August

This is the eighth month in our current calendar. The Romans, from whom we get many of our names and traditions, originally called August, Sextilis, which means Sixth Month. Eventually, the Roman Senate changed the name of this month to honor Agustus Caesar, from which we derived, August.

Originally this month only had 30 days, but once again, the Senate decided to give Augustus 31 days, and they did so by taking a day away from February.

The August flowers are, Poppy and Gladiolus and the gem is Peridot.

A few famous August birthdays include,

August 1st, Herman Melville
4th, Percey Bysshe Shelley (well known poet and husband of Mary Shelley, who wrote "Frankenstein")
6th, Alfred Lord Tennyson
15th, Napoleon Bonaparte, Sir Walter Scott, Edna Ferber, T.E. Lawrence
17th, David Crockett
19th, Orville Wright
20th, Emily Bronte
29th, Oliver Wendell Holmes

And that's about it for August, except that in the Northern Hemisphere, this is one of the hottest months of the year. (Gee, no kidding!)