The day is cloudy and will stay cloudy. It is 74°, a perfect temperature. This time of year the nights are cool, wonderful for sleeping. Most schools around here start tomorrow. The summer went quickly.

I am discouraged. I know my leg will take a while to heal, but I am so impatient I expect a miraculous recovery. I walk noisily, oohing and ahing when I use that leg. The walker helps going up and down the hall, but sitting is the best.

The only time I went to the hospital when I was a kid was when I broke my wrist. I was around 4. I had been jumping backwards off the fence gate all afternoon. I wanted my mother to watch. She opened the window in our apartment and watched from there. I took my position on the gate and jumped. It wasn’t a clean landing. I had to use my hand when I touch the ground to brace myself so I wouldn’t fall. My mother applauded despite my poor performance. Later, my mother worried about my wrist. When I was sleeping, she turned it around. I didn’t wake up, but she called my grandfather who told her to have it checked. She did. I had broken my wrist, a buckle fracture. My wrist was put in a cast. I was so proud of that cast. I showed it off everywhere.

There are sticks all over the floors of my house, compliments of Nala. She brings a bigger stick inside and chews on it leaving smaller pieces all over. Small chewed pieces of paper towels are on the deck, Nala’s work again. She is so funny when I catch her with something in her mouth. She has a tell. She almost smiles, and her tail wags so much her tail almost touches her muzzle. When I go to get whatever she has, she takes off out the dog door.

I hate flies. Once in a while one gets into the house so I carry a magazine for swatting. Usually a fly lands on the screen, and I can open the door to let it outside. In Ghana, flies were everywhere. Babies had flies on them. Mothers swatted but there were usually too many flies. I remember one Saturday night at my school. The USAID guy had brought a projector, a cartoon and a movie to my school. The cartoon was about flies. My students laughed the whole time. It showed flies stopping at night soil buckets and flying off with night soil on their legs. The flies next stopped on food where the night soil was left on the food. My students were so enchanted by the cartoon they missed the whole point. I admit it was funny.

This entry was posted on September 1, 2025 at 1:21 pm and is filed under Musings. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. Both comments and pings are currently closed.