Today is a delight. It is 70° and filled with sunshine. The blue sky is striking. A breeze stirs the leaves on the lower branches. It is the best of early summer weather.

When I was a kid, I got car sick. I used to stick my head out the window hoping I’d feel better. Sometimes, though, I’d get sick out the window. I have two big car sick memories. I was quite young, and we were on our way to visit my grandparents in East Boston. I remember I was wearing a dress. We were close when I threw up all over me and the floor. My father turned right around, and we went home. He cleaned the car. My mother cleaned me. The other memory is a bit comical. I got sick out the window. A bit of it was caught by the breeze. My father said he felt drops. “It must be starting to rain,” he said. I said nothing.

I remember family road trips and Sunday rides. We’d ride north on Route 1. There was so much to see. The sides of the road were filled with old motels and some restaurants. I remember the giant cactus sign outside the Hilltop Steak House. The Prince’s Restaurant had a leaning tower. A giant orange dinosaur looked over the highway from a miniature golf course. Augustine’s had wonderful food and was a favorite restaurant of ours. Some old lady used to play an organ. The Ship Restaurant was another quirky place to eat. It was huge and was a long way from the water. One small motel was right on the road. I remember it was red, and a big sign was in front, far taller than the motel building which had only a few, maybe 6 or 8 rooms. I remember tacky looking bars with signs mentioning dancing girls. There were always cars out front despite the time of day. I always wished we’d stop at Russo’s Candy House or Putnam Pantry for ice cream. We seldom stopped.

One of my strongest memories from a family ride was seeing some deer grazing under trees on a small hillside near the road. I hadn’t ever seen deer in the wild before that. I can still close my eyes and see those deer.

It rained early this morning. Right now it is sunny and warm at 74°, but clouds are soon expected. It is humid, no surprise there. This is, after all, summer on Cape Cod. Tonight will be in the low 60’s.

When I was a kid, we stayed outside in the summer rain. During torrential storms we kicked and splashed water in the gutters and jumped into puddles. We got soaked. We loved every minute of it. We sun dried. I loved riding my bike just after a storm. I’d ride through puddles and lift my feet off my pedals into the air. Waves rose on each side of my bike. Sometimes the puddles were so deep I’d skim on the water and hold on to the handlebars to keep my bike upright.

I love early summer mornings though of late I have been seeing them at their beginnings, at first light. The first bird songs come with the glimmer of light, a single bird then the chorus. Some mornings have fog, ground fog. Those are my favorites.

The post office in my town was one of my favorite places. It is a brick building. Inside was grand. It had marble walls and table tops. The clerks were behind windows which looked like old time bank teller windows. Voices seem to echo. Inside always felt cool in the summer.

My town had three funeral homes when I was a kid. One was inside what had been a large white house. It was on Main Street. That was where my grandfather was waked. The funeral home was on the corner of the street where my grandfather had lived which, when I was older, I recognized as irony. He was the first person I knew who had died. The other two funeral homes were right beside each other just off Main Street. The Catholics were waked in one, the Protestants in the other. I always thought that a bit odd.

The First National was right up the street from my grandparents’ house. My grandmother even dressed up to go grocery shopping. She always wore a hat. She pulled a wire basket behind her to hold her groceries. She only bought just what she needed. She used to buy Circus Peanuts, those orange hard marshmallow candies shaped like peanuts which strangely enough tasted a bit like banana. She always gave them to my father when he visited. She also bought spearmint leaves and glass bottles of root beer. She kept the root beer on the floor of the closet in her kitchen.

I have a couple of house chores to finish, and I also still need to get a few groceries. Sounds like an exciting day!

The morning is hot at 79°, but the temperature won’t get much higher. It will be a sunny day. Right now we have a lovely breeze. Rain is predicted for tonight but in the wee hours. I knew it would rain. I washed my kitchen floor yesterday, a task which took a few hours given how much it needed to be cleaned and how often I took cold drink breaks. When I was finished, harkening back to Ghana, I took a cold shower to wash away the heat and the grime. It was quick.

The trees in my backyard are so full just the sunlight shines through the leaves. I only see glimpses of the sun and the blue sky through the scanty branches at the tops of the highest trees. My den is cool and shaded this time of day so the dogs nap on the couch. They take up two cushions.

When I was a kid, Sunday was my least favorite day. I had to go to mass, not out of any religious conviction, but rather because original sin and the black milk bottle in the Baltimore Catechism had me running scared of eternal damnation. I did try to make the services as painless as possible. I brought a book and read it. With my head down, I gave the appearance of fervently reading my missal. Back then, this time of year, the church was always filled especially during the early masses so worshipers could get on with their summer fun. If I was in the upstairs church, I often stood in the back with the overflow of church goers or sat outside on the steps. Downstairs, I also stood in the back, but I got to read all the pamphlets on the rack against the back wall. I used to vault up the stairs to the door when mass was over and my obligation was complete.

Sunday dinner was casual all summer. The oven kept the kitchen too hot. Even fans barely moved the air. I loved my mother’s peppers and eggs. She made great potato salad. In August we ate sugar corn. I can remember watching my father shuck the ears. We ate hot dogs and cheeseburgers. The cheese was always yellow American cheese. Back then I put ketchup on my burgers.

Today I have a few more chores, upstairs, and I need some groceries. My week has the usual uke events.