Today we celebrate the first day of Autumn.  The Northern Hemisphere marks the Autumnal Equinox on this day of September 23, 2019.

Autumn is the transition from summer to winter with the daylight hours growing shorter and it starts to get cool.  A beautiful time of the year when all trees start to change in color, with the temperatures cooling causing the leaves to change to vibrant orange colors and makes beautiful Sunday afternoon ride, taking in the foliage.

Association with the transition from warm to cold weather is related to a season of the primary harvest.  In Western cultures, autumn is when the fruits, vegetables, and grains ripen.  Many cultures feature autumnal harvest festivals wherein Thanksgiving holiday is observed in the United States and Canada.

A season for picking apples.  I love picking apples, making your own homemade apple pie.  Also, the time of the year when you get to pick your own pumpkin to carve on a pumpkin farm, to decorate for the fall season.

There is a lot of good and exciting things during the fall season, but there is also negative about it that I don’t actually look forward to, it is the raking of the fallen leaves.  When the leaves start falling, it doesn’t seem to stop.  Yes it is beautiful to watch when it turns its color, but when the leaves start falling, it is a non-stop raking activity, it just seems endless, I guess it is just part of nature.  But let us just think of the positive things like, apple picking, pumpkin carving, dressing up for Halloween, and the best part, candy on tricker treating day.

So, today, celebrate the first day of Autumn and get those sweater and fall outfits out because the temperature is going to drop, summer has ended.  Share on social media some of your favorite fall photos using #FirstDayofAutumn.

1949 Truman announces Soviets have exploded a nuclear device

In a surprisingly low-key and carefully worded statement, President Harry S. Truman informs the American people that the Soviets have exploded a nuclear bomb. The Soviet accomplishment, years ahead of what was thought possible by most U.S. officials, caused a panic in the American government.

The United States developed the atomic bomb during the latter stages of World War II and dropped two bombs on Japan in August 1945. By the time of the bombings in Japan, relations between the United States and the Soviet Union were already crumbling. Many U.S. officials, including President Truman, came to see America’s atomic monopoly as a valuable asset in the developing Cold War with Russia. Most American officials and even the majority of scientists in the United States believed that it would be many years before the Soviets could develop an atomic bomb of their own, and by that time the United States would have achieved a vast numeric superiority. On September 3, 1949, however, U.S. scientists recorded seismic activity from inside the Soviet Union that was unmistakably the result of an underground nuclear test. Truman, informed of this development, at first refused to believe it. He ordered his scientific and military advisers to recheck their data. Once they confirmed the results, however, Truman had to face the fact that America’s nuclear monopoly was gone. He also had to face the task of informing the American people, for the news was sure to leak.

(excerpted from https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/truman-announces-soviets-have-exploded-a-nuclear-device)