Keep the Coffee Comimg

The storm yesterday was dramatic. The rain was torrential. I loved the thunder and lightning. Henry and Jack slept through it all.

Last night or rather in the wee hours, I really wanted ice cream. I had none so I went through the fridge and the cabinets looking for something. I found nothing. I went to bed without my ice cream.

Jack steals socks. Henry stands over me licking his chops when I have my morning coffee. Gwen meows from upstairs to get me up there. It works. I think these animals are taking advantage of me.

Yesterday the only things I did were water the plants and sweep the kitchen. I read until close to five. I just wasn’t tired. Today I’m going to pack those bins I bought and store them. I just need the covers which the bins didn’t have. I’ll be off to the hardware store when I finish here.

Yesterday my smoke detector started beeping, a slow, intermittent beep. I wasn’t sure if it was upstairs so I checked. It wasn’t. It was the one in the hall outside the den. I couldn’t reach it. I have a step stool which is a bit heavy so I opted for the old one I’ve had forever. It has two rungs. The first rung didn’t make me tall enough. I threw caution to the wind and slowly, while praying all the time, I climbed to the second or last rung. It scared me a little bit. I hung on to the wood with one hand and couldn’t reach the smoke detector with the other. The step stool was in the wrong spot. I almost stopped but it beeped. I moved the stool and did the same death defying feat and was able to remove the cover and the battery. The wires are hanging. I don’t care. It’s not beeping.

Today’s weather is back to normal: cold and rainy. Ugly comes to mind. I’m happy to be inside, in my warm house. Yesterday I went to the hardware store. There were tables in front to pick up orders. I bought those tubs I’ve wanted and some cement clue. I have to attach the handle of Henry’s coffee cup.

I have a list. The dust is back and the laundry pile is so high it’s scary. I also have those tubs to fill, and I need to vacuum the cat’s room. The floor is so gritty that if we had sun, I’d lay out my towel and get some color. I am winter pasty white, my suggestion for the newest Crayola color.

Staying inside is not a big deal for me, but I’m getting loopy. I miss people. I’m talking to Henry far too much, so much that he avoids me and naps upstairs.

All this empty time needs to be filled. I watch parts of movies then I get bored. I clean stuff, weird stuff, like under the stove burners, the hearth and any surface my sweatshirt can reach. I go through catalogs and have even ordered a few Christmas presents. Now I need to catalog the gifts.

I bought enough bananas for banana bread. Now I just have to wait until they are brown and squishy.

When I was a kid, summers always got too long. By late August, I was counting the days until school started. Today the count is 135 until the day after Labor Day when schools around here start.

When I was in Ghana, I bought my food every three days at the market. I’d buy beef, eggs, fruit, bread, yams, plantain, tomatoes, garden eggs and when they were in season FraFra potatoes. I’d load all of that into my woven shepherd’s bag which always stretched to hold whatever I put in it. It got pretty heavy.

I ate the same thing just about every day. In the morning it was coffee, two eggs over easy and toast. In the afternoon, it was always cut up fruit: oranges, pineapple, bananas and sometimes mango and pawpaw. The evening meal was mashed yam and beef in some kind of sauce, often tomato. There was never dessert though we did sometimes buy Coke and a Cadbury bar as treats for later in the evening. We bought them at the DPW store on the next street from my school. The Coke was cold.

The lateness of today is because I have been outside taking in the most beautiful morning, a warm, sunny morning now gone afternoon. I did have a list for today, but it is now trashed for some other day. When I finish here, I’m going for a ride. Today is not to be wasted.

When I was a kid, this would have definitely been a bicycle day. I’d have hauled my bike out of the cellar, jumped on and pedaled far and wide. I’d ride uptown and walk my bike on the sidewalk. I’d stop at the best store windows, the best for viewing. The fish market was always my favorite despite the fishy smell. Their lobster pool was in the front window. I used to stand a while and watch the lobsters move around the tank. My second favorite window was Woolworth’s. It was filled with sundries. Grant’s was a far third. Sometimes I’d also stop at the library.

My bicycle routes brought me all over town and sometimes to the next towns. My bike wasn’t fancy. It had a front wire basket. There were no gears. The brakes worked when you back pedaled. It was hard to ride up steep hills. I was more of a bike walker up those hills, including sometimes my own. I loved my town especially from my bike.

The Boston Globe had an article today about solo quarantines. One quote gave me a chuckle. “I’m a little grouchy and short-tempered.” That’s me. I find myself screaming at Henry when he does his uninterrupted barking. I am torn between leaving the front open to keep him busy or shutting it to keep him quiet. Right now it is open. I’m opting for quiet.

Today is the thirteenth day of rain for the month of April. That’s thirteen out of twenty-four. I’m thinking it’s time to change the weather nomenclature. This is now the rainy season. That means I will never be disappointed by days like today filled with dark clouds and rain; instead, I will celebrate another day by wearing a funny hat and blowing a horn out the front door. GO RAIN!!!!

Yesterday I made it to the dump. I had no choice. My car and trunk were filled with trash and bags of papers. I even had to drag some of the heavier bags to the car. The dump was filled so people had to wait to get to the open trash bins. I had to negotiate an orange cone shalom around the recycle bins to get to the trash. When I was done, I didn’t want to go home. Because this was my first time out in weeks, I decided to go for a ride. I decided to take the ocean road. I made a few observations.

I was surprised by the number of cars on the road, at least the main road. On my way to the dump, I could see that the Stop and Shop lot was looking pretty filled close to the store.

I was struck by how lovely most lawns and yards look. It is early for clean up around here, but I’m thinking yard work is now the second favorite reason to get people out of the house, grocery shopping being first. I saw a lot of people kneeling in front of flower beds and a few guys mowing. Driving as slowly as I was for no particular reason meant I got to see what I usually miss. One yard had what looked like a wasp metal sculpture winging off a tree stump. Beside the driveway of one house was a sign: Private Property, No U-Turn. Okay, that sounds sensible on the surface but this driveway was for a house in the middle of nowhere. I could think of no reason to u-turn in that driveway so I really wanted to, but the adult in me held sway.

The ocean looked cold and had small white caps close to shore. There were no cars in the beach lots. The restaurant and hotels were still in winter mode.

I stopped at Ring’s on my way home. I bought some chocolate, cold cuts, bread and cut fruit and vegetables. I was done. I went home.

When I was young and before I could read, my mother would read Henny Penny to me. That was one of my favorite books, a Golden Book maybe. I think it’s an odd science fiction story and is probably the reason I’ve always loved science fiction. I’d make my mother read it over and over. Henny Penny is the story of mass hysteria and the disaster which followed. I didn’t remember the animals, other than Henny Penny, were eaten by Foxy-loxy. That was a shock. I’m wondering if this is a metaphor, a parable or just a kid’s story.

I noticed a house up the street has lit white lights on its fence. My big star and its trail of lights along the deck fence are also lit. Both houses are sparkling in the night. I think they have a cozy feel about them. They are my bright spot.

My laundry basket is filled again. My bed is stripped and not yet made. I didn’t go to the dump the other day because of the rain so much of my trash is already in the car. The den, the hall and the route to the stairs were filled with clumps of dust and fur. A couple of clumps were so big I wondered if aliens had disguised themselves. They could live for weeks in my house without ever being caught. I won’t look under the bed.

Last night I had another uke lesson. One of the songs was new, and I couldn’t get my three fingers to work their chords. I’m going to spend the weekend practicing that song.

Today is cold but lovely. The sun is shining, and the sky is filled with puffy clouds. I haven’t been outside in weeks so I’m excited to go to the dump and to Rings for a few groceries as my list has gotten long. I need bread and milk and chocolate, lots of chocolate.

Mother Nature is forgiven. Yesterday’s sunset was glorious and covered the sky in reds and oranges and all their different hues. The west had a fire in the sky. In the east, the sky was lightly colored, almost pink. I went out on the deck with Henry. We just sort of sat together until dark.

Being quarantined hasn’t changed my daily schedule but rather just moved it until later in the day. Last night it was close to three before I turned off the light. This morning I didn’t finally get up until after 11:30. The first time I woke up it was almost nine. I just turned over and went back to sleep and so did Henry. It is now close to 1:30. I have just finished reading my first paper, The Boston Globe, and drinking my first cup of coffee.

Today is cloudy and rain is predicted for later. There is a heavy wind warning. It will be in the 50’s today and the 30’s tonight. That’s right, the 30’s. It will be the same tomorrow. April is always a crazy weather month.

I heard turkey gobbling again this morning. I asked Alexa six times when the breeding season is for wild turkeys. I found out that in Turkey people breed all year. Good for them! My next question didn’t get me answer either, but I did learn about Wild Turkey, 101 proof and made with corn. I’m not a bourbon drinker. Come to find out turkeys were once extinct on Cape Cod. That was another Alexa piece of information. I tried every combination of words hoping to get what I wanted from Alexa.

I asked my kitchen Google the same question. When is mating season for wild turkeys in Massachusetts? I didn’t hear a word about booze. I did learn the gobbling I heard might have been courting as the breeding season is March to May. It took one try on Google. I gave Alexa another chance. I think the question was far longer than the answer, but she came through, finally.

Yesterday my yard got its first spring cleanup. The noise of the mower woke me up. The gardens were raked, fallen branches hauled away, dead stuff trimmed and hauled and the driveway blown clean.

I am ready, my garden is ready and the turkeys are beyond ready. Come on warm days of spring. Come on sunshine so strong it makes for squinting. I’m getting impatient.

This is another late day for me. I woke up a few times during the night, moved around to get comfortable, not easy when a dog is stretched out across your feet and a cat is beside you, but I was able to fall back asleep every time. I woke up for good after ten: okay, long after 10.

My only way to describe today’s weather is to scream.

Today is a holiday in Massachusetts, Patriot’s Day. In all other years the Sox played at home in the morning while the runners were making their way from Hopkinton to Boston. I used to work the marathon, the first few years at a water station then at Copley Square where the race ended. Today the finish line is empty of people. The VIP seats are still in storage. There are no finished runners walking with medals around their necks and foil blankets around their shoulders to keep them warm. Copley is deserted. This is the first time in its 124-year history the Boston Marathon will not be held on its traditional day.

Henry is playing with his new chew toy. He keeps biting the plastic squeaker inside to make noise. I think Henry is getting bored.

It is difficult to figure if the cats are bored. They sleep most of the day anyway. Case in point, Jack is sleeping on the table in front of me.

We have movement on the Gwen front. Last night I could hear Jack meowing or at least I thought it was Jack. I was wrong. I noticed him sleeping on the chair so I went to check the noise. Gwen was halfway down the stairs making her way to the bottom. I patted and talked encouragingly to her. She sat there for a while until Henry was curious enough to come look so Gwen ran upstairs behind the gate to the safety of the cat’s room.

All of them are napping now. I think I’ll join them when I finish here.

I’ll take today. It is sunny but cool, and I figure after so many cloudy days getting the sun trumps the cool temperature. Right now it is 55˚. The breeze is so strong it is blowing the dog door open, and I can feel the cold air all the way down the hall. It is dump day. I have no choice. The bags already fill the trunk and there’s one more to go. I don’t care. At least it is an outside excursion in the sun.

I’m watching a Nicholas Cage movie which should tell you all you need to know about the film. It’s called Pay the Ghost.

When I was a kid, I had a small black and white TV on the bureau in my bedroom. I’m not so sure small describes it, but small is the best I can do. I’d lie in bed and watch old movies. Maybe watching that old set is why I favor black and white. I remember The House of Wax with Vincent Price scared the hell out of me, yup the hell out of me. When our leading lady whacks Price, his face falls off. That’s when I ran to my parent’s room.

I need to vacuum the house. It is filled with globs of animal hair which swirl in the air whenever I walk. My cleaning couple haven’t come for nearly six weeks so I have been cleaning, but I think I have now developed an allergy to wet mops and dusty brooms.

Henry is now protecting me from barking dogs and car horns on TV. He heard a horn, jumped off the couch, slid into the hall and ran and barked at the door. He wouldn’t stop until I showed him no one was there as Henry is a proponent of the proof is in the pudding.

I had fish and chips for dinner last night. Today I’m hankering for Chinese. Being stuck inside has tickled my taste buds, and I’m thinking of all that stimulus money to spend in the community. I can actually do a pick up and save delivery money as it doesn’t open until 3:30. Wow, the dump and a restaurant all in one day. I think I’ll wear my party dress.

Now I just sigh. I look out the window and sigh. The ground this morning had a touch of snow left under trees and in the shade. It was raining, but since then, the rain has stopped. The day is dreary, another dreary day in a long line of dreary days.

I’m bored. It’s official now. Nothing interests me for too long. I’ve hunted down movies only to watch them for a few minutes before hunting again. I’ve left a long line of unfinished movies behind me.

When I was a kid, weather phenomenons held my attention. I watched the snow fall. I watched the wind twist trees back and forth during hurricane Carol when I was seven. I loved thunder and lightning storms. The harder the rain fell, the more I liked the storm. I figured rain ought to put its best self forward.

Yesterday I went to the kitchen and left my coffee cup almost filled with coffee on the den table. Henry has never touched my food or drink so I figured I was safe. I’m thinking you know where this is going. When I got back, drops of coffee were on the table. Henry looked smug.

I ordered a delivery of fruit and produce. I got bananas mostly because I need one more for my banana bread and also because I like to eat bananas. I got avocados for guac, hot dogs for tonight, it being Saturday and all, coconut milk, butternut squash and fresh pineapple chunks. The food is coming from Rory’s in Dennisport, a place I’ve never ordered from before today. It should be here any time.

Henry has been chasing Jack. Today Jack jumped on the couch and was followed by a jumping Henry. Jack then jumped on the back of the couch. Henry was confounded. The chase ended.

I don’t get dressed most days, but I do change my cozy ensembles. Today I’m wearing a blue Red Sox sweatshirt from the glory days, the 2007 World Series, a red t-shirt with small sharks across the top and patterned flannel pants. I’m wearing socks and slippers. When I go comfy, all of me goes comfy.

The sun is partially hidden. I’ll take it. Even partial sun is an improvement. North of us will get snow tonight. My sister in Colorado got six inches from the same storm which is on its way here. Well, not here on the Cape but around the Boston area and out west. We’ll have rain and a cold night.

Television and radio would be the notifiers if this pandemic happened when I was a kid. The fire alarm would blow the no school announcement, and mothers in their frantic search to find out what was happening would fill and block the phone lines. TV, radio and newspapers were the information guides back then. My mother would go shopping with my father to fill the larder. We’d stay home. Books, board games and the TV would be our pastimes. We’d get bored. We’d even miss going to school.

I miss people. Talking on the phone isn’t enough. Despite having lots to do to occupy my time and attention, I seem to be slowing down a bit, not as much enthusiasm as I had at the beginning of all of this.

I have been watching black and white science fiction movies mostly from the 50’s. I’ve found them on Tubi, YouTube and Prime. I even ordered a couple hoping we’ll have a movie night some time in July when it’s warm.

The first summer movie is usually an epic. Last year it was Robin Hood. The rest of the summer movies are usually B science fiction movies. One of my new ones is Tarantula. The other is the Monolith Monsters. I also have a few more we haven’t seen. I’m still wanting to show Lady in White, one of the films we didn’t get to last year. Pop that corn!! Summer’s coming!!

Yesterday I never did get my fish and chips. I also didn’t get my second choice, a cheeseburger and fries. I did bring my laundry from the cellar up two flights to my room. The laundry had been in the dryer for a couple of weeks so this is big. I also did another laundry now in the dryer. As for the food, the on-line order page would not recognize my street address. I was flummoxed. I called and was told by a disembodied voice there was a long wait time so I should e-mail. I did and got a generic reply from DoorDash. It was suggested I check the Q&A pages. I was not happy. This is an interesting approach from Door Desk. Do nothing and suggest more of nothing. I still want fish and chips.