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Why do they call it "Indian summer"? 

"Indian summer" is usually the term given to a mild heat wave late in the summer, but a true Indian summer period must meet
 certain criteria. The weather must be sunny and dry, and unseasonably warm (but not too hot). The atmosphere is often hazy
 blue or smoky. The wind is calm or light. But it must also be preceded by a spell of inclement weather such as a hard frost, 
a snowfall or cool stormy weather. 

The term "Indian summer" has been in North America for at least 200 years. One of the earliest Canadian references was 
in 1796, when Elizabeth Simcoe, wife of the first lieutenant-governor of Upper Canada (today's Ontario), wrote in her diary:
 "There is a fog like our Indian summer, with insufferable heat." 

Most likely, the term comes from the fact that North American Indians harvested their late crops of corn and pumpkins 
during that time of the year. Another explanation links the blue haze associated with Indian summer to the smoke from
 the grass and brush fires set by Indian hunters. A third explanation comes from the idea that the fact that deciduous 
trees, trees that lose their leaves during the winter, are dressed as colorfully as Native American clothing during that 
time of year. 



Where did the phrase "it's raining cats and dogs" come from? 

Whenever there's a heavy rain with strong winds, someone is bound to say it's "raining cats and dogs." The term
 actually goes back hundreds of years. In northern mythology, witches who rode on storms were said to assume 
the forms of cats, and the dog was a sign of wind. Often in pictures of the storm god, wind is shown blowing from 
the heads of dogs and wolves. Thus, "raining cats and dogs" was a phrase used to describe a period of heavy winds 
and rain.