Today is hot, at least by Cape standards. It is 86˚. The low will be tonight when it drops to the 60’s. This room, my den, is dark and cool because the sun doesn’t hit it until the late afternoon, but I’m thinking the AC will probably be cranking before then. I’m already warm.

Stuck inside has me on a weird schedule. I’m up until 2 or 3 then I sleep in, usually until 10ish. When I woke up his morning, I noticed something white under my bureau. I touched it, and it was warm. I ran for paper towels to clean it up, but I didn’t have to. It was Jack’s paw. He was sleeping under the bureau. I felt silly.

It is time to dust mop the floors again. The fur is back. Yay, now I have a list. My dump sticker arrived yesterday so I can also go to the dump. Be still my heart!

My mashed potatoes and peas are still waiting. I had boring hot dogs for supper last night. But for lunch, I had the best sandwich of tomatoes, cheddar cheese and avocado topped with a horseradish cream sauce on pieces of Hawaiian bread. I think I’m still licking my chops.

When I woke up this morning, I heard the most beautiful bird song outside my bedroom window. Jack too heard it and jumped on the bureau to get at the window. He scared the bird.

My wild rose bush is in bloom. It is covered in dainty white flowers. The bush is on one side of the front flower bed. My landscaper keeps hoping I’ll let him at it, but I’m holding fast. Those bushes are all over the cape. I love riding down 6A this time of year and seeing the rose bushes blooming along the road side.

It is definitely coming on summer. The kids have finished their remote learning. More is opening up here. Some stores now allow inside shopping. I’m not so eager to go shopping, but I am eager to get out of the house if only for a little while. I almost feel like clicking my heels in the air on my way to the car.

The morning is lovely. It is warm without being hot. The sun is bright. A slight breeze is blowing. It will be the last cool day for a little while.

Yesterday, I went to Agway and bought flowers and herbs. I also picked up an order of cat and dog food and assorted treats, lots of treats. Forgetting treats would have been at my own peril. My trunk and back seat were filled. I may go out again today as I do need more herbs and flowers. I forgot about the deck pots. I think I’ll go to a different farm just to see what they have. Once I’m in the flower zone I’m almost unstoppable.

Some things never change. Take out boxes at my favorite Chinese restaurant look the same as they did when I was a kid, decorated in red on white with a pagoda, a thank you on two sides and a thin wire handle. Wooden chop sticks used to be included. I’d use mine to stab the food. It didn’t work well with rice.

Thongs, the ones for your feet, still have that piece between the toes which separates the big toe from the rest. They are called flip flops now because that’s what they do, a nice bit of onomatopoeia. I also think it is because thongs no longer refer to footwear. I have some thongs aka flip-flops, the traditional flat ones, which made such a slapping sound when you run. I have a couple of pairs of thick bottomed, good for walking thongs, but mostly I wear them around the house. I bring a pair when I travel.

I have taken chicken out of the freezer. It’s time for a real meal, not cereal and not eggs though I do love eggs. It’s just that I can’t even remember the last time I made a meal worthy of potatoes and peas and maybe even gravy. I’m starting to salivate.

Today is glorious. The high will be around 70˚. The humidity has disappeared. From my den window I can see the leaves in the oak tree are dappled by sunlight and gently blowing. I’m glad I have to go out today.

When I was a kid, we went to the dentist when we had a tooth ache and to the doctor if we had medical stuff. I remember going to the doctor’s office after I fell down the stairs when I was around 10 or 11. His office was right beside my school yard. It was in a huge old house and was on the first floor. We, my mother and I, sat on wooden chairs outside his office waiting for our turn. I remember his desk was in front of the windows. I also remember a skeleton beside his desk. I hoped it wasn’t real. The doctor was a huge man. Mostly I remember his belly. He washed my gash, the reason we went there. He wasn’t gentle. He said no stitches as it was already infected. I couldn’t have been happier.

I hated the dentist from open your mouth to the novocain to the drill. I only went if I had a tooth ache. Peace Corps changed that. I had to have any tooth issues solved before I left for Ghana. I found a dentist in Lawrence. My father verified he’d play the bill, and we were off. It took at least three appointments. At staging in Philadelphia, I had my dental check before we left. My guy had done a great job. My teeth passed. They would still pass now.

My town used to have a hospital, the New England Sanitarium and Hospital. It was on the Fells, the Middlesex Fells Reservation. It was where I was born. I remember nurses taking the bus I used to take to get to the skating rink. The bus stop was in front of the nursing houses which were beautiful and made out of stone. I remember the white porches in front of all the houses. The nurses were proper with white dresses and stiff white hats.

I drove by the hospital on one of memory rides. It was abandoned and covered in graffiti. I found out it had been empty and abandoned for over 20 years.

My memory rides always see what was, what used to be.

Today is cool, cloudy and breezy. I’m wearing my sweatshirt because I left the windows open last night, and the house is cold. I’m actually going out later. It feels somehow like a solemn occasion. Perhaps I should dress up and wear one of my fascinators, the one with feathers. I’m going to Agway. It is the perfect day for wandering the flower aisles.

My hometown had shoe factories, a box factory and chemical companies along side the tracks. The train ran when I was a kid. I used to keep pennies in my pocket just in case the train came. When it did, I’d put a couple of pennies on the track so they’d be flattened by the train. I used to walk the tracks as they were a bit of a shortcut home. I remember jumping over railroad ties with double O’s. If I stepped on one, it was like step on a crack and break your mother’s back. I did not want to be responsible for breaking my mother’s back.

The square back then had two or three pharmacies, a men’s clothing store owned by the brother of the Catholic undertaker, a children’s clothing store, the movie theater, a luncheonette, Stoneham Spa, Hank’s Bakery and best of all, a Woolworth’s. There was police box in the middle of Main Street. Down from the square was the diner. I loved that diner. My dad would sometimes take me there for breakfast. After drill practice, some of would go there for a brownie covered in chocolate sauce with a bit of whipped cream on the top.

It has been a long time since I last lived in my hometown. It is quite different now. One shoe factory was turned into luxury condos. It is down from the town square. The railroad tracks are gone as is the box factory. I remember seeing workers on cigarette breaks sitting outside the factory. All the local pharmacies are gone. Where O’Grady’s diner was is a hardware store. The armory where we had winter drill practice is also a hardware store. But some of the changes are welcome. Instead of one Chinese restaurant, there is an Italian restaurant where one of the pharmacies used to be, an Indian restaurant, two Thai restaurants and an Asian fusion restaurant. The movie theater has been transformed. It looks the same from the street, but it’s now a live theater. My sister and I go every year for the Christmas play. I get a chuckle seeing people in the balcony. It was off limits during Saturday matinees because of all the candy thrown from there.

When I visit my sister, I always do a memory ride. I start in the square, go pass my elementary school and then follow what was my walk home. Where we lived hasn’t changed much except for the tall trees.

I had the best childhood in that town. My sister still lives there as do some of my friends. I don’t visit often enough.

The morning is chilly, 67˚. The house is cold so I’m back to wearing my sweatshirt. I went out with Henry for a bit. The day is pretty and warmer than I expected. The sun is squint your eyes bright. A breeze ruffles the leaves on the oak trees. I’m thinking a bit of deck time.

When I was a kid, I thought Sundays were wasted days. I had to dress up and go to church. That ruined the morning. The afternoons were mine as long as I stayed close to home, no bike rides. Sunday dinner was usually around 2ish. I loved Sunday dinner. We always had a roast of some sort, mashed potatoes, gravy and a couple of vegetables. Peas were often one of those vegetables. I still love baby peas in the can and even bought a couple the last time I shopped. The only drop back to having them in the pantry is I’ll have to cook. I think I have a roasting chicken in the freezer. I know I have potatoes. Sounds like Sunday dinner to me.

I find myself talking out loud to no-one. Many times it is the TV which prompts my comments. I am isolated by circumstance. My friends Bill and Peg keep in touch. They want to know how I’m doing. My sister, Moe, and I talk every Sunday. Every few days I call my other sister, Sheila. That’s it for other voices.

I have nothing planned for today. I’ll be staying home again though I really do need to get my deck flowers and herbs. Tomorrow, I suppose. I have a list of what I want, the first list I’ve written in a while. It is good to have my lists again.

The birds are singing. That makes the moment.

What a beautiful day! It is pleasant and cool, 65˚, and there is no humidity. Yesterday I got so warm I turned on the air conditioner. Now I’m a bit chilly.

This is about the time in June when summer vacation started. On that last day, we didn’t have to wear uniforms, and it was only a half day. My nun gave out our report cards one kid at a time. We all immediately turned to the back of the card to make sure we were promoted. I never knew any kid who was held back.

A couple of summers I went to Girl Scout day camp. It was at the lodge, Camp Alyeska. I loved that camp. It had a big room with a giant fireplace. There were storage benches all around the room which held the cots, old wooden and canvas cots. Our troop leaders had their own room. There was also a kitchen and bathrooms. Outside the lodge, there were cleared spaces, each with a picnic table. Campers, by ages, were assigned a spot. I remember when I was in either the seventh or eight grade. We were the oldest campers. We were not great role models. I remember folding the flag at the end of camp one day and laughing, triggered by my folding buddy. We got reamed for that. My mother was a camp leader one year. I remember she had the tallest spot. Behind the lodge we’d hike on the trails among the tall pine trees. We’d collect leaves and wild flowers then use them in crafts. I don’t know how long my camp stood among the trees. I know when last I went by where the camp road used to be, I saw trucks and earth movers parked right there. I wish I remembered where the paths through the woods which led to the camp were. I’d like to look.

Sports on TV have taken a strange turn. ESPND is now showing the American Log Lift Record, an obvious audience grabber (tongue in cheek comment). After that I get to watch the ACL Cornhole Championship. Wow!

Sometimes I forget how old I am. Inside I am still quite young. It is only the outside which looks old. My hair is mostly gray. My smile lines have turned into wrinkles. I forget things, and sometimes the perfect word eludes me. I sigh a lot.

Last night it rained, pretty much the whole night. It is still cloudy, and the humidity is hanging in the air. It is dump day.

My father loved his lawn, and my mother loved her small flower garden. The first time they came to see my new house my father brought his garden tools and some plants for the front garden. My mother and I went shopping. When we got home, my father gave us the grand tour from front to back. The lawn in front had been easy. He had mowed it and trimmed the beds. But when he saw the back, he complained because it had grown totally out of control. It was so tall it was a field which I didn’t think needed mowing. I never really thought of it as a lawn. Who saw it anyway? My father was quite proud of having cleared that area near the house. The grass had disappeared in a wide swath. He told me to keep it clear. I sort of did.

I was so happy to see my cleaning couple yesterday. My house is now clean, all of it, every nook, every corner. When I walk, no balls of dust are dislodged. None of the rugs are covered in fur. Everything was polished so I can’t write on the tables anymore. They arrived at just the right moment. I don’t know if I could have wielded another mop without screaming.

After the dump, I’m headed to Agway to buy my window box flowers and herbs. I love wandering the aisles there. I find what I want but then I end up buying far more. I’ll plant them another day.

The wind is strong enough to blow the curtains. It is really humid but no rain until tomorrow despite the totally overcast sky. My house is dark which feels cooling. Alexa is playing rain sounds which are relaxing and even soothing. It is just what I need.

My political awakening was in 1960 when John Kennedy ran for president. Because he was from Massachusetts, he was my candidate. That he was a Catholic sealed the bond. I remember hearing people believed if Kennedy were elected, the president would somehow be more loyal to the Vatican than to the American people. Even I, at the tender age of thirteen, knew this was idiocy and ignorance, and I was angry. Kennedy faced it full on, “I am not the Catholic candidate for president. I am the Democratic party’s candidate for president, who happens also to be a Catholic. I do not speak for my church on public matters, and the church does not speak for me.”

My cleaning couple is coming back today. I can put the dust broom, the vacuum and my sweatshirt sleeve away for now or for at least for a couple of days, but I’ll keep my go bag just in case the dust and fur balls take over again, and we have to run for our lives.

I am sedentary by nature. I used to walk 8 miles a day, but my back has made even short walks painful. The most exercise I get is tossing trash bags at the dump, wielding a mean dust mop and swabbing the decks.

When I was a kid, I remember watching the town’s trash trucks empty the barrels in front of our house. All the guys on those trucks wore filthy clothes and filthier gloves. They’d grab the barrels, hold them behind their backs and then empty the trash in the back of the trucks. My favorite part was when the trash got compressed. That night, my father would haul in the barrels and put them back downstairs.

My deck is in dire need of cleaning, but I’ll have to wait until the pollen goes away. The prediction is for rain the next couple of days so that may spell the end of that disgusting yellow green pine pollen.

I have no lists and no errands, but I may have to manufacture one to get me out of the house. There’s always the dump!

Today’s musing will be short. I need to get out of the house. My sanity is at issue, but I really do have some errands so it works.

The day is partially sunny. It’s warm. The high will be in the low 70’s, the low in the 60’s. I’d love to have this weather every day. It’s perfect.

I gave Henry one of those chews he loves. He was eating it on the couch. A bit later he stood up and looked to the floor. That’s the sign he’s dropped it but can’t see it so he expects me to get it. I hunted and hunted under the couch. I was lying down to look but I saw nothing. I pushed my back scratcher underneath the couch. It unearthed Henry’s spawn of Satan. I wondered where that went. But after finding nothing else, I gave up. About five minutes later I saw Henry in the hall. It was in his mouth. I got punked by my dog.

When I was a kid, meals were usually around the same time every day except in the summer. That was more of a catch as catch can. It was a quick whirl in the kitchen to make a sandwich to go for lunch, but in the early evening, for supper, we sat down at the table usually without my father who worked a late day and my mother who usually ate at the counter. I don’t remember many of those suppers. I know we had corn and probably burgers or hot dogs. Tater Tots were big. My mother never served a salad except potato salad, the perfect accompaniment for a burger. I always opted for a cheeseburger. My mother topped it with the yellow cheese individually wrapped. I still order a cheeseburger, but the cheese is far more sophisticated. It’s often Monterey Jack.

I’m ready to face the world. I’ve showered so as not to be offensive, brushed my teeth so I can smile without food being stuck and have almost gotten dressed. It’s time.

Lovely is the perfect word to describe today. It is dry and pleasant with a bright sun, a blue sky and a slight breeze. The temperature is 71˚. This is going to be a stay home and read day. I have nothing pressing.

Writing Coffee isn’t easy in these days of being housebound. Cleaning has been a big topic. It is about the only way I keep busy. Laundry too has had its day in the sun so to speak. As for today, I’m going to water the plants. I’ll rest in between moving from room to room.

When I bought my house, my mother brought down some stuff she had saved from my childhood. I have three Fanny Farmer rooster egg cups in a bright cheery yellow. Some of the beaks are missing, but they were missing when I was young. The small white chair came from one of my father’s uncles. My mother said he made it for me when I was three. Right now a doll I had sits on the chair. The doll is wearing red overalls and a pattern shirt. The overalls have a patch. The doll has yellow braids. I was not a doll person, but I liked this one because it isn’t one of those dolls with puffy dresses and a hole in its mouth for a bottle. My mother also brought down all my childhood books like The Bobbsey Twins, Trixie Belden, Donna Parker and Nancy Drew. I bought a small bookcase and filled it with all those books. That they are in wonderful condition is because I loved books and took special care when I was reading them. I bought many of the Whitman hard cardboard cover books with my allowance. They were 49¢ which gave me a whole penny to spend. Back in those days, even the lowly penny had value.

Massachusetts starts Phase 2 today which the governor calls cautious. It is a huge step. So many places are opening it seems almost normal, but it isn’t even close. Kids can play sports and go to playgrounds. Hotels, pools, funeral homes and so much more have the green light to open. My favorite, though, is personal services can start. That includes house cleaners. Halleluia!

In maybe three weeks, the next phase will begin as long as there is no spike of new cases. That phase is called vigilant. Three or so weeks after that begins the last phase, the new normal, but I think phase 4 needs a different name. Nothing about this is normal.