The rain started last night. I could hear it hit the barbecue. It was still raining when I went to bed. The morning is dark and quite humid. I’ve left the house dark. It seems the right way to acknowledge the day. More rain is predicted. The weather lends itself to a lazy day.

My dance card is empty this week. I guess I’ll have to vacuum, no excuse not to tidy the house.

When I was a kid, I got excited as school got closer. By this time, I had everything I needed for school, a new pencil case, crayons, lunchbox, school bag, school shoes and new parts of my uniform, a new skirt, blouse and blue tie. I remember the night before school. We had baths, an oddity on a Monday night. Afterwards, I’d take out my new school supplies and organize my school bag. My mother took our lunch boxes to the kitchen. In the morning she’d make sandwiches and add dessert. We got the best desserts, Hostess desserts, during the first week of school. I think it was my mother’s way to soften the blow, to make school a tiny bit appealing. Bologna with mayo was usually the sandwich. Sometimes there were chips.

I used to keep my lunch box under my desk chair. I loved Hostess cupcakes. I was a chocolate hound. I had a method for eating the cupcakes. I’d save the thick frosting top for last. First I’d eat the cupcake around the inside cream then eat the cream. The frosting was thick and had that white swirl cross the middle. It was always in one piece. My mother would give us milk money just before we left. The walk to school was short. The wait in the schoolyard for the bell seemed shorter. Once we were in the building, the school year had officially started. We were caught in the school trap. One day down.

This entry was posted on September 3, 2026 at 2:47 pm and is filed under Musings. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site.