Remains of the Day

Written By: William McReynolds - Highlands Plateau Audubon Society | Issue: 2021/09 – September | Photograph By: William McReynolds

September takes its name from the Latin septem meaning seven, for heaven’s sake, and it’s the ninth month of the year. How’d that happen? 

In the oldest known Roman calendar, the calendar of Romulus, Septem was the seventh of ten months, later advanced to the ninth spot after the addition of two new months, January and February, to the Julian Calendar. Interesting that the Romans did not change the name to nine in Latin or find an emperor namesake.

Having a month or planet named after you is a high human honor. The Roman Senators probably couldn’t agree on a new name and left seven in the ninth position. 

This month begins autumn, a new season. This is still a time for gob-smacking summer tomatoes and slurpy cantaloupe, sweet corn and down-your-chin peaches. 

But fall glory is coming. Get ready for new crop apples and fall colors. They start coming in September. Our new month holds both the remains of yesterday and the first delights of tomorrow. 

There are several memorable dates in September. The Treaty of Paris, ending the Revolutionary War with England, was signed on September 3, 1783. Ben Franklin was a signatory, as were John Adams and John Jay. We became a new nation in that moment. 

On September 12, 1962, President John Kennedy delivered an address to a stadium audience of 35,000 at Rice University, Houston, Texas, in which he announced a decade-long mission to put human beings on the Moon and bring them home safely.  

“Think big,” he said. “But why, some say, the Moon? Why choose this as our goal? And they may well ask, Why climb the highest mountain? Why, 35 years ago, fly the Atlantic?” he asked. 

Then, knowing that Rice University was a powerhouse technical university with a paltry football tradition and always lost to football powerhouse, University of Texas, he flashed his legendary JFK humor and made reference to another unimaginable goal: “Why does Rice play Texas?” 

The crowd roared their approval. 

“We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard ….”  

Three years later, in 1965, Rice beat Texas. 

Then, we went to the Moon.

And we cannot close a remembrance of dates in September without acknowledging September 11, 2001. We were attacked. New York’s Twin Towers were felled. The Pentagon was hit. Brave Americans acted to divert a crash from the White House to a field in Pennsylvania. Over 3,000 of us died violently on that day. What hath humankind wrought?

Today in North Carolina, there are fall festivals in September. I’ll mention one, an overnight trip from our Plateau: The Hot Sauce Festival in Oxford on September 11. Expect music, vendors, taste judging, food, wine, classic cars, games, and more. Go to nchotsaucecontest.com.

Happy September.