The morning is cloudy, dark and muggy. It is in the high 70’s where it will stay all day, but the breeze, luckily, is a strong one. It is coming from the south. There is a 59%’chance of a thunder shower later this afternoon. I do love thunder showers.

Summer rains are often gentle. When I was a kid, I’d stay outside in the rain. Getting wet was cooling, and my clothes dried quickly in the summer heat. I’d listen to the thunder and be amazed by the lightning. Thunder has a personality. Sometimes it rumbles while other times it cracks and seems to shake the house. My dogs don’t mind the thunder, but if it is loud, they check the ceiling. I once saw lightning hit the ground close to my house. It was jagged and looked like a kid’s drawing of what lightning should be. I sort of forgot myself in the excitement. I was standing under a metal overhang in the front of my house, but the lightning ignored me.

Some days just feel right. I felt that just about every summer day when I was a kid. I had no obligations, no chores and nothing I had to do except enjoy the day. At the playground, I had group tennis lessons a few mornings a week then my coach decided to give me individual lessons the other mornings. I loved tennis. I loved smashing the ball. The rackets were wooden. A wooden frame was attached to the rackets to store them and keep them from warping. The coach brought the rackets. My favorite had a red shaft. At the courts, the air was filled with the sounds of rackets hitting balls. It was a distinctive sound. During the day, I’d do crafts, play horseshoes and checkers. In the afternoons, after lunch, we had softball games against the other playgrounds. I was a pitcher and a first baseman. We won more than we lost. Every rainless summer day was filled with fun. I always slept well.

Last night I had a fluffernutter for dinner with extra crunchy peanut butter. I slathered the white bread with Marshmallow Fluff on one side and peanut butter on the other. The Fluff oozed a bit out the sides, but I caught it with my tongue. It was like keeping ice cream from melting down the cone. Both are feats at which kids excel.

I will be mostly lazy today. The only thing I need to do is vacuum. The balls of fur strewn about the floor are too many to ignore. I have noticed spider webs around the house, especially in the corners and joining one thing to another. I make sure the spiders are elsewhere before I clear the webs. My to-do list has nothing else.

The days are still delightful. Right now it is wonderfully sunny and morning cool at 73°. The nights have been in the high 50’s or low 60’s so sleep comes easily. I know the hot days of August are coming closer so I will revel in today.

On July 20th 1969, Neil Armstrong was the first man to set foot on the moon. It was televised, but I didn’t see it. I was in the middle of my Peace Corps training. It was live-in time. I was staying in Bawku with a Ghanaian family, my new family. My group was the smallest language group. We were learning Hausa. We met every day for lunch and more language instruction. On this day, in 1969, we ate lunch sitting around the radio listening to a reporter from the VOA, the Voice of America, describe the moon landing. We had to imagine. People were glued to their TV’s. They saw. We heard.

During my 2+ years in Ghana, the Peace Corps tried to keep us connected to what was happening at home. Every week they sent us the New York Times Week in Review. I read it, but the news seemed remote. My life was centered around learning a new language, adapting to living in a very different country, eating strange foods and fighting homesickness. The events were disconnected from my reality. I was in Africa. I shopped in the market every third day. I bought my chickens live. I hoped my eggs hadn’t been sat on by a hen. I hoped they were good eggs. I bought meat from the very dirty meat market sold by a man in an equally dirty apron. The meat was wrapped in banana leaves. I stopped noticing the dirt. It just was. My showers were always cold. Life was centered around my school where I lived and worked and my town. I lost track of the rest of the world. I was delighting in my new world.

My dance card is pretty much the same as last week’s. It is uke heavy.