The morning is ugly, cold and cloudy. The air is damp. Rain is predicted. It is a perfect day to hunker down with a good book, but I have another concert. This one is at the mall. I’ll have to hunker later.

Lately my sloth has held sway. I’ve been lazy. This morning I swept down the stairs, the most cleaning I have done in days. I’ve become more tolerant of dust balls of Henry hair. I clean up a few as I walk down the hall, but mostly, I’ve learned to ignore them. Every time I pat Henry his white fur flies, and he has a lot of hair

I used to get an allowance of fifty cents. That doesn’t sound like much but back then fifty cents was a fortune. My father used to talk about the ant and the grasshopper. The ant worked and saved. The grasshopper played. I was a kid. I was a grasshopper. I remember buying books for forty nine cents which left me a penny. The books were mostly about girl detectives like Trixie Belden. They were published by Whitman. The library didn’t carry those books. I still have a few of them. They have colorful cardboard covers and are in a bookcase in my bedroom. I also read the classics. I remember the sadness of Black Beauty. I thought Jo, Little Women Jo, was brave. She was a rebel. She made choices contrary to the customs of the time. She had her hair cut then she sold it. Her family was appalled. Long hair was femininity, but she sacrificed it for money, for her mother to travel to see her father in the hospital. Jo was my hero. I read Zorro and Heidi and Robert Louis Stevenson. I was a quick reader. Once I started a book I got so enmeshed in the pages everything else disappeared. If my mother called for me and I didn’t answer, she thought I was ignoring her. She didn’t realize I was with Long John Silver.

I have a downstairs book and an upstairs book. I always have a book.

Last night it poured. The dogs stood at the door, looked out and backed into the kitchen. Later, though, they both went outside out of necessity. They both got soaked. It won’t rain again today. The sun has broken through the clouds. Blue had taken over the sky. Right now it is 41°, typical weather for spring here on the cape. Tonight will go down to the high 30’s. Winter is still holding sway.

I have traveled. I fulfilled the promise I made for myself when I was eleven, when I was in the sixth grade. Geography was one of my favorite subjects. I loved all the pictures in my geography book. They became part of my promise. The picture I remember the most is of Christ the Reedemer statue standing at the peak of Corcovado mountain overlooking the city of Rio. That went on the list. I remember the commercials with Juan Valdez and his donkey Conchita who is hauling Colombian coffee beans. Juan wore a soft hat which looked like a fedora. He also wore a serape folded over one shoulder. Going to the mountains and seeing coffee beans growing went on the list. Maybe I’d even run into Juan and his donkey. I made a scrapbook, a journal of my travels before I traveled anywhere. I cut pictures from travel brochures and made up stories about my trip. It was a dream book.

I never found many brochures about traveling in Africa. Egypt was about the only country highlighted with pictures of pyramids in my geography book. Africa seemed strange, excitedly strange. It appeared different than any other place. I put it on the list.

When I was a senior in college before I heard from Peace Corps, my friends and I planned a trip to Europe after graduation. My parents gave me the trip as a graduation present. It was one of those 5 countries in 7 days type trips then I heard from Peace Corps. I was going to Africa. I was fine missing the trip to Europe. After Africa, Europe seemed almost commonplace. People went to Europe. They didn’t go to Africa. I took out books from the library about Africa. Peace Corps sent information and a book about Ghana. I poured through it. I knew very little about Africa and pretty much nothing about Ghana.

I’ve had adventures. I fulfilled most of the dreams, most of the promises I had made when I was eleven, but I still have a few dreams. I think myself lucky in that way.