“Life isn’t a matter of milestones, but of moments.”
My heat came on this morning. Last night got down to the mid 30’s. Right now it is in the mid-40’s. This same weather pattern is predicted for the next few days.
It is a pretty morning. The sun is bright and glints through the trees. The sky is deep blue. The air is still. The only clouds are puffy and white. What I find surprising is the prediction for this afternoon, rain. I expect more clouds, grey clouds.
I have favorites memories. Some of them date back to when I was a kid. I think of winter and flying down the snowy hill on my sled and of summer and flying down that same hill but on my bike. I loved all the Christmas preparations, the Advent calendar, the tree in the corner ready to be decorated, sugar cookies, the Sears wish book and the house windows with lit candles breaking through the winter darkness. I loved summer and a Sunday at the beach where my mother’s peppers and eggs were my favorite beach food.
I remember my very first plane ride. It was Hyannis to Boston on an old prop plane. It was a gift in my Easter basket. On the plane, you could see the pilots and the walkway to the seats went up hill. We flew over the coast and the ocean. It was a spectacular ride.
In Ghana, I made a memory every day. Every morning felt new. I woke up to the crowing of roosters. I loved my students and my school. I ate food I’d never of before Ghana. I traveled West Africa and felt comfortable. I remember my friends and I landed at the airport in Ouagadougou very late at night, no taxis available. We slept on benches. In the morning when I woke up, I saw the cleaners waiting with their mops and brooms until we woke up. They didn’t want to disturb us. My favorite memory is of the night soil man. I was sitting in the outhouse when I heard a noise below me. I stood up. A face appeared in the hole. He greeted me, “Hello, madam,” then grabbed the bucket to empty it.
I’ve ridden in a glider, a hot air balloon, a helicopter, a mammy lorry, a train in the Andes, a boat across Lake Titicaca and another boat on a three day trip on the Paraná River where only one other person spoke English. I stood on the Equator. I saw a cathedral in a salt mine. I rode a camel in the Sahara. One of my funniest memories was in Niamey, Niger. My friends and I got separated. I found a hotel. It turned out to be a brothel. I heard footsteps all night and knocking on doors. I didn’t sleep at all.
I have more memories, but this musing is long enough.
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keepthecoffeecoming.blog 
April 20, 2026 at 3:48 pm
I was out this morning with the dogs looking over the places where just a year ago there was livestock. All sold off now. I just got too old to keep up with the business. But mainly, my Vet retired. We’ve known each other since we were five. Most of the time he’d only charge his expenses. I think he mainly came by for one of my home brew 7% beers and some quality “Reminiscing”.
The only thing left are five hens. Bug control and eggs.
The hill behind me is covered in thousands of wild roses for the first year in a while. The El Nino broke and we’re getting regular rain with La Nina
It’ll be much cooler and wetter for a few years
Unless there’s a sudden spike to 50,000 degrees caused by El Nuko
April 20, 2026 at 5:02 pm
Beto,
I have a big backyard. The dogs go in and out their dog door. I left the yard untended mostly filled with scrub pine trees. Last month we had a heavy rainstorm with fierce winds. Scrub pine trees have shallow roots. Several of them went down in the storm and huge limbs too fell. My yard won’t be the same. It is a far smaller version of the places of yours now gone, but the view has changed and fences fell.
We have had quite a bit of rain but not enough to get us out of drought conditions. It has been a chilly spring. We have often been 10+° lower than off cape.
I’d like cooler and wetter!
April 20, 2026 at 6:01 pm
That’s an impressive list of memories and adventures. Some of mine include: Climbing all 282 Mountains in Scotland with heights over 3000 feet. Digging out and spending a winter’s night in a snow cave deep in the Scottish Cairngorms mountains. Taking three days and nights to climb 13,000 foot Gran Paradiso in the Italian Alps. Snorkelling in the ocean surrounding Tahiti and Moorea. Taking the night sleeper train from Moscow to St Petersburg (it was called Leningrad back then). Kissing the Blarney Stone during a cycling tour of Ireland. Taking my mother to Mass and Holy Communion in St. Peter’s, Rome. Climbing Ayers Rock in Australia. Walking on a glacier in New Zealand. Walking down The Grand Canyon. Riding in a yellow submarine in a lake in West Edmonton Mall, Alberta, Canada. Ascending various volcanoes including Etna and Vesuvius.
April 20, 2026 at 6:15 pm
Peter,
Most of yours are far more physical than mine. I haven’t climbed a mountain or slept in a snow cave. I never gave thought to those adventures. I have been to Russia and I took the night train but didn’t have a sleeper. I also went to St.Peter’s for mass. I did take a sleeper train from Helsinki to Rovaniemi and then further into the Arctic Circle. I wandered around Machu Picchu. I’m sure we both have more still waiting to be unearthed from our memories.
April 21, 2026 at 5:59 pm
Oh yes. I once met Peter Green, founder of Fleetwood Mac. It was in a hotel bar just before he did a concert that I was attending. coincidentally, in the late 1960s I met Christine McVie nee Christine Perfect, long before she joined Fleetwood Mac. She was attending a gig headlined by Chicken Shack at Manchester University. She was then somewhat enamoured with Stan Webb the guitarist / singer.
April 21, 2026 at 11:23 pm
I have led a sheltered life!!