Happy Monday and happy Labor Day. I look forward to every Monday. They’re my 52 Chances a year, in which I get to share Memories of My Mom with you.
As the first Monday in September, today is… National Labor Day. It falls anywhere between the 1st and 7th of the month. It’s at its latest possible day, this year, because the holiday has an odd, repeating pattern of 5, 6, and 11 years due to the calendar’s 7-day weekly cycle and leap years (every four years).
A Labor Day this late in September only happens 14.5% of the time. The last time it fell on the 7th was in 2020 and before that in 2015. Now, it won’t happen again until 2037, followed by 2042, 2048, 2059, and so on.
Labor Day has become much more than just a federal holiday honoring the working people, who built this country and continue to drive its economy; as well as honoring the labor movement – when workers fought for better pay, safer conditions, and a reasonable 8-hour workday.
Like May’s long Memorial Day weekend, being the unofficial start of summer, September’s Labor Day has equally become a 4-day long weekend celebration for the unofficial end of summer and the gateway to fall – which doesn’t start for a couple more weeks.
Today (along with the whole weekend) is most favorably observed with many Labor Day traditions like local parades and festivals, fireworks, backyard barbecues, park picnics, beach time, or a final vacation getaway before the kids go back to school.
According to Wikipedia.org, “Of the 7% of Americans who take two-week vacations, many take their vacations during the two weeks ending Labor Day weekend.” However, around here, many Michigan kids have already gone back to school, as of last week (and some the week before that).
SEPTEMBER IN MICHIGAN
The month of September represents, among other things, “back-to-school” for most Michigan families, Mom’s favorite fall event; as well as the kick-off of football season, which was Dad’s favorite fall event. Mom always joked about being a “football widow” September through February.
I really believe that the main reason why Mom celebrated Labor Day was because it meant me and my siblings (and our neighborhood friends) were all going back to school the next day and she could start her vacation. This inspired her to write the following syndicated, satirical editorial.
FROM MOM’S MEMORIES…
As seen in…
“No Laughing Matter”, by Gloria Pitzer (Algonac, MI; Aug. 1971)
SCHOOL BEGINS AND SO DOES MOTHER’S VACATION
NEVER MIND WHAT the calendar says about the longest day of summer. It doesn’t really fall in June. It falls somewhere during the last week of August, as mothers everywhere breathlessly await the beginning of another school year!
When listening to a child lick a postage stamp in the next room begins to give me a headache and the cat seems to be stomping his paws and even my Mixmaster and my vacuum cleaner sound like mini bikes, I know it’s time for school to start.
This is what happens when you live with children who believe that the same door they left open all winter should be slammed all summer. And all I have to show for 10 weeks of summer, is a tape recording of 400 hours of the kids next door, gunning their motorcycles under my kitchen windows…
Which I felt would make a lovely remembrance for their mother, who has been out working in a pleasant air-conditioned office. Someday, she may want to know what she missed while her boys were growing up. I can tell her what she missed – migraines, excessive nervous acidity, and hives – that’s what!
The first 8 weeks of summer rushed past us so quickly – it was like catching quicksilver in greased gloves. Suddenly, there was our 15-year old [son], telling us he needed back-to-school clothes; but he’d like some new blue jeans that didn’t look like new blue jeans.
Honestly, I don’t know where you can buy new blue jeans with broken zippers, frayed hems, worn seats and patched knees. He [also] said he had wished he had bought his school shoes last month, so he could have had plenty of time to scuff up the toes and run the heels over before school started.
Then, nobody would accuse him of wearing Sunday school clothes. It is during the [unofficial] last week of summer that my Avon lady sends me a CARE package and my mother apologizes for not having had the children visit her more often before they had to go back to school.
I receive fliers from the drug store advertising Christmas wrappings and ribbons, and you can’t find a 99-cent styrofoam cooler anywhere in town for the Labor Day picnic you wish you didn’t have to attend, because any picnic with 5 children is NO PICNIC!
It is during the [unofficial] last week of summer that I’m ready to vote “yes” in a school bond issue and school supplies that were on sale in July are being replaced on dime store counters by Halloween candy and costumes.
It is during the [unofficial] last week of summer that a neighbor stops by to see if he ever returned the lawn mower he borrowed from us and is disappointed when he learns he didn’t because he wanted to borrow it again! Actually, the longest day of summer can make one weak – especially if she’s a mother!
Incidentally, September also observes National Americana Month, among other things. “Americana” is basically patriotic nostalgia usually related to the United States’ culture and history – especially from the Native Americans, Colonial era, and mid-20th century influences. Given our melting-pot foundation, Americana can include almost anything.
Traditional “Americana” is mainly represented by food, art, music, literature, etc. – anything that’s stereotypical American, like red, white, and blue. Examples are likened to Norman Rockwell’s art work, which was displayed on over 300 covers of The Saturday Evening Post, for many years.
Rockwell depicted the simple, small-town, middle-class lifestyle of Americans; being humble, God-fearing people enjoying a strong and prosperous family life – with Americana-styled elements like Coca-Cola memorabilia, blue-collar workers, white-picket fences, denim jeans, American football, baseball, and apple pie.
Labor Day is a real Americana celebration. The annual Mackinac Bridge Walk (7:00 a.m. to noon today) is one of Michigan’s biggest Labor Day events, honoring the workers who built the iconic bridge and those who lost their lives trying.
The “Mighty Mac”, as it is affectionately called, has bridged the Straits of Mackinac (between Lake Michigan and Lake Huron) since 1957, connecting “The Mitt” to the “Upper Peninsula”. It’s the third longest suspension bridge in North America, at 26,372 feet (almost 5 miles).
The Mackinac Bridge Authority says, “The bridge walk has been an annual event since 1958, with the exception of 2020. Between 25,000 and [35,000] people have participated [annually].” Bridge traffic is closed all morning, starting at 6:30 until noon, for the safety of the walkers. This is another thing I have yet to do that is on my bucket list.
In southeastern Michigan, special Labor Day weekend festivals and events include “Arts, Beats & Eats” in Royal Oak, the “Michigan Renaissance Festival” in Holly, the “Michigan State Fair” in Novi, the “Detroit Jazz Festival”, the “Hamtramck Labor Day Festival”, the “Franklin Labor Day Roundup”, and Fairgrove’s “Michigan Bean Festival” – just to name some.
In the “Thumb” area, we celebrate the long holiday weekend at the “Romeo Peach Festival”, the “Algonac Art Fair”, Algonac’s “Antique & Classic Boat Parade” on the St. Clair River, Lexington’s “Thumbfest”, Port Austin’s “Farmers Market” and “Art In The Park”, and more. On the westside, in Muskegon, the “Polish Festival” is celebrated Labor Day weekend.
Other popular fall events in Michigan include the Mackinac Island “Fall Fudge Festival”, Midland’s “Antique Festival”, Charlevoix’s “Apple Festival”, and the “Holland Fall Festival”. This month also celebrates “Octoberfest” (yes, in September – because it’s an outside event and the weather is more favorable than in October).
This event is quite popular here because Michigan has so many micro-breweries. The two biggest Octoberfests are hosted by Frankenmuth and Grand Rapids, with many smaller ones enjoyed in other Michigan towns.
Up north, where logging was once a big part of Michigan’s economy, is the “Paul Bunyan Days Festival”, in Oscoda, and the “Lumberjack Shows”, in Mackinaw City. Again, they’re on my bucket list, too. One of these years, I hope I can check everything off of my list.
Here, autumn is a very close runner-up to summer, when it comes to favorite seasons; due in large part to the state’s kaleidoscope of stunning, colorful foliage (along with its many spectacular fall events). The days are warm and pleasant (instead of hot and humid) – perfect for dune climbing at Saugatuck or Sleeping Bear – and the nights are cool and crisp.
Michiganders love to celebrate autumn by going on hay rides or to apple orchards, cider mills, corn mazes, and petting farms; as well as watching (or playing football), having a bonfire with friends and family, or taking an Americana-like road trip (picnic basket and all) through charming, countryside hamlets. Personally, I like to look for barn quilts on rural drives.
Speaking of which, we additionally love the fall harvest season because Michigan has a lot of farms. Thus, there are many farmers’ markets to peruse for fresh picked produce and more. Plus, there are also plenty of “wine trails” to explore in the fall, particularly in northern Michigan. Here are some more of Mom’s pleasant fall memories.
MORE FROM MOM’S MEMORIES…
As seen in…
Gloria Pitzer’s Mixed Blessings – Recipes & Remedies (Secret RecipesTM, St. Clair, MI; March 1984, pp. 22-23)
[AUTUMN]
IF I WERE AN ARTIST, I would cover my walls with pictures that would recapture the beauty of all the lovely places I’ve been to and would miss once I had left them.
I would recapture a restful sunset over the wooded hills of northern Michigan sloping toward the Sleeping Bear Sand Dunes, or I would relive the blazing colors of autumn that shroud the clusters of trees along the uninhabited backgrounds of the countryside surrounding Grand Traverse Bay.
But, alas, I cannot put such places into paintings, so I’ll have to paint them with words in order to revisit them in my memory whenever the thoughts of which John Ruskin must have written – those secret places of the happy mind, “nests of pleasant thoughts”… “houses built without hands for our souls to live in”.
Perhaps the food for thought, of finding these restful places in our memories, is just the elixir we often need; one more sufficiently nourished with sustenance to keep us physically fit, while we let our famished affections go hungry!
IN THE SUMMERTIME, throughout upstate Michigan, the roads borough through tunnels of green trees for miles and miles. There’ll be light traffic on these curving two-lane highways with single cars spaced two blocks or so apart coming toward you.
There was the quaint and very unique Settling Inn at the village of Northport, the most northern point of M-22. And farther south there was the Sugarfoot Saloon at Leelanau, near the Sugarfoot Mountain Resort.
It was quiet country, secluded but refreshing, compared to sophisticated urban activity. At County Road 669, a sign announced, “Sleeping Bear Dunes straight ahead on M-22”. The road curved like a long licorice ribbon, up and down the hillsides of densely grown white birches, Scotch pines, maples, oaks and poplars.
Suddenly we were conscious of how clean the air smelled. The city wasn’t like this! What a lovely contrast! What a splendid memory! The first time we saw the Traverse Bay area and upstate Michigan, we fell in love with it. It was Labor Day and summer was still at the peak of its promise.
Six weeks later, we went back to the bay area to feast our eyes on the glorious, fiery colors of fall. There was a crisp, clean chill in the air. Those long, straight, two-lane roads through the peninsula still lay like licorice ribbons on the slopes and hills of the Old Mission region.
The side roads were cut like corridors through a series of canopies in brilliant orange, red and yellow; where the trees were all standing like military sentries in full dress uniforms, crossing their branches above the roads like honor guards with their swords raised high.
It was a trip back into another time zone – peaceful valleys and wooded hillsides. Abundant was sturdy hedges of tall trees framing well-manicured cherry orchards, acres upon acres of them, as well as apple groves in great abundance everywhere!
Here and there a farmhouse and a weather-worn, well-kept barn reminded you that it was a populated and prosperous region, after all. The prosperity appeared to represent hard work, a practical living style and simplicity of needs, unlike the atmosphere of city dwelling.
LAST THOUGHTS…
Thanks for visiting! I hope you’ve enjoyed reading about my memories of my mom, her memories, and other related things. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to email me at therecipedetective@outlook.com. You can also find me on Facebook: @TheRecipeDetective. I look forward to hearing from you!
IN CLOSING…
In honor of TODAY, being National Beer Lover’s Day and National Salami Day, here’s Mom’s copycat recipe for “Beer Salami”; as seen in her self-published cookbook, The Second Helping Of Secret Recipes, Revised (National Home News, St. Clair, MI; November 1978, p. 16). As always, I’m asking only for proper credit if you care to re-share it.
P.S. Food-for-thought until next Monday…
The month of September observes… Better Breakfast Month, National Blueberry Popsicle Month, National Chicken Month, National Honey Month, National Italian Cheese Month, National Mushroom Month, National Potato Month, National Rice Month, National Sewing Month, Self-Improvement Month, Whole Grains Month, and more.
Today is also… National Acorn Squash Day and National New Hampshire Day.
Tomorrow is… National Ampersand Day. Plus, as the second Tuesday in September (for 2026), it’s also… National Ants on a Log Day.
Wednesday, September 9th, is… National Wiener Schnitzel Day.
Thursday, September 10th, is… National Swap Ideas Day and National TV Dinner Day.
Friday, September 11th, is… National Make Your Bed Day, National Hot Cross Bun Day, and Patriot Day.
Saturday, September 12th, is… National Chocolate Milkshake Day and National Day of Encouragement.
September 13th is… National Kids Take Over The Kitchen Day and National Peanut Day. Plus, as the Sunday after Labor Day (for 2026), it’s also… National Grandparent’s Day. Additionally, as the start of the second week in September (for 2026), it’s also the start of… National Biscuits and Gravy Week and National Arts In Education Week.
Have a great week!
…36 down and 16 to go.
