The day is dark. The nor’easter is already underway with a high wind warning which continues through Sunday. Right now we have gusts up to 26 miles per hour but gusts up to 60 miles per hour are predicted. Even the biggest, the topmost branches are bending. The leaves are curling. The rain should begin around one and will dump around three inches of rain through Sunday. Saturday alone will get an inch. I need to get a few things at the store. I expect the stores to be crowded just as they are before giant snowstorms or hurricane predictions so I may wait until the rain starts hoping that will keep the less intrepid indoors.

Henry will go out in the rain, but Nala will look out the door then back into the kitchen. None of my boxers have been lovers of rain. Now I wish I had put the storms in the door so I could leave the inside doors open. The dogs and I love to watch the rain.

The morning has been a good one. The coffee was delicious. I get my coffee from Atlas Coffee so it comes from a different place each month. I am now enjoying coffee from Guatemala. I ran out of light cream, but I still have vanilla ice cream I am using instead. It is so delicious I find myself drinking more coffee than usual. My sister gave me some lemon curd, just about my favorite way to eat lemons. This morning I put it on my toast. It was sweet and tasty. Both were a glorious way to start the day. Next, I finished all three puzzles in the newspaper. I felt triumphant.

My upstairs is in dire need of attention. My bedroom has clumps of dust and fur everywhere. The surfaces need to be dusted or polished. The bed needs changing. I have bags of laundry. I find my inner sloth has total control.

When I was a kid, my favorite place to spend a rainy afternoon was in my bedroom nestled under the covers. One window was close to the foot of my bed, and I’d watch the rain hit that window and roll down the panes. I’d have my over the headboard light on and I’d spend the afternoon reading. My room was always quiet, but I could hear the TV playing in the living room. My mother would be in the kitchen making supper. I could smell the food cooking. I’d stay reading until my mother called me down to supper. She’d fill my plate, hand it to me, and I’d sit at the table and eat. She didn’t sit with us, but she’d often stand at the counter to eat. I’d watch TV until bedtime then I’d read until my mother yelled up the stairs for me to turn off the light and go to sleep. Joys of life stay with us. I find it amazing that even now on rainy days I love to nestle under the covers and read.

The nights are chilly. In the morning the house is cold. It holds the night air. I have had to keep the back door shut because of the breeze, because the cool air is being blown down the hall to the den. Fall is in full swing.

The sunshine is sharper today. The breeze is so heavy everything constantly blows, turns, bends. We have a high wind warning and a coastal flooding warning. The nor’easter is close.

When I was a kid, I made memories without realizing they were being tucked away, saved in my memory drawers. Some have stayed hidden, but many have abruptly jumped into my head triggered by a smell or sight or sound. Yesterday we drove through the square of my hometown. My friend pointed at the shop where she got the best subs. We remembered Hank’s Bakery, and the smell of bread baking in Hank’s ovens which wafted through the square. I still see Hank’s though it has been gone a while. Woolworth’s and Grants disappeared a long time ago. I still lament the loss of Woolworth’s. Many of the old buildings, especially the banks, look the same but haven’t been banks for the longest time. I miss the old square with all its shops, with what seemed to be hundreds of pharmacies lining the street and with the people in stores and on the sidewalks carrying bags from their shopping. Every day the square lived.

Yesterday’s reunion was amazing. I hadn’t seen my old friends for decades, but we fit together as if we last saw each other yesterday. I think it is always that way with old friends with whom you have so many memories of growing up together, memories of events and places and things shared. We told funny stories. We laughed. We weren’t old for a while. We were back to then. We were retelling funny experiences and remembering people we haven’t seen for so long. One memory of when I was first in the drill team I found out one of my friends has the same memory. We were maybe around twelve and went to a party after a contest. It was my mention of the duplex where the party was, the one over fifty years ago, which triggered the memory of my friend from at the same party. Everyone else there was old, at least in our eyes. The guys shaved. The girls seemed so sophisticated, many in their late teens. Treva said she was so scared she stayed on the porch. I stayed in a corner, protected on three sides. I didn’t realize this memory stayed. I find it amazing, even strange, which memories, which happenings, get stored away for safe keeping in our memory drawers.