Yeah. I've seen people lay all manner of grief on food service workers involved with the preparation of their food. Can't say I think it's too smart a political rationale.

Like yesterday. The pizza joint had an accident involving my order necessitating fixing another. I didn't get angry ... I just smiled and submitted to another 10 minutes to wait on the replacement of my pie. It's simply the right thing to do.

Not only am I extremely polite and humble with those who are fixing my food; I am even known to fix their personal computers free of charge to add to those warm and fuzzies I utilize to avoid spit and other foreign material additions to my food.

So today we have National Food Service Employee Day. It goes down annually on September 25. The day is observed to recognize, appreciate, and thank those staffers who work in the food service industry.

The food service worker is the professional who prepares food and ensures that the kitchen and dining area are clean and safe. They must also follow strict rules set by Managers in order to maintain a high level of customer satisfaction. The managers in turn answer to governmental agences who inspect facilities, methods, and records.

Beats starvation. Happy National Food Service Employees Day to all you people out there who prepare my food.
 

I used to mark the seasons more enthusiastically than I do now.

Something about each successive year's repetition makes you lose the close tracking you may have kept I guess.

My favorite part of the Fall is the cooler weather.

Something about the white hot South Carolina sun just beats you into submission over time.

Those high temperatures have not yet betrayed the changing of the season but today is the Autumnal Equinox aka First Day of Fall.

Daylight hours start to diminish as the sun begins to cross the equator.

Autumn days become progressively shorter than the nights as the Sun continues to rise later and nightfall arrives earlier.

The Fall harvest and many ancient harvest celebrations of the pagan variety coincide with this celestial event.

I continue to abide strictly for the diminished temperature myself.
 

One of my favorite treats when I was a child was the ice cream cone.

My most favorite cone was to be had at Baskin Robbins but they are all gone from this area now except for 3 locations which are by and large remote from my place. I used to go there at least weekly for about 3 scoops on a waffle cone and had my fix. Ah, the rum raisin, pralines and cream, and chocolate ... I remember them well.

Earlier, there were the grocery freezer variety. While considerably less artisan than the Baskin Robbins cones I came to enjoy them immensely as well. I recall two different boxes in the freezer periodically.

One was the Drumstick . Liberal chocolate, caramel, and nut topping, vanilla ice cream, graham cracker cone. I sometimes could consume an entire box of them in a short span.

Then there was the Nutty Buddy . Thick chocolate injected into the top and sprinkled with nuts. Again the graham cracker cone. They were an infrequent indulgence because I really couldn't control myself.

The inventor of the ice cream cone is subject to protracted debate. The closest I can guestimate is the orignator of the French Cookbook recipes of 1825 or so.

In 1912 a man from Oregon was issued a patent for his machine designed to make them. He sold the resulting company to Nabisco in 1928 — and they still make ice cream cones today.

After all these years I still enjoy ice cream cones. They're one of those things from my childhood which still makes their way into my life.

Happy National Ice Cream Cone Day !