“Leftovers in their less visible form are called memories. Stored in the refrigerator of the mind and the cupboard of the heart.”
Okay, I’m tired of clouds. Last night was beautiful with a bright moon and a clear sky. What happened after I went to sleep? The sky is now a dull grey. If it were a person, I’d think it boring. Nothing is moving, not even the smallest branch. Even a little wind would have added a bit of drama to the day. My plans too are boring. I’m going nowhere. I’m just going to catalog my Christmas presents so I’ll know what I have and what I need.
Last night I took my socks off and left them on the floor. This morning one had disappeared. Henry, I thought. Well, I found the other sock downstairs. I know it didn’t walk by itself. Some time during the night Henry brought it downstairs. I missed it all.
Henry now barks when a bell is rung on TV. I tried to explain that barking was unnecessary, but he was barking so loudly he didn’t hear me.
I have odd memories of events which happened when I was really little. They seem to have no context and stand singly. One memory has to do with a pond and a half submerged row boat. I remember water lilies and leeches and my mother screaming. I can still see white Adirondack chairs standing by the water, and I have a hazy memory of my father’s aunt. I don’t remember my great-grandmother, on my father’s side, but I can still see the narrow wooden stairs in her house which connected one floor with another. I do remember my great-grandfather, on my mother’s side, who used to sit by the giant heater in my grandmother’s living room. He scared me, and I’d run by him as quickly as I could. I didn’t remember why I ran until my mother told me he once took my Easter basket away.
At 37 Washington Ave., the stairs had a landing. I remember playing there with my dolls. I was probably no older than five or six as we were still there when my sister, five years younger than I, was born. 16 Washington Ave. was where we moved shortly after that. I always think it funny that the houses are remembered by their numbers.
I have tons of memories of Christmas though most of them have jumbled together over the years. For some reason, though, I remember the ice skates. They were old ones, the kind that buckled to your shoes. When I first woke up, they weren’t under the tree. Later that day they were. When I asked my mother, she told me I must have missed them, but I knew I hadn’t.
This last memory stills make me laugh. I wore braces for years, including the ones where tiny elastics were stretched from my lower to my upper braces. I remember sitting behind my father in the car and talking when one elastic flew out of my mouth and hit him in the back of the neck. He swatted his neck like he’d been bitten by a wasp. I suppose I must have said something, but I don’t remember it. Maybe I just laughed.
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keepthecoffeecoming.blog 
November 19, 2018 at 1:46 pm
Hi Kat,
Piki Dog acquired the habit of barking at the opening theme of Cook’s Country. The shows started with a sound that was supposed to be a church bell tolling. He thought someone was ringing the doorbell and would run to the door barking loudly. Rocky, of course, would join him. I noticed, recently, that the church bell sound seems to be gone from the theme song but Piki still barks whenever it comes on unless I’m paying attention and break his concentration before he starts.
It’s miserable here. Cold, dark, rainy. I should go to the post office. I should go outside and get all the hoses into the cellar and rain the outside faucets. I shall not do either of those things today. It’s much better to be warm and dry inside.
Enjoy the day.
November 19, 2018 at 2:39 pm
Hi Caryn,
That’s funny about Piki dog. Rocky is just being a good pal by joining him. Henry does drive me crazy. He is barking about nothing. I usually check out front but I never see anything which prompted the barking. He is going to be like the boy who cried wolf.
No rain here yet, but the sky is getting much darker as is this room. I have lost all ambition to check presents. I’m going to change my bed so I accomplish something.
Have a cozy evening!
November 19, 2018 at 2:42 pm
The weather report said no rain today and no rain for the next days. I went grocery shopping by bike. Guess who got soaked.
Soccer on TV starts now, Germany – Netherlands, our neighbors, a classic. We’re out anyway but it will be fun.
(KTCC music later, your selection looks great.)
November 19, 2018 at 3:00 pm
Birgit,
I’m skeptical of weather forecasts. Even with all their computers they tend to be wrong more than not. Rain is not predicted for us today, but I think the sky is a better indicator, and it looks like rain may be coming. It is even damp outside.
I know soccer is on here on some station, but I don’t know what. The soccer contingent in my family lives in Colorado.
Thanks the music. I decided to go way back to when Coffee started (2004 or 5) and all the music was folk. I do love folk music.
November 19, 2018 at 3:38 pm
Interestingly, our dogs never paid any attention to anything either visually or aurally that was on the TV. Both of our Greyhounds carried around stuffed animals and the first one carried around our portable telephone. Go figure what another species finds interesting. I’m convinced that dogs consider us part of their packs and when we leave the house they are convinced that we are never returning. Therefore, they love to carry around something with our odor on it so they can remember us. At one time we had three dogs in the house and when one of them had to be euthanized the other two moped around the house for several days apparently grieving the loss of their pack member.
When I was less than six years old, when we moved from New York, we would go to my paternal grandparent’s apartment for the holidays. They seemed like aliens to me because we only visited them occasionally. Also, they were very religious and if we went to visit them on Saturday there was no TV nor anything electric allowed in the house because they kept the Sabbath very strictly. My maternal grandparents lived only a few blocks from us and my mother took me to visit them on weekdays while my father went to work. They were much more reformed (modern) although my grandmother kept a kosher kitchen.
I have taken this week off from work to use up 2017 vacation days before losing them on New Year’s Eve. I’m already bored and can’t imagine what I would do if I were retired. 🙂 I guess I could start some kind of blog. Do you think anyone would respond? 🙂
Today is another cool day with clear skies and mid 50s temperatures.
November 19, 2018 at 4:22 pm
Bob,
Your dog was probably expecting a call. I read that dogs do think we won’t be back which is why they get so happy when we return. My dogs haven’t ever carried around anything. They did go pick up a toy and bring it to the couch and sometimes brought it to me for playing, especially the boxers who loved tugging.
One set of grandparents lived in the same town as we did. The other set lived about a half hour or a bit more away. We visited them often. I knew three of my great-grandparents.
I usually worked a 50 hour week and often had school events to attend on Friday and Saturday nights. I was really busy, but it didn’t take me long to love being retired. I guess I found a lot of stuff to keep me busy. I never regretted early retirement.
I never thought people would find my blog, but they did. I’m betting they’d find yours as well!!
November 19, 2018 at 7:04 pm
My problem is that flying was my hobby which I managed to turn into my profession. I guess I could retire and spend my mornings at the local airport coffee shop with other retired pilots swapping war stories.
If I started a blog you would be the first person I would invite to join. 🙂
November 19, 2018 at 7:12 pm
Bob,
There must be all sorts of stuff connected to flying which you could do. The coffee shop would be once a month or so sort of thing. I have loved being retired.
I would love to be the first to join your blog!!