and as long as the Constitution stands, we always will.

Motherhood: An Eternal Partnership with God

SEPTEMBER: POEMS TO WARM THE HEART AND SOUL

SEPTEMBER

"The breezes taste
Of apple peel.
The air is full
Of smells to feel-
Ripe fruit, old footballs,
Burning brush,
New books, erasers,
Chalk, and such.
The bee, his hive,
Well-honeyed hum,
And Mother cuts
Chrysanthemums.
Like plates washed clean
With suds, the days
Are polished with
A morning haze."
- John Updike, September

"But now in September the garden has cooled, and with it my possessiveness. The sun warms my back instead of beating on my head ... The harvest has dwindled, and I have grown apart from the intense midsummer relationship that brought it on."
- Robert Finch

"'Tis the last rose of summer,
Left blooming alone;
All her lovely companions
Are faded and gone."
- Thomas Moore, The Last Rose of Summer, 1830

Departing summer hath assumed
An aspect tenderly illumed,
The gentlest look of spring;
That calls from yonder leafy shade
Unfaded, yet prepared to fade,
A timely carolling.
- William Wordsworth, September

On the Autumnal Equinox, around September 21st, in Sacramento, California, Northern Hemisphere, Earth,
we have around 12 Hours of Daylight and 12 Hours of Nighttime.

"Smoke hangs like haze over harvested fields,
The gold of stubble, the brown of turned earth
And you walk under the red light of fall
The scent of fallen apples, the dust of threshed grain
The sharp, gentle chill of fall.
Here as we move into the shadows of autumn
The night that brings the morning of spring
Come to us, Lord of Harvest
Teach us to be thankful for the gifts you bring us ..."

"Alas, that my heart is a lute,
Whereon you have learned to play!
For a many years it was mute,
Until one summer's day
You took it, and touched it, and made it thrill,
And it thrills and throbs, and quivers still!"
- Anne Barnard, My Heart is a Lute, 1815

"Sorrow and scarlet leaf,
Sad thoughts and sunny weather.
Ah me, this glory and this grief
Agree not well together!"
- Thomas Parsons, 1880, A Song For September

"Lord, it is time. The summer was very big. Lay thy shadow on the sundials, and on the meadows let the winds go loose. Command the last fruits that they shall be full; give them another two more southerly days, press them on to fulfillment and drive the last sweetness into the heavenly wine."
- Rainer Maria Rilke

"Blessed be the Lord for the beauty of summer and spring, for the air, the water, the verdure, and the song of birds."
- Carl von Linnaeus

"Try to remember the kind of September
When life was slow and oh so mellow
Try to remember the kind of September
When grass was green and grain so yellow
Try to remember the kind of September
When you were a young and a callow fellow
Try to remember and if you remember
Then follow--follow, oh-oh."
- Try to Remember, Lyrics by Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt

"Shine on, shine on harvest moon
Up in the sky,
I ain't had no lovin'
Since January, February, June or July
Sno Time ain't no time to stay
Outdoors and spoon,
So shine one, shine on harvest noon
For me and my gal."
- By Nora Bayes and Jack Norworth, 1903

"September twenty-second, Sir, the bough cracks with unpicked apples,
and at dawn the small-mouth bass breaks water, gorged with spawn."
- Robert Lowell

"Summer afternoon - summer afternoon; to me those have always
been the two most beautiful words in the English language."
- Henry James

"In the garden, Autumn is, indeed the crowning glory of the year, bringing us the fruition of months of thought and care and toil.
And at no season, safe perhaps in Daffodil time, do we get such superb colour effects as from August to November."
- Rose G. Kingsley, The Autumn Garden, 1905

"By all these lovely tokens
September days are here,
With summer’s best of weather
And autumn’s best of cheer."
- Helen Hunt Jackson, September, 1830-1885

"Summer ends now; now, barbarous in beauty, the
Stooks arise
Around; up above, what wind-walks! what
lovely behavior
Of silk-sack clouds! Has wilder, willful-waiver
Meal-drift molded ever and melted across skies?"
- Gerard Manly Hopkins, Hurrahing in Harvest, 1918

"The foliage has been losing its freshness through the month of August, and here and there a yellow leaf
shows itself like the first gray hair amidst the locks of a beauty who has seen one season too many."
- Oliver Wendell Holmes

"Crown'd with the sickle, and the sheaten sheaf,
While Autumn, nodding o'er the yellow plain,
Comes jovial on."
- James Thomson, Autumn, 1730

School,
Effort, and
Play.
Trying your best
Each hour of the day,
Making new friends,
Being good as you can
Exciting discoveries,
Reading books with a friend."
- Boni Fulgham

"Under the harvest moon,
When the soft silver
Drips shimmering
Over the garden nights,
Death, the gray mocker,
Comes and whispers to you
As a beautiful friend
Who remembers."
- Carl Sandburg, Under the Harvest Moon

"September: it was the most beautiful of words, he’d always felt, evoking orange-flowers, swallows, and regret."
- Alexander Theroux, 1981

"Further in Summer than the Birds
Pathetic from the Grass
A minor Nation celebrates
Its unobtrusive Mass.

No Ordinance be seen
So gradual the Grace
A pensive Custom it becomes
Enlarging Loneliness."
- Emily Dickinson

"the air is different today
the wind sings with a new tone
sighing of changes
coming
the harvest gathered
a flower, a nut
some mead, and bread
a candle and a prayer
returning the fruits
in thanksgiving
to the grove
and receiving
it's blessing
again"
- Rhawk, Alban Elfed

"Our fear of death is like our fear that summer will be short, but when we have had our swing of pleasure, our fill of fruit,
and our swelter of heat, we say we have had our day."
- John Donne, 1620

"Spring scarce had greener fields to show than these
Of mid September; through the still warm noon
The rivulets ripple forth a gladder tune
Than ever in the summer; from the trees
Dusk-green, and murmuring inward melodies,
No leaf drops yet; only our evenings swoon
In pallid skies more suddenly, and the moon
Finds motionless white mists out on the leas."
- Edward Dowden, In September

" 'I grow old, I grow old,' the garden says. It is nearly October. The bean leaves grow paler, now lime, no yellow, no leprous, dissolving before my eyes. The pods curl and do not grow, turn limp and blacken. The potato vines wither and the tubers huddle underground in their rough weather-proof jackets, waiting to be dug. The last tomatoes ripen and split on the vine; it takes days for them to turn fully now, and a few of the green ones are beginning to fall off."
- Robert Finch

"For summer there, bear in mind, is a loitering gossip, that only begins to talk of leaving when September rises to go."
- George Washington Cable

"The goldenrod is yellow
The corn is turning brown
The trees in apple orchards
With fruit are bending down."
- Childrens song

"Indian summer—
the old cat shares
her corner of the deck"
- James Chessing

"There comes a time when autumn asks,
"What have you been doing all summer?"

"Do you remember the 21st night of September?
Love was changing the minds of pretenders
While chasing the clouds away
Our hearts were ringing
In the key that our souls were singing.
As we danced in the night,
Remember how the stars stole the night away."
- September, Lyrics by Maurice White, Charles Stemney and Verdine White

"All your renown is like the summer flower that blooms and dies; because the sunny glow which brings it forth, soon slays with parching power."
- Dante Alighieri