Today will be another lovely day. The sun is a bit subdued but will brighter as the day grows older. The air is still and morning cool. It will get over 70˚ today. We’re back to short sleeve weather. I have to go down cape, and I’m looking forward to the trip. I also have to go to the dump. I’m not looking forward to that trip. Yesterday at the vet’s, Gwen had glucose testing after which I was told to up her insulin. She got the first higher dose last night. She needs to be tested next week again to the tune of $185.00 each time. I may have to get a job just to pay vet bills. Imagine the vet bills for that ark.

I have a pair of saddle shoes I bought for a costume party. They go with the poodle skirt bought for the same party. That was the first and last time I wore that outfit. I’m figuring I’ll hunt out the shoes in my closet and start wearing them as my throwback fashion statement. Next I’ll look for fringe.

I am not a Hawaiian pizza person. I think it an abomination. The furthest I go off the deep end is barbecue chicken pizza with a thin crust.

After today, I can don my sloth persona. My dance card is empty until Tuesday. I may do laundry, but I don’t want to go hog wild. I have low expectations to maintain.

Wonder of wonder!! Two things happened this morning. The first was amazing. Jack came downstairs. He has been sitting on the stairs getting closer and closer to the bottom and today he ventured. It was no coincidence Nala was outside. The second wonder was the brilliant light in my bedroom which was neither a heavenly nor even an earthly wonder. It was electrical. The light over my bed and my Alexa had stopped working. It was the outlet. I went down to the box and flipped switches, ran upstairs to check then ran back down the cellar to try again. I still didn’t get light. I have an electrician friend, but this seemed silly so I didn’t call him. I plugged Alexa into another room with an extension cord and used a different light socket in my bedroom. This morning the light shined on my face, and I immediately checked to make sure I was still alive. I am.

Some time during the night I woke up because I was cold. I threw on a sweatshirt, added a blanket and snuggled underneath it. When I came downstairs, my house was only 63˚. I turned on the heat. Now the house is cozy.

My cleaning lady came yesterday for the second time. Nala was excited. Henry was standoffish, but she kept trying to pat him. I’m loving my clean house and alI did was write the check. Nala got a flu booster shot this morning. Gwen goes in tomorrow for testing. My car is getting an oil change tomorrow. I have to go to the dump tomorrow because I forgot the dump is closed Monday and Tuesday. I also have to yard pick. I can see Nala’s trash from the deck. My to do list is down to three items, the worst being the laundry. I hate to do laundry. I’m thinking I’ll save that for the end. I have lots of clothes left.

Today I am going to pot some succulents I bought recently. Nala has pulled out several of my house plants so I have empty pots. The only other chore for the day is to change my bed after which I can resume my sloth status. Tonight is uke practice night.

When I was a kid, I only read the funnies in the newspaper. I’d turn the pages, and my fingertips would get black from ink. Only the Sunday funnies were in color. Most of those funnies are gone now. I remember Barney Google, Blondie, Lil Abner, Maggie and Jiggs, Orphan Annie with no eye balls, Andy Capp and Dondi though I have idea why I remember that one. One of my favorites was The Phantom.

My father loved his newspapers. When we traveled, he always bought the international USA Today. He got the Globe for a long time until he decided he was really a republican, and the Globe was too liberal so he started reading the Herald. We used to call it the rag. He never appreciated our nickname for his paper. After my father retired, during warm weather, he’d sit on the front steps with his coffee and paper. The whole neighborhood greeted my dad. Cars would honk hello, and he’d wave.

I get two print newspapers: the Boston Globe and the Cape Cod Times. I love reading my papers and turning real pages. I drink a cup of coffee with each paper. My mornings are filled with ritual.

Today is a delight, the perfect fall on Cape Cod day. The sun is hot, but away from the sun the air is breezy and a bit cooler. It is flannel shirt weather at 66˚.

We had quite the audience in Hyannis. Many of them stayed the whole concert, the whole hour. I had a great time. Our chairs were in the sun and the warmth was wonderful. The crowd clapped after every song, and many of them took videos. I felt like a musician.

The Sox were unbelievable last night with two grand slams and another homer just for added effect. The next game is tomorrow. I figure poor Nala will have to wear her neckerchief again. She actually wore it until the end of the game.

When I was a kid, girls’ sports were almost non-existent. I played softball summers at the park where I pitched and played first base. When I was in the seventh grade, I played CYO basketball. I was a guard. In those days, guards couldn’t go beyond half-court and couldn’t shoot for baskets. I used to throw the ball inbound across most of the court and close to our basket no matter where I stood at half-court. The other team was usually taken by surprise. It was fun.

When I was 10, I joined the junior drill team. We practiced Saturday mornings at the armory. I loved that building. It had wooden staircases and lots of wood in all the rooms. There were flags everywhere. Upstairs there was a huge hall like room where we practiced. I remember the floor was always dusty. The junior drill team was a feeder unit for the senior drill team, St. Patrick’s Shamrocks. I had two aunts who marched in the early days so it became a family tradition. When I joined the senior drill team, I was eleven. Many of the other members were much older, 18 and above. I remember the bus rides to competitions. I didn’t know any of the songs at first. I have no idea why, but the one song I remember is called Junior Birdman. My favorite lyric was, ” For it takes: 5 box tops, 4 bottle bottoms, 3 coupons, 2 wrappers, and one thin dime.” You had to hold the dime note, dimmme, for a while which is why I liked that lyric.

I still have friends with whom I marched close to sixty years ago. We do have occasional reunions which are always like old home week as my mother would have said. My friend Maria calls periodically so we can keep in touch. When we see each other, it is as if no time has passed. Old friends are like that.

The morning is cloudy and still a bit night chilly. Yesterday was a delight. Today is predicted to be sunny and even warmer than yesterday. Earlier, the sun poked out for a bit, and I saw sky blue between the trees. I’m hoping they’ll be back as I need to go out and do a few errands. I’m going to Agway for mums and canned food for Jack. Gwen’s special food came yesterday. It was gone this morning. I hope Jack didn’t eat it. His dish of food is up high where it is safe from Gwen who can’t jump.

I can’t find my English muffins. I thought they were safe from the felonious Nala. I’ll have to check the yard for the tell tale wrapping. She is brazen. Nothing is safe.

The two dogs are eating each other on the couch. Nala has Henry’s neck, and Henry has Nala’s lower jaw. They keep bumping into me. I shoo them off, and they come back.

When I was a kid, I never thought of my life as humdrum. It had a pattern. Every weekday was school, but I never groused. That would have been useless. Years and years of school were still ahead of me. After school, the afternoons were mine. I rode my bike or took a hike into the woods below my house. We buried our turtle there under a special tree. The turtle had come from Woolworth’s and lasted years in his bowl on the counter, a plastic oval bowl with an island and a palm tree. That turtle loved flies with a little life and moving in the water. Much later, the woods were bulldozed to make room for senior apartments. My grandmother lived in one. My father always called it wrinkle city. The turtle had been buried in a small metal tin. Wherever they dumped the dirt, they must have dumped the tin.

A lizard used to live in my house in Ghana. The ceilings were really high, and in the living room there were two small square windows at the top of the front wall. The lizard lived in one of them. I didn’t care. The lizard was welcome, but my cat had a different idea. Whenever the lizard was close enough, my cat tried to catch it, but the lizard saved itself by scurrying up the wall. I think I had a soft spot for the lizard because when I first got to Ghana, I saw the lizards and was amazed. Seeing those green lizards was my first African moment. One day I saw the lizard under a chair. I grabbed it thinking I was a mighty hunter. I was going to put the lizard outside to save its life, but I was too late. When I lifted the lizard, it was missing its upper body including its head. I tossed it outside. I passed the title of mighty hunter to my cat.

The weather is still fall perfect. The high will be 68˚. The sky is partly sunny and party cloudy. I’ll try to stay on the sunny side. Gwen is hiding. She is usually sitting on the floor waiting for me. I did find her under the bed, but I didn’t pull her out. I have to give her insulin so I’ll try again in a bit to get her to surface, but I don’t want to stress her. I suspect her hiding is because of my having taken her to the vets yesterday.

This Friday I am getting a plethora of shots: flu, pneumonia and shingles.

I remember getting the smallpox vaccine before I could go to school. My doctor gave it to me close to the top of my left leg. He said he didn’t want for me to have a scar on my arm, the usual spot for the needle. The vaccine was not a shot; instead, it was on the surface. The needle pricked the skin. I remember it bled a bit, but what I remember the most is part of my scab was torn off by a branch while I was playing. I cried. I thought I’d have to get it again. I didn’t.

Before we left for Ghana, we were given yellow fever shots. In Ghana we had a medical day not long after we arrived. Table after table had, I think, nurses ready to give us the shots. I didn’t know so many shots existed. I thought they’d run out of spots for the needles. We also drank polio vaccine and got a gamma globulin shot on the butt. The only medical pieces we were responsible for taking were anti-malaria pills every week. We took Aralen, chloroquine. I did stop taking it during the dry season as there were no bugs. Peace Corps would have been unhappy bugs or no bugs.

While I was in Ghana, there was a cholera epidemic. I had two cholera shots but got a mild case anyway. By mild I’m talking lying on the bathroom floor close to the toilet hoping for only one problem orifice at a time. That was as sick as I’ve ever been. I was in Niamey, Niger by the Sahara.

My dance card has only a couple of events: CVS on Friday and Hyannis on Sunday with the uke band. I have uke practice today and a lesson tomorrow. Without my uke, I’d seldom leave the house. My sister’s birthday is today, and I surprised her by playing Happy Birthday, picking the notes on my uke. She was delighted that I had learned it just for her.

Today is the perfect fall day, sunny and warm. The high today will be 68˚. Gwen and I are heading to the vets for a 10:30 appointment where I’ll learn how to give her the insulin injections. After that, the rest of the day is open. I may scour the yard’s back forty hoping to find missing items.

We’re back from the vets. It was easier than I expected to give Gwen her needle because it is so tiny. The vet had me practice using water. Gwen didn’t notice. I have to go to CVS to get her insulin and needles. I already ordered her special prescription food and treats at Chewy. Gwen goes back next week for a day of testing. Nala goes back for a booster. I’m thinking to add to it all by getting my flu shot.

Last night the Red Sox game was riveting, all thirteen innings. I jumped up, screamed and applauded the walk off two run homer. It scared Henry.

When I was a kid, you could get a day of game Red Sox ticket for anywhere in the park. I remember sitting in a box seat by the Sox dugout for a couple of games. I also remember the bleachers, the cheapest places to sit. We used to take the bus then the subway to Fenway. Sometimes we had money for a hot dog. Mostly we just bought peanuts. The bleachers were the most fun. They were filed with raucous fans, many of them my age, a kid’s age. Giant number one fingers seemed to be the most popular souvenirs. They were also good for hitting people on their heads without causing any damage.

My father was a football and hockey fan. He watched the Sox but always seemed to get bored. He hated basketball, the Celtics, and most times I listened to the games on my transistor radio. When the Celts played on the west coast, I had to have the sound way low so I wouldn’t get caught listening to the game when I should have been sleeping. I loved listening to Johnny Most, the radio announcer. When I could watch, I used to turn off the TV volume and put on the radio and Johnny. He made us excited about every play, every game.

Last year I bought a Halloween costume for Henry. I have no idea what I was thinking, but I couldn’t help myself. The costume is a spawn of Satan. I’m hoping Nala will be a bit more receptive. I’ll try it on her closer to Halloween. I wouldn’t want to spoil the surprise.

Today is an ugly day. It is cold, dark and damp. Showers are predicted for later. My concert is cancelled but not my trip to the dump as it is closed the next three days, and my car is already filled with trash and wet cat litter and probably flies.

My living room has been ravaged by a four legged marauder. I noticed today that a wooden figure from Ghana is gone, and a small pottery tagine from Morocco is missing its top. I’ll have to go through the yard and hope to find the missing items.

This morning I dusted places which haven’t seen the light of day for probably years. I hadn’t meant to dust, but I just couldn’t leave it. I used my sweatshirt sleeve, my handy dust rag. I found small chunks of peat my sister had given me. I lit one, and the aroma brought me back to one of my trips to Ireland, the one with my parents, my grandfather and two aunts, a tour group of sorts. We stayed a night in Youghal, a beautiful seaside town where some of Moby Dick was filmed. The place where we stayed was really old. The stairs to the rooms were worn and dipped in the middle. The dining room had a fireplace where peat was burning. The TV room had a small TV and rows of mismatched chairs facing the TV. My room had a saloon door for the bathroom. It was funny as you could see the toilet below the saloon door. My bed slouched in the middle. If you tried to sleep on one side or the other, you rolled to the middle. In the morning, while we were having breakfast, a parade of kids dressed in their uniforms went to school. I think I counted five or maybe six kids. That B&B is still among my favorite places where I’ve stayed.

This blog is a repository of my memories, the memories of my childhood and my wanderings. Ghana plays big because it has influenced all of my days since then. When I got to Ghana, I was only twenty-one. I was wide-eyed and took in everything, amazed I was in Africa. I remember training started the second day. My room in Winneba, our first stop, was on the second floor. I could look out over the town, and I remember being excited seeing my first palm trees. The ocean was a short walk away. Breakfast was the best meal because we could identify what we were eating. We couldn’t at dinner.

I etched all of those all those wondrous experiences into my memory bank so I’d never forget. Even now, I can touch it all. I can see and hear it. I see women in colorful cloths carrying babies on their backs. I can hear the tribal languages in the market and the calls to me, to the obruni, to the white person. I remember the market smells, the goats and the goat dung. When I close my eyes, I can see my whole town as it was.

When I finally returned, Bolga was far different, but I didn’t care. I was home for a while.