“I know she absolutely delights in the improvement of the weather, in the turning of the year.”
The house was cold, 62˚, when I woke up. I was cuddled under my blankets with a warm dog beside me so the cold made want to stay in bed. I kept moving my Alexa wake-up music to later, but I’m going off cape so I wanted time for coffee, the papers and a shower. The house is finally getting warmer.
When I was a kid, I took delight in simple things. In the summer, I’d run through the field and watch the grasshoppers jump in front of me. I’d try to catch one as it jumped. I remember brown on my hands, grasshopper poop I thought. I always let the grasshoppers go. I could lie on the cool grass for the longest time and look at the stars and be amazed at how many there were. Butterflies of all different colors flittered from bush to bush, and I watch until they were out of sight. All the windows and the back doors were opened on summer nights. The lights shined and left shadows. I remember the sounds of muted voices.
In the winter, we’d pretend to be smoking when we could see our breaths. I’d hold the cigarette between my fingers and take long, dramatic puffs. I remember the frost on the inside bedroom window and writing my name using my fingernails. I remember getting home from school on the coldest days and hurrying out of my school clothes into comfy clothes. I’d lie in the bed and read by the light of my bed lamp as the afternoon wore away.
Spring is the season of delight. Every day new shoots popped out of the ground and began their journey to flowers. The yellow daffodils were bright after the drab winter. The leaves changed as they unfurled on the branches. First they were light green then a darker green. I could barely wait to shed my winter coat for my spring jacket.
The colors of the leaves in fall were almost jaw dropping. My favorites were the yellow leaves. I loved saving them between sheets of wax paper. I’d look for the perfect leaf.
I always read and reread each Coffee entry out loud before I post it. That is my way to edit. I need to know how the words mix in sentences. Today as I read I realized I still stop and look and take delight in my world season after season. I consider myself lucky.
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October 19, 2019 at 1:17 pm
Hi Kat,
We now all know the secret to your success with this blog. Reading your work out loud is a great technique for checking that what you wrote directly from your brain makes sense. After your ears hear it read back out loud then your brain can make a reality check on itself. 🙂 One of the reasons that a two pilot airplane is safer than a single pilot airplane is that the other person becomes the monitor for the pilot flying. When I taught pilots to fly by themselves, in airplanes certificated for single pilot operations, I had them read the checklists and make all the callouts out loud as if there was another pilot in the other seat. Hearing themselves was a good check on what their brains thought they did verses the perception of hearing what they really did or were thinking.
This is truly the nicest time of the year in North Texas. The skies are clear and the high temperature is forecast to reach the low 80s. Unfortunately, there’s only a small chance of rain tomorrow night when a cool front comes though we need rain.
October 19, 2019 at 5:11 pm
Hi Bob,
Even in high school and college I read all my papers out loud. I love the sound of the words and their connections to each other. I can always tell which words don’t fit then I try to rewrite so they do fit.
Your getting your pilots to read out loud is also a check which I totally understand. Their mouths don’t go as quickly as their brains so they pay more attention.
Today was a perfect day, sunny and warm. It got into the low 60s. Tomorrow should be the same. It will rain Tuesday night.
October 19, 2019 at 3:18 pm
Hi Kat,
Yes to all you said. Except I don’t read Coffee out loud. 🙂 But all the rest of it, yes, yes, yes, yes. The world is delightful and I’m lucky to be able to enjoy that.
The house wasn’t cold this morning to my mind but the heat came on anyway even though the thermostat was set at 58ºF. I had a half tank of oil to start the month so I went down to check the level. It was full! The oil fairies must have come in that tiny window of time that I was out of the house. They seem to know. 🙂
Blue skies and relatively warm weather up here today. I put laundry into the machine, blew the leaves off the lawn, and chucked a ton of black walnuts down into the swamp. I feel I have done my duty today.
Enjoy the evening.
October 19, 2019 at 5:19 pm
Hi Caryn
We are very lucky to find delight in the every day, in things we always see but never take for granted. I feel sorry for people who can’t find joy.
I have gas heat and have programmed my thermostat. It goes down to 63˚ at night and up to 68˚ during the day. I had forgotten to turn it on last night. I knew as soon as I poked my head outside of the covers.
I was in Stoneham today. I took my sister to lunch. It is our tradition for her birthday. I also give her the new Star Trek ornament. We went to the restaurant which is now where Felicia’s used to e. It was good.
I ran into traffic, bumper to bumper, from Hanover to the city. It was maddening.