Archive for the ‘Musings’ category
February 12, 2015
Earlier this morning I rolled over and looked out the window. I swear I saw the sun. Later, when I woke up, it was a gray day. It was yesterday and the day before and the day before that. I could keep going but you get the idea. That sun must have been a dream, a wanting and most of all a hoping.
More snow is in the forecast, light snow starting later today. I am passed screaming. I can only sigh. The temperature is going to plummet. It will be 12˚ tonight and 9˚tomorrow night. The 20’s during the day will seem downright tropical. Where did I put that Hawaiian shirt? I’m thinking mai tai, many mai tais, all with umbrellas.
In Northern Ghana this is the harmattan, the season when a cold-dry dusty wind blows from the desert. It is also the hottest time of the year. In Bolga, where I lived, every day this time of year was over 100˚. The cold shower was a blessing, a relief from the heat. I didn’t have a fan, never even thought of buying one. The heat was something to abide just as the snow is. The nights during the harmattan brought relief from the relentless heat of the days. The temperatures dropped as low as the 70’s. I was cold and even had a wool blanket on my bed. The early mornings were brisk, even chilly. They were a delight.
In the midst of the harmattan I thought of home and winter. I thought of snow but it was an idealized version conjured by my imagination. The snow was pristine, perfectly white. Snowmen with carrot noses, buttons and top hats sat on front lawns. Kids sledded down hills. Snowball fights were fun. Cars made a crunching sound from the snow as they drove down the street. We all looked healthy with red cheeks.
It is easy to get discontent with extremes so we have to remind ourselves that seasons change. The heat ends when the rains come. Spring always follows winter.
Categories: Musings
Tags: 12˚, Bolgatanga Ghana, drinks with umbrellas, grey day, harmattan, light snow, mai tai, over 100˚, plummeting temperatures, snowball fights, snowmen, sunless day
Comments: 8 Comments
February 10, 2015
Winter has been kinder to us than we expected. We didn’t the amount of snow the rest of the state did. Saturday it rained all night and yesterday it sleeted. Even now we are a tick above freezing. The roads, though, are still horrible. The ruts are difficult to navigate and going around corners is dangerous because of the sliding and the blocked views of on-coming cars. I can’t even remember the last time I saw sun. I think one glimpse of that light would be enough to bolster my spirit.
Last night was game night, and it was so much fun. We had great eats: cheeseburger sliders, chips and fruit and brownies for dessert. We played Phase 10, Sorry and Uno, a game we haven’t played in years. I had such a fistful of cards at one point I could have used an extra hand. There were so many cards I couldn’t even fan them. I didn’t win. I did win a game of Sorry.
My parents were game people so we grew up playing games. For that I am grateful. I was the only kid who actually knew what to do with dominoes besides setting them up to fall one after the other in a spectacular display. I was taught whist at an early age because my parents were grooming my brother and me to be their partners. It was always girls versus boys, and we usually won. My mother was a patient partner who never yelled even if I made a mistake. My father, on the hand, was a passionate player who did yell. I was glad he wasn’t my partner. I never liked Monopoly. It was boring and seemed to last forever. Parcheesi was fun until someone set up a blockade.
When I was older, we played card games all the time. My dad and I would play cribbage until he won, we’d all play skat and untold games of high-low jack, our favorite. Friday nights at my parents’ house were always get-together nights. My uncle would usually come and stay all night. We’d sit at the kitchen table playing cards. At some point in the evening the singing would start. I remember the phone ringing at my house on a few Fridays in the wee hours. I knew exactly who it was. When I picked up the phone, my uncle began to sing. He always called me Leeny when he was in his cups. I enjoyed those phone calls despite the hour.
I love that my friends are all game players.
Categories: Musings
Tags: card playing, dominoes, freezing, friday night card games, game people, hi-low jack, Phase 10, phone calls, playing games, rutty roads, Singing, skat, sleet, Sorry, sunless days, Uno, wee hours
Comments: 4 Comments
February 9, 2015
Last night it rained. I was hopeful we had escaped the snow, but this morning my hopes were dashed. When I woke up, I could see a layer of snow on the pine branches outside my bedroom window. It is still snowing, but we’ve been lucky. The forecast is for only 4 inches. That’s nothing but a mere inconvenience.
Snow quiets the world. I almost want to talk in whispers. Gracie’s gentle snoring is the only sound in my house. I haven’t heard a car on the street all morning. We are all getting good at hunkering down.
This posting is taking forever to write. I haven’t done anything or seen anyone in days. The phone has been my only connection to the world. I watch the news, but the snow is the only topic. If I have to look at another snow-covered empty road, I’ll spit. If I have to hear one more time there is nowhere to put the snow, I’ll scream. Enough is enough.
The no school announcements scroll at the bottom of the screen. They start the evening before and continue into the next morning, but even at 12 o’clock they still scroll. Why, I have no idea. I’d think by now everyone knows there is no school. The only scrolling should be for evening activities.
My friends have saved me. We are having game night tonight. First we’ll have burgers and pretend it’s summer. That’ll be a stretch.
Categories: Musings
Tags: boring, hunkering down, news and snow, no school announcements, quiet day, quiet house, snowy
Comments: 14 Comments
February 8, 2015
The new snow makes the world look pristine, but I don’t care. We only got an inch or less, but it doesn’t matter. I am becoming unhinged. I can see myself running down the street with my arms waving over my head while I’m yelling a jumble of nonsense, my mind unable to form coherent sentences. The only distinguishable word is snow said over and over.
Yesterday I cleaned shelves, watered plants, changed my bed and swept the kitchen, negative effects of all this snow. In the afternoon, I finally saved myself by taking a nap.
I can’t imagine my mother having four kids stuck in the house. She must have gone crazy. The diversions back then were limited: TV, with shows only in the late afternoon, books and our all time favorite: teasing my sisters. They’d scream and yell to my mother. My brother and I always feigned innocence. Our favorite was when we’d point and hold our fingers a few inches from our sister’s face. When she screamed as she always did, I’d yell, “We’re not even touching her.” My mother, wise to our ways, told us to stop whatever we were doing.
My sister has and is continuing to get have snow. She got about 7 inches last night and more will fall over the next two days, up to a total of two feet. This morning she saw a cross-country skier on the sidewalk.
The bird feeders are empty. I’ll have to go through the unshoveled snow on the deck to get there, but I will. I don’t want my poor birds wanting.
Life is boring right now. I can read only so long, the TV offers little to watch despite the number of channels and I haven’t any reason to be out and about. Maybe I’ll do more cleaning, but the mere mention of that is further proof I am losing my grasp on reality.
Categories: Musings
Tags: bird feeders, cleaning, did chores, Dusting, new snow, reality, running down the street, snow crazed, snow crazy, swept the kitchen, teasing
Comments: 12 Comments
February 7, 2015
I are prepared for the coming weather event even though it appears the Cape may be spared the foot or more of snow. The last forecast had us getting a mixture of snow and rain. I was glad at first but later I figured that just might be as bad as all snow, maybe even worse. I already live in an ice skating rink. My street is covered except for a couple of down to the pavement ruts. I have had to throw de-icer on Gracie’s steps several times, usually in the afternoon as it gets colder. Yesterday I had trouble getting out of my driveway and then the car had trouble getting up the small incline on the next street. I have to plan to stop when I’m on secondary roads so I won’t slide through the intersection. As it is I have to go half-way out into the main streets to look both ways, but today I am spared all that as I have nothing I need to do. I rejoice!
My father always went to work despite the snow though I do think he was home during a hurricane. I don’t remember him shoveling, but I know he did as the walkway was free of snow and his car was gone. My dad had a routine, and snow was no obstacle.
Back then sidewalks stayed covered and we mostly walked on the street. We’d go one by one as close to the piles of plowed snow as we could. When we heard the crunch of tires on the road behind us, we knew a car was coming so we’d stop to let it pass. The driver went by us ever so slowly.
The roads were never completely cleared of snow so sliding cars were common. My hill was so steep that it was easier to go around to the side road to avoid the bottom part of the hill then hope to get up the hill to our house from there. We were more than half-way up the hill, but the steepest part was still beyond us. I can remember the sounds of cars struggling over and over to get up that hill.
My dad always put his snow tires on the car sometime in November. That made winter official.
Categories: Musings
Tags: ice, piles of snow, road covered in snow, slipping, slipping and sliding, snow tires, snowy hills, stop sighs, weather event
Comments: 6 Comments
February 6, 2015
Winter has us and is holding on far too tightly. Last night was way, way below freezing, a negative temperature with the wind chill. Today is not much better. The walk to the driveway and the mailbox is treacherous, icy and uneven. I take mincing steps. Cars driving on the street make crunching sounds on the icy road. Nothing is melting. More snow is coming starting on Sunday. I am numb from the onslaught.
I bought a pot of flowers yesterday, yellow dafs. They were beside the register and the color caught my eye. I so need more than white. I am so tired of snow. Today I think I’ll wear bright red.
My elementary school yard was mostly a parking lot for Sunday mass. There were two baskets only the boys could use and a green bicycle rack under the trees. In spring that’s where I parked my bike. During recess little kids chased each other and played tag while the girls jumped rope or just stood in groups talking. I was never a rope jumper.
We were directed by bells, hand-held gold bells with wooden handles. A bell would ring every hour, and we’d change subjects. Lunch began and ended with a bell. We’d hear the first bell, pull out our lunch boxes, get milk from the case in the front of the room and then sit down to eat and talk but only from our desks. A bit later another bell would ring and we’d go outside for recess, the only real break in our school day. We went out every day except when it was raining.
The older I got the less I liked recess. It was mostly boring and in winter it was really cold, never a consideration for calling off recess. My friends and I would stand there longing for the bell to call us back into the building. We didn’t care it meant back to work. We just knew it meant being warm again.
Categories: Musings
Tags: bike rack, color, dangerous snow, freezing cold, icy, jumping rope, parking lot, recess, school bell, yellow dafs
Comments: 3 Comments
February 5, 2015
Snow is expected today, only around 2 inches, a mere dusting. Yesterday was balmy, in the 30’s, but the cold will be back. Tonight will get down to 19˚ and tomorrow will be even colder. The morning is dark, and the sky has that look of snow, a grayness different from any other. I’m just hoping it stays away long enough so Gracie and I can go to the dump and to Agway for cat and dog food.
Snow is sliding from my roof and landing on the deck with a huge crashing sound. The first time it happened Fern and Gracie jumped a bit. The second time it happened neither one of them reacted: both stayed asleep.
When I was young, I never got tired of snow. I’d sit by the picture window and watch it fall. My favorite time was at night. In the dark, I’d watch snow fall in the beam of the streetlight. Sometimes the snow fell sideways buoyed by the wind. The road in front of my house was thoroughly deserted when it snowed. Cars were parked off the street in the lot at the top of the hill. That was the only time the lot was used other than by us kids for roller skating. It was always quiet when it snowed as if the flakes smothered sound.
I particularly remember one storm with the snow whipping sideways. The flakes were blowing so furiously the storm seemed angry. It covered the mailbox, the sidewalks and the street in drifts. I stayed at the window a long time, so long I was freezing from the cold leaking through the window’s frame.
I miss the hiss of radiators. One was on the wall at the foot of my bed. At night I could hear the water gurgling as it traveled through the radiator. I could hear the steam. Sitting in front of one was the quickest way to get warm and the top of the radiator was the best place for drying mittens.
The sky is even more ominous. The snow is close. Gracie and I have to get going.
Categories: Musings
Tags: hssing radiators, individual snowflakes, sideways falling snow, snow and cold, street light, watching snow fall
Comments: 7 Comments
February 3, 2015
During the night, the temperature plummeted, and the rain turned back to snow. We got a couple of inches, a couple of dangerous inches, just enough to hide the ice underneath it. My road had been slush. Now it is frozen. When I went to get the papers, my neighbor drove by ever so cautiously, and his car made crunching sounds as it was driven over the ice. When I got back to my door, the push knob on the storm door would not work. I pounded it with my fist but got nowhere. I was freezing. I then got a little desperate and pounded so heavily I hurt the edge of my hand, but that got the knob to work. I opened the door and ran inside, happy for the warmth.
We have sun and blue skies, but nothing is melting. It is just too cold.
Last night wasn’t a great night. Miss Gracie had stomach issues so I had to give her more of my spider plant fronds. At 4 o’clock, she seemed a bit better so I decided to try sleeping on the couch. Gracie jumped on with me and fell asleep. We woke up at 8. Just a while ago she again was gulping so she got the last three long fronds. Now she is fine and sleeping beside me on the couch. I am exhausted.
When I was a kid, I still had to walk to school in the freezing cold. I remember walking by the field at the foot of my street and fighting the wind blowing across. The layers weren’t much help. I think it must have been a bit like the Siberian steppes during a Russian winter. The cold seeped to my bones. My face was red and raw. Sometimes we walked backwards to avoid the wind in our faces. We didn’t have the comfort of down jackets. We layered. I wore snow pants under my skirt and knee socks inside my boots. My mother even bought me some pink underwear which went down as far as my knees. I wore a hat, a knitted one which tied under my chin. Winter was the bulky season.
Watching the news, I saw a man commenting about the foot of new snow in Boston. He was asked about walking on sidewalks and the street. He said it was treachery. I thought about it for a bit and decided he might just be right.
Categories: Musings
Tags: bone chilling, cold, freezing temps, hats, ice, long underwear, no sleep, Siberian steppes, sick dog, Snow, spider plant fronds, treachery, walking backwards in the ownd, walking in the freezing cold
Comments: 17 Comments
February 2, 2015
If the groundhog had had any control, he wouldn’t have emerged from his home. He’d have stayed inside warm and cozy, turned over and slipped back to sleep; however, that can never be his choice. The poor groundhog is always wrested from his house then put on display. Today, Groundhog Day, Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow which, considering the overcast sky, must have been metaphoric. He predicted six more weeks of winter. I figure the falling snow might have been a clue.
We are in the middle of what one newsman called a weather event. For the Cape that means snow then rain. When I woke up, it was snowing but now heavy rain is pelting the snow. The day is ugly and the sky dark and ominous. The pine tree branches in the backyard stand starkly silhouetted against the sky. Rain drips from the roof. I will go nowhere today.
The Super Bowl last night was amazing. My hometown boys took the win, but it seemed a gift from the gods because the Seahawks, on the one yard line, passed the ball instead of running it and gave a Patriots’ undrafted rookie the chance to intercept the ball with only 20 seconds left to play. Come to find out, he had practiced that very play and been beaten to the ball, but he wasn’t this time. He knew what to expect. The camera after that panned to Brady jumping in the air and spinning while Richard Sherman’s face had an incredulous look at first then a painful one when he realized the game was lost. All his on-camera trash talk was for naught.
We had great food last night. Chips and onion dip are a tradition as are corn curls so we had to have them so as not to break the luck. We also had Swedish meatballs, cheesy bread with pizza sauce for dipping and Margherita pizza which had a basil pesto base on naan.
We watch the hoopla after the game. The sky was raining confetti and the Patriots were already wearing their championship hats and shirts. It was a good night all around.
Categories: Musings
Tags: dark day, Groundhod Day, Happy Brady, interception, Margherita pizza, more winter, ominous sky, snow and rain, Suoer Bowl food, Super Bowl, Super Bowl food, the trash mouth, undrafted rookie, unhappy Sherman
Comments: 12 Comments
February 1, 2015
That noise you hear is me running down the street screaming. The cause? More snow is coming starting later tonight into tomorrow. Luckily we are only getting 4-6 inches while Boston is expecting 8-12. I have no idea where they will put all that new snow. The street corners already have tall piles too high to see around. It seems Mother Nature is making up for what had been a snow-less winter.
The big game is tonight. All the hoopla will finally come to a head at kick-off. I am and have always been a Pats fan, even through the lean years, the pre-Brady years. It is just being faithful to the home team, an obligation of sorts.
Local Channel 5 is my go to it news station. This time of year especially I have noticed they have a hierarchy of sorts. It seems older announcers become on-site weather people who go to the places being highest hit. They stand outside during the storm’s ferocity getting buffeted by the wind and soaked by the rain or snow, all the while talking about how bad it all is. During the snow storm we just had, one announcer disappeared, blown off-camera by the wind.
My dad loved the Giants but changed his allegiance to the Patriots when the new league was established. He’d sit in his favorite spot, at the end of the couch nearest the TV. He was an ardent fan who yelled, castigated and complained. At Thanksgiving, he ate quickly so as not to miss any of the excitement. Most of the time he was by himself watching a game. My mother hated sports of any kind so she seldom would watch with him. If I were visiting, I’d spent a bit of time sitting and watching, but mostly I’d play Big Boggle in the kitchen with my mother. My dad would chit-chat with us when he made his forays into the kitchen during commercials or half-time. Usually my mother loaded up on special snacks for him so he never went back to the living room empty-handed.
My dad would have been so excited about the Super Bowl and his Patriots, and I’d probably have watched with him. My mother, being a wonderful hostess, would have made appetizers and joined us in the living room for this big game even though she knew nothing about football. One time she was cheering but the other team had the ball. We didn’t bother to explain. It was good of her to cheer.
Categories: Musings
Tags: 4-6 inches, ardent fan, big game, Channel 5, cheering, fans, food for the game, home town team, hoopla, more snow, Pats fan, Super Bowl
Comments: 19 Comments
keepthecoffeecoming.blog 