Keep the Coffee Comimg

White clouds cover the sky. The sun made an effort earlier, and there was a bit of light but only for a little while. The temperature is 63˚, close to the predicted high of 65˚. Tonight will get down to the high 40’s.

When I was a kid, I took a Saturday night bath, the same as every other kid I knew. During the rest of the week, it was only touch-up, mostly face and hands. My mother was relentless with a facecloth. I swear she rubbed off the first layer of skin. The towels were always rough. We didn’t have a dryer. We had a clothesline.

Last night Jack and Henry were asleep at the foot of my bed. Their heads were touching so they were stretched across the bottom of my bed from side to side. I had to fold my legs. That’s how I fell asleep. Later, I woke up, turned off the light I had left on and managed to find some room. Henry and I woke up around the same time this morning. Jack was gone. I found him downstairs asleep on a chair in the living room. From bed to chair, tough life, Jack.

I don’t know what to do today. I finished my book last night, but I have plenty of books waiting so I’ll probably start another. My bed needs changing and the plants need watering, but I may leave the bed. Changing sheets means more laundry.

My aunt taught me to tell time so I could read the Cinderella watch she would later give me for my First Communion. I remember how proud I felt wearing my new watch. I wanted everyone to ask me what time it was. If they didn’t, I offered the time anyway. I suspect I was a bit annoying.

I don’t wear a watch and haven’t worn one for a long time. If I have to be somewhere, I leave in plenty of time. I am almost never late. When I travel, I do have my phone or iPad for time checks, but, before devices, I brought a watch with me attached to the inside of my bag. I didn’t check it much as the actual time didn’t matter except on travel days.

I have three watches. All of them are analog, always my choice. They all need batteries. I’ll have to think about that.

My morning paper reading time is leisurely and long now. We’re talking hours. The Globe alone takes me well over an hour and sometimes closer to two hours, and I just skim the business pages. The Cape Cod Times takes far less time. Mostly I read all the local news and the weather. The bottoms of the pages in the Times have fillers, usually about accidents and police news. In the Globe I do the crossword puzzle. In the Times I do the cryptogram and sometimes the crossword. On a good day I finish both of them.

Alexa told me it was sunny, but it is cloudy, socked in cloudy, and it feels damp. No rain is predicted so the miserable day is just that, a miserable day. Rain would have redeemed it.

My new deck storage is still in the cardboard box on the deck. I haven’t had the wherewithal to slide it to the end of the deck and put it together. The box has been rained on twice.

Last week was a strange week for Henry. It was a reversion to Henry of old. He had two days when he didn’t want to be patted. If I touched him when he was on the couch, he got up and left. It was frustrating, but I didn’t bother him. I learned a long time ago to let Henry be. This week’s Henry is asleep beside me on the couch. I can pat him all over, even his belly.

I bought my house 44 years ago. I have always lived alone here except for my assorted dogs and cats. The cats have always come in pairs. Fern and Maddie, the last before these two, were a bonded pair when I adopted them from the shelter when they were 5. Fern made it to almost 18 and Maddie to 19. Jack and Gwen are siblings. I don’t know how old they are. They eat well, sleep most of the day and use the special litter on a regular basis so I figure they’re good for a lot of years to come. I hope I am too.

The sunlight has changed. It has a sharpness. Only the leaves up high are silhouetted in the light. The lower leaves are shaded now. It feels like fall. Last night was cold, shut the windows and doors cold. I needed my sweatshirt. Today is warmer, but I still need my sweatshirt. Maybe this weather is a sort of harbinger for the official start of fall a bit later in the month.

I’m going out today. I need cream for my coffee. It’s essential, and I figure since I’ll be out and about, I should add a couple of other stops. One stop is for fun shopping, another stop is for animal shopping for birds, a dog and cats. The last stop is for the cream and bread I need and anything else which catches my eye, think turnovers or pieces of chocolate cake. That will finish my venturing for today and perhaps for even tomorrow.

When I was a kid, Sunday mornings started with church clothes and mass. Sometimes I’d ride to church with my father, the usher at the 8 o’clock mass. If I missed him, I’d walk to church, usually with my brother. The walk was only 15 or so minutes. The church was right beside our school. My brother and I looked to sit in an inconspicuous pew, one we could leave early from without much attention. With my father, we had to wait until most of the church was empty before we could leave. There was, however, a silver lining. My father always stopped to buy a dozen donuts. When I was with him, I could pick one or two and was assured of getting my favorite, butternut. It has always been my favorite but then, a few years back, Dunkin Donuts stopped making butternut donuts. I have no favorite now.

Some days I get a craving for a different sort of food, to be delivered of course. Chinese is the old stand-by. Jumbo shrimp is always on my list as is crab Rangoon. Sometimes it’s rice, sometimes noodles. The other day I wanted seafood so my weekly dinner delivery was shrimp and French fries. The shrimp was perfect. The French fries were amazing, not boring as they sometimes are. The cole slaw was delicious. I wish I had more than a little cupful. The tartar sauce needed just a small kick of horseradish for my taste. I loved that dinner. Great pick, I decided.

New week coming up, newn yen I hope.

This morning, as usual, I went and got my papers. When I turned back to the house, I checked the flowers in the front garden as I do every morning, the ones with so many white buds growing. They were gone. I screamed. They had been mowed down yesterday when my lawn was cut. I cried. Those almost flowers used to give me a boost every morning. I loved to watch them grow. I don’t know what I’ll watch now.

Yesterday I brought my car for servicing to the dealership where I bought it. It was time. They did a 25,000 mile check up. The only things they had to do were change the oil and rotate and balance the tires. Everything else was just fine. I went home happy.

When I was a kid, our dog was a boxer, a stubborn male boxer. He, Duke, used to frustrate the heck out of both my mother and my father. Duke would escape from the house but needed to be inside so he wouldn’t follow kids to school. My mother would stand at the threshold of the front door holding a piece of bologna as bait. Duke would rush the door and grab just about all the bologna. My mother always ended up with the corner she was holding. Duke got the rest of it. My father used to get angry when Duke ignored him. Duke would turn around, look right at my father and then turn around and run. My father chased him in the car. Sometimes he caught him. Duke was quite smart.

Today is sweatshirt weather, a bit chilly at 66˚, but today has a saving grace, how wonderfully sunny it is, a day of light.

It is the time of the year when the nights are cooler, even cold. Last night was chilly. I had to shut the windows. Tonight will be around 56˚. I need to add my new coverlet to the bed.

“On this day 19 years ago, almost 3,000 people were killed in the largest terrorist attack on American soil.

The attacks started at 8:46 a.m. when hijackers aboard American Airlines Flight 11 crashed the plane into the North Tower of the World Trade Center, killing everyone on board and hundreds inside the building. Just 17 minutes later, hijackers crash United Airlines Flight 175 into the World Trade Center’s South Tower, killing all on board and more inside the trade center.

Thousands more died when both towers crashed down less than an hour after being attacked.

The 9/11 attacks weren’t limited to New York. Flight 77 crashed into the western façade of the Pentagon at 9:37 a.m., killing 50 people on board and 125 inside the Washington, D.C. home of the Department of Defense. A fourth plane crashed in a Pennsylvania field, killing all on board as passengers and crew attempted to wrest control from the hijackers.

Among the fatalities that day were 343 firefighters, 72 law enforcement officers and 55 military personnel.

Today is officially called “Patriot Day,” a national day of service and remembrance that commemorates the catastrophic events of Sept. 11, 2001.”

I’m behind closed doors again. The AC is blasting, doing its best to cut through humidity so thick you can see droplets in the air. The morning is dark, closed in by the clouds. Not a single oak tree leaf is moving in the thick air. The forecast is for rain today and tomorrow.

My downstairs bathroom has a theme, school days. A small old desk holds hand towels, an open folding blackboard has old rulers and Ding Dong School artifacts. I never looked when I was told to leave the room so I still wonder what Miss Francis told my mother. There are school books in the desk and school pictures from way back. The long black and white picture over the sink is my eighth grade class picture. We are dressed in our graduation finest. Those were the days of puffy dresses. I barely recognize myself.

Henry notified me that someone was outside. When I opened the door, I saw three boxes. The smallest box was for Henry, his chews. He’s already chomping on one. The other two boxes were my fruits and vegetables: limes, avocados, 2 ears of corn, pea pods, a yellow pepper, tomatoes, and I forget what else. I’m set until the next delivery.

Yesterday I went to the dump. My car was loaded. After that I was going to do a bit of shopping, but I decided to go home. I don’t generally go out for long, but I will tomorrow. I’m taking my car in for servicing so I’ll have to sit there wearing my mask and avoiding people.

Henry has a vet’s appointment for a check-up, lime test and some shots. It scares me. Henry hates the car so when I go to the vet’s I have to stand in front of the back car door blocking him from escaping. Now, I can’t go in with Henry. They come and get him. I have told them of my fears. They said they’d make a note of it. I hope a note’s enough. I do have a halter for him, but he’s not a fan. He chewed through three of them. Maybe I’ll get lucky with number four if I can get it on him.

My sister wants current Henry pictures. I tried this morning. When Henry saw my phone, he ran upstairs. When he came down, he stayed in the hall staring at me. I put my phone away. He came back into the den. Henry is a peculiar dog with all sorts of fears. Some are allayed by medication and familiarity. Henry’s tail is responsible for scaring him. It’s a big tail. Sometimes when he wags it, the tail hits stuff which falls. The other day it was an old, metal noise maker. Henry ran so fast he slid across the floor. I’d say poor Henry, but he has me.

Today is getting warmer, and I can feel the humidity. The high will be 88˚. Summer continues.

Henry and Jack drive me crazy. Jack sleeps on the table when I’m trying to read the papers. Henry wants my total attention. We went on the deck earlier and played tag, Henry’s favorite game. He runs up one set of stairs and goes down the other. He does that a few times then wants in, playtime over. Henry is now upstairs on my bed taking his morning nap. Jack is also upstairs taking his nap. As for Gwen, she’s always upstairs.

Today I am busy but not happy busy. It is dump day. My car is filled, and I have a couple of trash bags yet to be crammed into the trunk. I also need to check the fridge before I go. I think I saw some suspect lettuce.

When I was a kid, I stayed up as long as I could to find the election results for the Kennedy-Nixon race. I remember lying in bed watching the flickering black and white TV. Huntley and Brinkley were my newscasters of choice, but they didn’t call the race until the next morning. I went to bed hoping.

My house is getting less cluttered. Yesterday I slid the giant cardboard box out of the living room. It was driving me crazy. I slid the box to the deck. It was easy sliding it through the house. The next hurtle is to put the deck box together, but I’ll save that for another day when I truly have absolutely nothing else to do.

I collect cookbooks. My favorites are the literary cookbooks, the ones from novels. One year I had a splendid feast for my friends. All the recipes came from those cookbooks. I laminated pages from an old cook book destined for the dump. Those were the placemats. I put books on the table as trivets. I wrote out some famous quotes for a guessing game of who said it. The whole feast was such great fun.

I can’t remember the last time, other than delivery, I had an evening meal. Mostly I just graze. Sometimes I have a hunk of cheese and a few crackers. For a couple of meals I had hummus and pita bread until the pita bread was gone. The other night I had hot dogs, my most complex meal in a while. I do have a freezer full, but that would mean cooking something.

Here I am. I survived yesterday. The deck box is still in the living room, but I close my eyes when I go by it so it isn’t there. My friend Bill suggested I bring the box one piece at a time to the deck. It’s a great suggestion.

Today is another lovely day, still morning cool at 73˚. By afternoon, it will only get a bit warmer, up to 78˚, while the night will cool down, comfortable again at 61˚. This is perfect weather.

When I was a little kid, my world was very small except in the summer. That was when my bike and I were explorers. I knew all the best places to ride. One of my favorites was around Spot Pond, an emergency reservoir, which is really a lake, not a pond. Because swimming and boating were not allowed, I always wanted to jump the fence and swim. I didn’t. The pond is part of the Middlesex Fells Reservation, a Massachusetts state park. In the middle of Spot Pond is an island. That was always my target: swim, hide and stay on the island. Again, I didn’t. Now you can rent a boat and fish but you still can’t swim in Spot Pond.

My favorite donut was butternut which Dunkin Donuts saw fit to discontinue. I took that as a personal attack. Now I’m less particular when I choose a donut. I’m okay with lemon or Boston Kreme or a cruller, glazed being my favorite, but I do miss those butternut donuts.

My car is filled with empty boxes. I’ve been ordering everything on line of late, including groceries. I’ve also been buying Christmas presents so I won’t be frantic in November and December. I have no idea how many I’ve bought so I need to catalogue. It’s time to put it on the to do list! Actually, it’s time to start a to-do list. I don’t have to mention what tops the list!

The day is perfect, cool with sun and a bit of a breeze. This long weekend the cape is inundated with tourists. The lines of cars to go over the two bridges were long. The cape is calling this the second summer, but I’m still waiting for the first.

I ordered a new deck box, a large deck box. It was delivered earlier today and left near the front steps. The guy who delivered said it wasn’t heavy. He lied. That box had me in tears. I tried to slide the box up the front steps, all two front steps, but it got stuck on the threshold step, and I couldn’t lift the box off the step and it wouldn’t slide anymore. I sat on the step and felt sorry for myself. I almost left the box outside, but I am a stubborn sort. I got it back on the walk and started all over. This time I got it into the house. Henry is afraid of the box. I’ll slide it to the deck later.

My father didn’t believe in directions whether on the road or when putting something together. He thought of them as an affront to his manhood. The thing of it is we all knew how unhandy my father was. He could mow the lawn, trim the yard and bushes, put the barrels out and then take them back in on trash day, but that was about it around the house. Once when my mother was away, my father washed his socks in the sink, put up a clothes line in the kitchen and then hung his socks on it. My father did not know how to operate the washing machine.

When I was in Ghana, I craved root beer and cole slaw. I never found either. The only soft drinks were Coke and orange Fanta. In my town, there were three places where I could buy cold Coke. One was a hotel, the wonderfully named Hotel d’Bull, which was the social center of the town. Another was a store beside one of the market gates which had a table and some chairs out front. That was where a couple of white guys came to talk to us. They wanted to know what we were doing there and where they could find bare-breasted women. Bare-breasted women? Nope, none here. We lied. The other place with a fridge was the small DPW shop not far from my house. They had cold Coke, but, even better, they had Cadbury chocolate bars.

As for cole slaw, the only vegetables I could buy in the market back then were tomatoes and onions. I never saw cabbage or carrots. Mayonnaise was part of a daydream.

Ghanaians had a sort of salad. I found it disgusting. It had beans, yup canned Heinz Baked Beans served cold. Sometimes it had canned peas and hard-boiled eggs. The dressing was Heinz Salad Cream. I thought calling this a salad was an injustice to salads everywhere but Ghana.

This morning has already been an ugly one. When I opened the front door, I was hit with a blast of heat and humidity. I wasn’t happy. The heat means another day staying inside, staying close to the AC. When I went to get the papers, the sunlight was so strong I could barely see. When I got back inside, I decided to nuke my coffee. As I opened the microwave door, I hit my coffee cup on it and the full cup of coffee spilled all over the floor, over the clean dish towels, the dog food and Henry’s treats. I screamed in frustration. Henry ran. For a while, the poor boy was a bit hesitant to come into the den with me, but a chew stick overcame his reluctance.

Henry turned three in August. He is still a bit of a crazy puppy, but he has come a long way. He lets me pat his head, scratch his neck and rub his ears. He follows me everywhere even into the bathroom. When I talk to him, his tail becomes a lethal weapon as it moves so fast left to right or maybe right to left. I’m not sure. The only off-putting behavior left is the awful barking and baring of teeth when someone comes to the front door. The shrink vet said before people come I should put Henry outside, let the people in, have them get comfortable then let Henry in to be surprised but not crazed. The drawback, however, is FedEx, UPS and the post office. They don’t do home visits so Henry greets them with deep growls, crazed barking and bared teeth. I get why my packages are now left on the walk, not near my door.

Today, I am not my usual hopeful self. I don’t have the energy. I feel a bit zapped. TV sucks so I don’t have that as a diversion. I’ve watched some movies, even a couple all the way through, but most I got bored with after a short time. My continue watching list is long. Maybe I’ll take a nap or maybe I’ll order Chinese food. Crab Rangoon is definitely a mood enhancer. The only issue is what kind of lo mein.