The rain stayed around most of yesterday, but, by late afternoon, Mother Nature had finally gotten tired of pelting us with all that rainwater. The sky lightened, the dogs went out and the night had stars. Today is a perfect fall day. It was 62° this early morning, but the temperature has already creeped up to 72°. The breeze is constant, strong. The trunks are swaying and the leaves are spinning. I can hear them swishing.

When I was a kid, fall was my favorite season. I loved all the colors. I loved the crisp mornings. The air was always clear, almost shimmery in the light. Summer humidity was finally gone. My mother used to make us wear a light jacket which, by afternoon, was too warm. I’d put it in my school bag for the walk home. Most afternoons I’d quickly get out of my school clothes into my play clothes. My neighborhood friends and I would sometimes play games on the street like Red Rover. We all knew the strategy. Pick the weakest player who probably couldn’t break the hand chain. We played Simon Says and Red Light. Other afternoons I’d bike ride, but I never went far from home. The street lights came on too early. That was fall afternoon’s only drawback.

Supper was more formal than in summer. We always had meat, mashed potatoes and a vegetable. My mother’s meatloaf was one of my favorites. Sometimes she’d put ketchup on the top and cover the ketchup with bacon. We fought over the bacon. It was always wonderfully crisp. Other times she used mashed potatoes like frosting. She’d cover the beef and put it back in the oven. The tips of the potatoes browned. It looked like a baked Alaska. We never had baked beans during the week. They were only for Saturdays. We had corn, niblets and creamed, baby peas, cut carrots which we ate reluctantly and green beans, mostly French green beans. I remember watching Leave It To Beaver and The Donna Reed Show. They always had a stack of white bread on the dinner table. We never did. Dessert was mostly cookies from the supermarket. I am and will forever be an Oreo Fan.

Lately I have been testing Oreo flavors, some new, some already traditional. Double Stuffed and Mega Stuffed are just perfection. I’ve had the Golden Oreo and liked it, but it took a while to get use to as Oreos were always chocolate when I was a kid. Mint and Peanut Butter are easy to like. I just tasted Banana Pudding Oreos. Okay, a taste doesn’t cover it. I ate the whole package. I also ate the whole package of Deep Fried Oreos. It wasn’t in one sitting but over time. I will never buy them again. They are so good they will never last. I‘d be making several trips to the kitchen for handfuls. Now I’ll just dream of my Oreos.

This time the lateness of the hour isn’t my fault. My iPad did not charge last night so I have been waiting patiently by the plug. Okay, I admit it was impatiently waiting. I was a bit unnerved when I saw what had happened. My iPad is my only link to the cyber world so losing it would be beyond tragic. I don’t have the resources to buy a replacement. It is usable now, but I am on edge.

At 9:30 every morning, my Alexa wakes up, tells me the date, the time and the weather. Sometimes I hear her but most times she is a background hum of sorts. This morning I heard her 9:30 report. She predicted rain would start in a half hour. That is accu-weather at its most brazen. I fell back to sleep and woke up at 10:15. It was raining. Way to go, Alexa. It is still raining. I can hear the drops. The house is rainy day dark so I have lit all the twinkling lights in the living room and the pepper lights in the kitchen. They are perfect to light a rainy day.

Last night I saw my sloth walking down the driveway with a battered brown suitcase in his paw. He was wearing a brown vest and a jaunty hat. He looked over his shoulder at the house as he left the yard. I was heartbroken, but I knew the reason. Yesterday I cleaned the dining room. I’m talking dusting or polishing everything. I’m talking clearing shelves to clean all the glassware. The spiders’ webs which numbered in the thousands are gone, but the spiders have been left to build again. The tablecloth has been changed. Now a fall runner decorates the table. All the dog hair tumbleweeds have been vacuumed. I’m sure it is no surprise that I took a nap yesterday afternoon.

When I was a kid, my mother did all the house chores. The bed was made, the laundry done, the dishes washed, and the house dusted and vacuumed. She made every meal. I didn’t even know how to work a washing machine. Once, when I did a load of layndry, the machine started buzzing, I didn’t know what that meant. I took out every piece of laundry and wrung it then put it all in the dryer. Later, I asked what had happened and was told the load was unbalanced. I felt silly and a bit stupid. In Ghana I paid for my laundry to be done. All of it, except for my unmentionables, was washed by hand and hung on lines to dry by Thomas. The unmentionables were my responsibility.

Today I rest.