“Nothing is made in vain, but the fly came near it.”
Posted September 11, 2026 by katryCategories: Musings
Tags: brownies, Coasters, Peace Corps
The day is beautiful. It is 70° right now with a small breeze from the north, always the chilliest breeze. I shut the window behind me. The dogs haven’t had their morning naps yet. Henry loudly and annoyingly barked at the mailman when he delivered across the street. Nala tried to nap, but Henry’s barking had her intrigued so she got up and checked. I suspect her tacit reaction was how silly Henry is. I agree.
When I was in the second grade, I joined the Brownies. My mother and I took the bus and went to the Jordan Marsh in Malden where we bought my Brownie uniform, my brown tam, a belt and a dark brown coin purse which hung off the belt. On the day I had a troop meeting, I got to wear my Brownie uniform instead of my school uniform. That made being a Brownie special. I remember we started every troop meeting by saying the Girl Scout promise while our right hands made the Girl Scout salute. I remember feeling so proud when I marched in uniform in the town’s Memorial Day parade. I remember the small crowds along the parade route. People clapped and parents yelled their kids names. I would immortalize the event when I told my parents, “Everyone was out of step except me.”
I have never been afraid of bugs. I always thought the girls who screamed were silly. When I was growing up, bugs intrigued me. I’d watch them and wonder. I wondered how fireflies were able to light, how did the most beautiful butterflies came from cocoons and did brown grasshoppers really leave poop on my hand when I held them. Dragonflies were fascinating the way they flitted back and forth across the top of the water in the swamp. We called them sewing needle bugs. We’d scare the little kids by telling them the bugs would sew their lips shut as a punishment for a variety of infractions. That was easy to believe as they did look as if they could.
Sometimes I’ll see a gnat floating in my coffee cup. I’ll just slide it out and toss it. It was in Ghana where I learned not to be disgusted by floating bugs or the weevils in my flour. I’d just pick out the gnats and sift out the flour weevils. We never got all of the weevils out of the flour so we jokingly called the rest protein. In Ghana drinks are delivered with coasters. Being an American, I put them under my glass. Ghanaians put them over the tops of their glasses. I didn’t learn for the longest time that the top loaded coasters kept out the gnats.
Today I m going to vacuum, polish a bit and load more trash into the trunk. I went to the dump the other day and hope to go again. I still have trash bags on the deck. Ignoring them doesn’t work.
“Wake up! Wake up! C’mon, first day of school!”
Posted September 10, 2026 by katryCategories: Musings
Last night was clear and wonderfully breezy and cool. The insects were singing, and I could hear a bird. The dogs were active. Henry jumped off the couch a few times and ran to the door. Nala followed. I don’t think she knew why, but she was willing to back Henry. Both of them barked for a bit then went back to the couch.
Today is sunny and warm, already 79°. It is a quiet day. Thursday seems to be an insignificant day. It just blends into the rest of the week. I do have a dentist appointment later, just a cleaning, but I don’t think it gives Thursday any prominence.
When I was a kid, I never went to the dentist unless I had a tooth ache. The visit always started with me biting on the red tab which then covered the spots on my teeth where I wasn’t brushing well. A brushing demonstration from the dentist usually followed. I liked my dentist as he always used gas. I remember the mask on my face. I remember the weird smell. I could hear muted voices, but I couldn’t hear what they were saying. When I was brought back from oblivion, I was glad I had missed it all.
Before I went to Ghana, I had to have a dental exam and have any teeth needing attention fixed. I found a dentist in Lawrence. My father said he’d pay the whole bill because I had rotted my teeth on his time, but forever after, it was on me. It took a few visits. The only thing we didn’t have time for was a tooth cleaning. He didn’t use gas, but I survived.
School started this week. I followed a bus which seemed to stop at every street. Little kids got off. Their parents were sitting in cars or standing on corners waiting. I remember my first day of school. My mother walked me to school. She had my two sisters in tow and pushed a carriage. The walk to school was easy. Most of it was a straightaway. After that first day, I walked with some neighborhood friends. I never got lost.
On my first day of school in Ghana, I was nervous. The walk to the school compound took maybe 3 minutes. My house was right by the back gate. Each class had 35 students. They sat at tables for two. The windows and doors were free of glass or screens. Occasionally a goat dropped by to visit. The bathroom was across the compound. A student would raise her hand and tell me she needed to urinate. Outside my classroom were bushes. One time my students were throwing rocks at the bushes. I wondered why. Come to find out, they were trying to kill a snake. I got through my first day, but at the end of the first lesson, a student raised her hand and said, “We didn’t hear you, madam.” They didn’t understand my English. Theirs was a sort of British English. Mine was pure American. I needed to learn to speak Ghanaian English. It took a while.
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