The wind is blowing, the air is humid, the sky is cloudy and it will be hot today. Thunderstorms are predicted for late this afternoon. Last night there was rolling thunder. Henry looked up from the bed but decided he was in no danger so he went back to sleep. Nala never noticed.

I have more trash than I have room for in my car so I’ll take a trip to the dump this afternoon. I have an appointment in Hyannis after which I’ll do the dump run. The rest of the trash is upstairs and is from the kitty litter boxes in the cats’ room. The pile gets bigger every day. The bags get heavier. I’m too old for this.

I remember how awful the barrels smelled when I was a kid. Flies were inside those barrels and circling around the covers. When my mother asked me too empty the kitchen basket, I groused. I knew when I lifted the barrel cover the flies would escape, and I’d be in their flight paths. We did have a garbage container in the backyard, what today would probably be a compost pile, buried except for its cover which was metal and flipped open when you pressed the pedal. The flies were even worse there, and I vividly remember the maggots, crawling white gross little worms all over the bananas peels and half-eaten apples. I used to watch them for them a while. They never attacked me the way the flies did.

In Ghana, flies were ubiquitous. At first, I was grossed out, but later, recognizing a losing battle, it didn’t take long for me to stop caring. I’d just wave my hands to keep the flies off me and my food. The market was fly heaven. The aunties, the local entrepreneurs who sold produce in the market, used straw fans to keep the bugs at bay. My house had screens so few flies could broach the interior. Other bugs could but not flies.

Every Saturday night was entertainment night at my school. Houses competed in plays and singing competitions. Tribal dancing was my favorite Saturday event. Sometimes we’d watch a movie. My favorite was a cartoon about the dangers of flies carrying disease. The large cartoon flies, about the size of birds, flew into pit toilets, covered their legs with feces and then stopped on food. My students were grossed out as was I. Solutions were offered, none viable. My favorite was to put screen covers over the food, but few Ghanaians had screens in their houses so this was totally impractical. I didn’t have covers for my food either. I never even thought about having some made.

When I went back to Ghana, I easily fell back into ignoring the flies. I guess it had become inherent. I’d notice them when they landed on food, but I’d just waved my hand as a matter of course, and the flies would leave for the meantime.

The morning is a delight. Right now it is 69˚ with lots of sun and the smallest of breezes. It will be a drying out day after three days of rain. It will also be a wash the kitchen floor day before I go crazy because of the muddy paw prints. They also go all the way down the hall.

Yesterday Nala counter surfed again. She took my English muffin. I found the plastic outside. She also hunted through a bag upstairs and stole a new Christmas ornament, a decorated cloth ornament. When she ran out the dog door, I knew she had something. She and I played tag for a while then she dropped the ornament. Later she stole a big package of tortillas. I remembered in a matter of seconds I had left them on the counter. When I went outside, Nala had the bag in her mouth. Two of the tortillas were sticking out of the bag. I chased her through the tall weeds in the back yard. She ran. I walked and called her the entire time. Finally she drop the tortillas and ate the two which had been hanging out of the bag. The last Nala theft was newspapers. I went out on the deck and found shredded paper and parts of the Sunday Globe. I collected all of it. It took a little while, and this morning I saw one I had missed in the yard. I’m thinking of belling the dog when she is inside so if I hear the rapid tolling off the bell I’ll know she is up to something. Good thing she is so cute.

When I was a kid, I was busy every summer day, even in a soft rain. I went to the park below my street and played games like horseshoes, tennis and softball. I made some crafts. I was a pro at lanyards made from gimp. I could also make bracelets in a flat sort of weaving pattern. I remember my biggest accomplishment was painting a wooden tray decorated with leaves and flowers. I so neatly painted I never once missed the pattern. I figured it was a talent honed by coloring inside the lines.

I can barely wait for movies on the deck season, but the nights are still a bit chilly. Last year I bought a few new movies, but we had no movie nights last year so they are still new movies. A couple are my favorite B science fiction movies in black and white. I can’t remember which creatures, but I think one has murderous aliens. Bring on the popcorn!!