New moon: In Virgo, Friday, Sept. 18
Full moon: In Pisces, Friday, Sept. 4
Astrological sign: Virgo, Aug. 23 to Sept. 22; Libra, Sept. 23 to Oct. 22
Gem stone: Sapphire
Flower: Aster
Harvard history snippet:
“Since 1945 the town’s population has been increasing rapidly; it surpassed the 1850 peak in 1955 and reached about 3,500 in 1975. The town could not avoid pressures and problems that had never existed before; questions of land use, services, and commercial needs presented themselves for the first time. The town’s responses to such questions and the changes stimulated by rising population are the most prominent features of the postwar years.”
—from Directions of a Town, by Robert C. Anderson
Household tips:
- Glue a paper plate to the bottom of a paint can to help catch drips.
- Clean neglected paint brushes by soaking them in hot white vinegar
- To prevent ice trays from freezing to the shelves, rub the bottoms of the trays with salt.
Going green:
- Cover bowls of food with plates instead of plastic wrap.
- Replace conventional night lights with LED night lights.
- Replace your plastic drink bottle with a food-grade stainless steel bottle.
What to do in the garden:
- Stop pruning and fertilizing.
- Clean up flower beds, cutting back anything that has finished blooming or is diseased.
- Turn the compost.
Thought for the month:
“September fattens on vines.
Roses flake from the wall.
The smoke of harmless fires drifts to my eyes.
This is plenty. This is more than enough.”
—Geoffrey Hill, English poet, September Song
Do you have an almanac tidbit you’d like to share? E-mail to editor@harvardpress.com.