We are in the house is colder than outside season of the year. It was only 64° in the house but 66° outside when we got out of bed. The dogs have been in and out a couple of times. They are now having their morning naps, not to be confused with their afternoon and evening naps. I’ll be home today. I have a few chores, the first of which is putting in the storm doors so I can leave the inside doors open.

I have had favorites spots in favorite places. In my hometown, one was the swamp in a grove in the woods close to my house. My two favorite swamp seasons were spring and winter. In the winter the swamp froze over, and we ice skated. We’d also follow the small frozen canals from the main swamp to where the swamp ended. The rest of the year the banks by those canals were too overgrown to fight the underbrush to go beyond the grove. What was neat was the ice was so clear I could see the wild grass looking windblown but frozen in time. In the spring the tadpoles flitted in the water close to the edge. I used to lie on my stomach to watch them. I’d go often to the swamp to watch the tadpoles become frogs. First they had legs then tails.

I’d visit the horses in the town’s barn. It was around the corner from the junkman’s house. He used to go up and down the streets in his wagon asking for paper and rags. Back then, my town was far more colorful, filled with unique people and places. I remember the sharpener man on his bicycle, the noisy milkman with his bottles hitting his wire carrier and the trash men hanging off the backs of their trucks.

In Ghana, I loved one stretch of road between Bolga, where I lived, and Navrongo, some 18 miles north. I lived in the savannah so trees were scarce. Mostly there were baobab, tamarind and pawpaw, but on that one stretch were mahogany trees lined up on each side of the road. I always stopped, thrilled at the beauty of those trees shading the road in the hottest part of Ghana.

Here on the cape, there are too many places to list, but I think my favorite is anywhere with a view of the ocean. The winter ocean is the one I love the most with its wind and white crested waves beating the beach. When I stand on the shore, I feel small in the face of the wind and water.

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