Keep the Coffee Comimg

Yesterday I woke up late, took my time with the newspaper and had a Zoom uke practice so I just didn’t get to Coffee. Today I am just late. Nala tried to wake me up earlier by whacking me with her paws, but I hid under the pillow and fell back to sleep. Nala is sleeping now, and I was tempted to wake her up but I didn’t. I just let sleeping dogs lie (Sorry!)

Today is a fall day. The sun is muted behind the almost white clouds. It is 55° with a slight breeze, but it doesn’t feel cold. I went to the deck for a while to watch the dogs romp, and my hoodie was enough. I like today.

When I was a kid, I loved fall. The leaves were beautiful. The mornings were crisp and the afternoons warm. I loved walking through the leaves shuffling my feet. I’d save the brightest, prettiest leaves, the reds and the yellows, to iron in wax paper. I’d cut the paper to make book marks. It was my way of holding on to fall.

Soon enough, the trees became bare. The ground was covered in leaves shriveling and turning brown. Their branches looked like hands reaching. Their shadows on the sidewalks were creepy as if they were trying to grab me. My imagination used to go wild. I wouldn’t say I was afraid but I wondered. I wondered about monsters. A small part of me believed.

I loved watching Superman. I still remember the opening, the faster than a speeding bullet refrain. That nobody recognized that Clark was Superman puzzled me. No one questioned that Clark and Superman never appeared together. I wondered how Clark could hide his Superman suit with cape under his Clark clothes. We never saw it happen, but I figured Superman went back to retrieve Clark’s shirts, suit, shoes and glasses he had left in some alleyway or in a closet at the Daily Planet. I remember Clark one time appearing just after Superman had left, and he was straightening his tie. Lois wondered a few times where Clark went off to, but she never probed. She thought Clark was meek. She’d just tell Clark he had missed Superman then file her story.

Last week I had a completely empty dance card, but this week my dance card is full, uke heavy. I have already had practice but I still have four concerts and my lesson on Wednesday. We are singing cowboy songs.

The sky is lighter. It rained all day yesterday, last night and into this morning, but the rain has slowed, become softer and quieter. It is still warm, 62°. Showers are predicted for tonight. Oh joy!

I remember mornings in fall when there was a frost. I’d wake up to find the windows in my bedroom had frost on the lower halves. I used to write my name in the frost with my fingernail. The grass had a layer of frost, but it was more wet than icy. Walking on it left footprints. The frost would disappear as the day warmed. It wasn’t yet heavy duty cold so no layering. I’d wear a jacket with a sweater underneath and mittens on my hands. I loved those mornings. The summer haze had disappeared. The air was crisp and clear. Everything looked highlighted, bright in the light of the sun and the first stirrings of fall.

When the mornings were chilly, my mother often made us a hot breakfast. I remember the oatmeal. It was the old-fashioned kind which always seemed to have a few lumps. I’d cover the cereal with sugar and then add milk. The sugar even made the lumps tasty. Cocoa was my morning drink. My mother made it with half milk and half hot water. Bubbles were always on the top of the cocoa. My mother made tea in a ceramic pot and put it in the middle of the table. My brother drank the tea. They’d be toast cut in half and slathered with butter. We were fortified for the walk to school on a chilly morning.

After daylight savings time we mostly stayed in the house after school. The darkness came early. We’d watch TV and wait for supper. My mother would have started cooking supper already. On the stove, the peeled cut potatoes boiled. The meat was cooking sometimes in the oven and other times in a pan on top of the stove. The last piece was the canned veggies opened and put in a pan to heat. My favorite meats were ground beef in gravy and meatloaf frosted in mashed potatoes. I loved just about every vegetable my mother served except maybe the carrots. She’d mix them with the mashed potatoes. I didn’t ever realize they were carrots. She lied.