Archive for the ‘Musings’ category
October 7, 2014
Today is the best of fall with a warm breeze, a sunlit light blue sky and scattered clouds for contrast. The temperature should reach 70˚. It is a day to be out and about. I have a couple of errands including getting Miss Gracie’s nails trimmed, and she’ll be glad for the ride. I’ll also take her with me to the library as I can park the car in the shade. After that, she’ll stay home while I finish the rest of my list. It won’t take long.
When I was a kid, old people had a particular style of dress. I never once saw my grandmothers wearing pants. They both wore flowery house dresses lacking any particular style. They always wore hosiery though one grandmother used to roll hers down to her ankles. She mostly wore slippers with the backs flattened by her feet. In the kitchen, both always wore full aprons, the ones with bibs. Those too were flowery, and the flowers were always small. One grandmother was very tall and the other was very short, under five feet. The tall grandmother stooped. I always guessed it was because my grandfather was much shorter than she was. When I watched All in the Family, Edith reminded me of that tall grandmother.
My grandfathers mostly wore suits. They each wore a topcoat in the winter and a fedora every season. One grandfather always wore white shirts, even around the house. He was my mother’s father, and every year for Christmas some of his gifts from her were white shirts. Once in a while my other grandfather wore casual clothes, mostly when he did yard work. I remember his maroon jacket with a gold zipper. It was worn only in the yard, not in public. Later, after my grandfather had passed away, my father wore that jacket. He didn’t mind wearing it in public. I have a picture in my mind’s eye of my dad wearing it while he was standing next to a pile of burning leaves.
I am glad there is no longer an older lady’s dress code though I do admit two of the dresses I have are flowery.
Categories: Musings
Tags: beautiful fall day, fedoras, flowery dresses, full aprons, hosiery, house dresses, slippers, suits, sunny day, top coats, warm day
Comments: 12 Comments
October 6, 2014
When I woke up, the house was so cold I jumped right back into bed and nestled under the covers. I stayed there a while and finished my book. Gracie and Fern were with me. Gracie was sleeping in a tight ball, not her usual sprawl. Fern was right beside me. When I finally came downstairs, I saw the house was only 63˚. I turned on the heat. The house is now a cozy 68˚.
The sun is bright again. Outside is even warmer than inside. While the coffee was brewing, I watched the birds through the kitchen window. The feeders are getting heavy traffic. I filled them yesterday with the last of the seed, both sunflower and the mixed seeds and nuts, and they won’t last long. I’ll do a seed run tomorrow.
I wanted to fly like Superman. I still do, but now I want to fly to different places in the world just for a short visit, maybe even just for lunch or dinner. How cool that would be. I’d go to all my favorite places like Quito or Lisbon, maybe do a bit of shopping then have a wonderful dinner before I fly home. You know I’d visit Ghana and surprise everyone. The only problem is some Ghanaians would think I was a witch popping in and out like that. I’d have to be careful picking my landing spots. I wouldn’t need the outfit. The frightened reactions of Ghanaians seeing a white witch fall out of the sky would be exacerbated by me wearing tights, a giant K on my chest and a fluttering cape. I figure Superman did it for effect. I want to be sub rosa.
I suppose I could be Samantha. It would be so much easier just wiggling my nose.
Categories: Musings
Tags: birds at the feeder, cold morning, finsishig my book, flying all over the world, flying like Superman, heat, sunny day
Comments: 18 Comments
October 5, 2014
When I woke up, I checked outside my bedroom window and saw sunlight. The world appears to be aglow. The leaves are patterned with light and shadow and are moving just a bit in the slight breeze. The sun has moved into its autumnal phase and has a cooler light. I stood on the deck for a bit, watched Gracie in the yard and took in the sun but wished it were warmer.
Gracie and I are going to the dump today. It will be crowded. I figure the rain of the last three or four days kept people away. I know I chose to stay home and just kept adding trash to the trunk. I still have one more bag and some newspapers. It will be a monumental dump run.
Nothing much is happening. The only people I saw this week were cashiers. The phone was my chief means of communication with family and friends. Nothing much was happening with them either. Either we are all quite boring or we are just slowing down to get ready for the oncoming winter, the inside season.
One branch of leaves on one of the trees in the backyard is orange. None of the other leaves have changed so this stands out among many. I wonder why.
When I was a kid, I loved the leaves changing color this time of year and never really cared why. It was enough for me that they were beautiful and so many colors. I knew the shadows of trees and the shadows of my friends and me on our walks to school would be different somehow, but I never cared why. All of it was part of the landscape, a part of the changing season and that was enough for me.
Categories: Musings
Tags: autumnal day, boring week, dump day, light and shadow, quiet week, sunny day
Comments: 16 Comments
October 4, 2014
The sun is still among the missing. Posters have been put up asking people to keep an eye out in case it should appear. The misty rain comes and goes. Gracie has left wet paw prints all over the kitchen floor. The cats are sleeping; of course, they are.
It is getting closer and closer to the end of deck time. Soon all the furniture will be covered and all the flower pots emptied. It makes me sad to know that Saturday night movies are over, they’ll no more reading outside and no more sitting by candlelight at night listening to the wonderful sounds of summer. The leaves are slowly turning, but the deck has debris from the rain: sticks, leaves and acorns. It already looks deserted.
English grammar has clear rules. Like math or even music, there is a right answer or a right tune. People hop all over singers out of tune. They complain about the stupidity of cashiers who need cash registers to tell them the amount of change because they can’t figure it out themselves. Correcting English, though, isn’t acceptable. The reason for this I’m told is communication. It is people understanding each other no matter how they say it. I accept that popular usage has changed a few of the rules like the one where hopefully used to be an adverb, but objects of prepositions haven’t changed at all. On the news the other night I heard the reporter say something like the witness told he and I. That mistake was okayed by the writer, the editor and the reporter who probably shouldn’t be blamed as she just read the news handed to her. Is it too much to ask that we speak our mother tongue correctly? Obviously it is, but don’t you dare sing out of tune or you’ll be excoriated in the newspapers and, worst of all, in social media.
Categories: Musings
Tags: damp, end of deck time, English grammar, out of tune, prepositions and their objects, rainy day, rules of grammar
Comments: 20 Comments
October 3, 2014
This morning was one of those put a mirror under her nose to see if she is still breathing mornings. I didn’t wake up until ten. My guess is it was all the errands from yesterday, the hauling in of the packages, the loads of wash with the accompanying up and down two flights of stairs and the changing of my bed. My back is no longer fit for days like yesterday. On my dance card today is switching out the screens and storm doors.
The day is dreary. It may even rain again later. I turned on the heat this morning for a short while to get rid of the dampness. The house is cozy now. The animals are in here with me while they take their morning naps. All three are quite comfortable: two are on the couch and one is on the afghan. I should live their lives.
Earlier I sprayed the red spawn. He didn’t hear me coming so he took the full brunt of the spray. He was shocked and immediately leapt, still dripping I suspect, from the deck rail to one tree then another until he alit on the big pine branch and began castigating me. He was chirping and chattering and waving his tail in indignation all the while looking right at me. He has to go. He best be packing his little bag for the move.
When I was a kid, I seldom had plans for the weekends. If the movie was good, I’d head to the matinee. If not, I might ride my bike or roller skate or just walk the tracks. Life was filled with spontaneity. Sunday was church and the family dinner but the rest of the day was mine. Sometimes the weather determined what we did. Rain in the summer was never a deterrent to playing outside, but in the winter it was far too cold to get wet. I always thought winter rain was a waste of water. It should always have been snow.
I don’t make too many weekend plans. I watch the Amazing Race with my friends, one of our traditions, and that’s it. I am back to spontaneity and maybe a bit of inertia. I’m liking my life.
Categories: Musings
Tags: bad back, errands, freary day, red spawn, sleeping in, spraying the spawn, storm doors, the life of a pet, too many errands, weekends
Comments: 18 Comments
October 2, 2014
The rain started Tuesday and continued throughout Wednesday until well into the night. The dog’s outside water bowl was filled with rainwater. We’re talking inches of rain here. The ground is still soaked. With the rain came cooler temperatures. It is only 57˚ and with the dampness it feels even colder. The wind has picked up and the trees are being blown. More rain is predicted for later.
I’d vote for October as my favorite month. The weather is lovely, fall flowers are in bloom, pumpkins adorn front steps and fill wagons at farm stands, leaves are in such an array of colors even the most boring road is ablaze in yellows and reds and the best of all is that October finishes on its very last day with Halloween. Christmas has Santa and elves and flying reindeer, but I love even more the witches and ghosts and monsters of Halloween. There are no scary Santa movies except maybe Santa Claus Conquers the Martians which is frightfully bad. Nope, hands down, Halloween has the best scary movies. I love them all especially the classics. I’m not talking blood and gore movies. I want to be scared by subtlety. We never see Dracula bite into Mina’s neck. He uses his cloak to hide it, but we know what’s going on. Our imaginations fill in the void. One of my all time favorite movie scenes is in Frankenstein. It is when the villagers hunt the monster. They are sent off to, “…search every ravine, every crevice. The fiend must be found.” The black and white of the movie enhances the scary scene. Wide-eyed women huddle and hide. The dogs who lead the pack of crazed villagers are barking and pulling at their leashes. The men wend their way down a hill their torches bright in the darkness. Their garbled shouts echo in the night. We sense their fear. It touches us and scares us. That’s the best part of Halloween.
Categories: Musings
Tags: black and white film, Dracula, fall flowers, Frankenstein, ghosts, Halloween movies, leaves changing color, October, pumpkins, scary, villagers and their torches, witches
Comments: 8 Comments
September 30, 2014
Today is a bit chilly and rainy, and I love it. The house is dark and cozy and I feel as if I’m in a cocoon, safe and happy. The two cats and the dog are sleeping, each in her usual spot. Fern is behind me lying on the afghan on the back of the couch. Maddie is sleeping in the warm light from the lamp, and Gracie is in her crate with her head on her dog pillow. I slept in this morning because I was awake until well after three. I just couldn’t get to sleep. I finished my book, watched a couple of documentaries on my iPad, got up and changed the two litter boxes and washed the cat food mat in the upstairs bathroom. By about three I was thinking I might just get up and find something to do, like clean that cabinet which has been driving me crazy because I have no idea what’s in the back of it. I’m guessing a few old mice nests as that’s where some lived before they were relocated by Grace and me. Mostly I want to find my apple peeler/corer and my old double loaf pan. I know they’re in that cabinet probably way in the back. I’m hoping to find a few surprises as well.
I’m having one of my distraction days. Nothing gets done straight through. I feel a little bored with what I’m doing and stop to do something else. Earlier, between the two papers, I decided to look through the two small wooden boxes on my table. It was like finding treasure chests filled with memories. The first small box had all the commemorative pins I got from working the Boston Marathon. It also had a Peace Corps cloth badge and a returned volunteer pin. Two nails were on the bottom. They are the size I usually want for something but can never find in my tool drawer. I love the red bead bracelet I found. It came from Ghana. Several coins were on the bottom. A couple were from Iceland but most were from Ghana. They are coins which are no longer used. My favorite was the twenty pesewa coin. That was the cost of a taxi ride anywhere in the city of Accra. I thought of all the arguments I had with taxi drivers who wanted to charge more. One even said he hated Peace Corps, a guess as to who I was on his part, because they always knew the right price.
The other box is filled with addresses, a few boxes of wooden matches, an old Winston lighter, an eyeglass kit and a few odd items in a small plastic bag. I bought them just because I liked them and figured I’ll find a way to use them.
The last is a cigar box, and I’ve saved that one for later, for my next distraction.
Categories: Musings
Tags: awake till three, Boston Marathon pins, boxes, cleaning cabinets, distraction day, Ghanaian money, mice nests, Peace Corps pins, rainy and cool, sleeping animals, sleeping until after 9, twenty pesewas
Comments: 10 Comments
September 29, 2014
This morning has been a delight. I had to drive to Bourne to have my car serviced, but they didn’t charge me though the two years of free maintenance has passed. It didn’t take very long. I decided to go down cape to do a bit of shopping, and while I was on the highway, my car hit the 10,000 mark. I wished I had a few balloons and some champagne. I took Route 151 to Mashpee Commons to do my shopping. I don’t often get on that side of the cape so I figured I’d take full advantage. Yellow and red leaves filled the trees along the roadside. Houses had pumpkins and Halloween decorations in the fronts of their houses. It was a fun ride.
To continue my good luck, I found a parking space right across from the store, Williams Sonoma, where I wanted to shop. We always thank the God of Parking when we find the perfect space so I did. That spot was a good thing as the filled shopping bag was a bit heavy. I had planned on that being my only stop, but I decided to stop at the Organic Market as I needed bread. I should know by now that I never just buy a single thing. I bought bagels, green salsa, chicken, bananas, palm oil, coconut peanut butter, two kinds of rice and a half dozen eggs, two of which broke on the way home, my only bad luck of the day. I loaded up the car and went home a different way: Route 149 off of 28. It is a small road, one lane on each side, houses back off the road, old cemeteries and towering trees, now filled with color. I was a bit sorry when I finally reached the highway.
I have a lead foot when it comes to highway driving. Today I was going 70 when someone came up behind me so I pulled over into the inside lane and slowed down to keep pace with the traffic. I looked in my rear view mirror and saw blinking blue lights, a state trooper’s car in obvious pursuit. I thought I was doomed. I kept looking and then I saw a car about three behind me pull over followed by the police car right behind him. I had escaped.
Today is cloudy but warm. The sun looks as if it is ready to make an appearance. I have had a great morning, and I didn’t need the sun.
Categories: Musings
Tags: car maintenance, Organic Market, red and yellow leaves, route 149, shoppig, Shopping, state trooper, Williams Sonoma
Comments: 14 Comments
September 28, 2014
Summer has stayed another day. The birds are flying in and out of the feeders, the red spawn has been soaked by the hose a couple of times, kids are riding their bikes up and down the street and the insects are singing. It is a wonderful day.
When I was a kid, my street was visited by so many people doing so many different things. There was the milkman whose bottles clanged in his metal holder as he walked to the back door, the sharpener man who rode a bike with a pedal driven honing wheel and who stopped to sharpen knives and scissors, the trash men who came once a week who carried their barrels behind their backs with one hand, the garbage man who also came once a week, the summer ice cream man who came every day, the junk man who shouted for rags and newspapers from his horse-drawn wagon and the mailman who knew everybody and always stopped to talk. The only name we kids knew was Johnny the ice cream man.
My favorite was the sharpener man. I loved to watch him sharpen knives as the wheel whirled. He pedaled fast and turned the knife from side to side then checked sharpness using his finger across the blade. He never cut himself. That amazed me.
Only the mailman is left, and he uses a truck. I take my own trash to the dump and the newspapers get recycled. My knives are quite dull, but I just bought a new sharpener so I’m hoping for the best. I’m also hoping I don’t cut myself prone as I am to self-inflicted injuries. There used to be an ice cream truck with bells playing a tune, but I haven’t heard or seen one on a while.
My neighborhood is a good one with lots of kids, friendly neighbors and dear friends, but I bemoan the loss of these men from our childhood. They provided services but most of all they provided color, smells and sounds to our lives. I still remember the sound of the wheel and the knife, the clop of the horse on the street and Johnny’s bell, that last one most of all.
Categories: Musings
Tags: bikes, birds, dump, insects, junk man, mailman, milkman, sharpener man, summer, trash, trash men
Comments: 8 Comments
September 27, 2014
Yippee! It is a deck day, warm and lovely. Summer just isn’t ready to leave yet, and I’m glad. Both doors are open and the air smells like cut grass. Early this morning it smelled like the ocean.
When I went to get the papers this morning, I noticed yellow leaves on the bush across the street and red leaves on my burning bush by the driveway. It seems fall is making its presence known a bit at a time.
The best part of being a kid was taking delight in so many things. I mostly remember being happy. Many adults see the world through darker glasses and have learned to be cynical and sometimes distrustful. A kid is wide-eyed. Snow is a joy not an inconvenience. Rain means puddles to run through. Grass is soft and cool and lying on it gives the best view of the summer’s night sky. A bicycle takes us away. A nickel is a king’s ransom, a treasure. Finding a bottle is another nickel, another treasure.
Being a teenager was a lot of work. I had to endure those horrific rollers in my hair, sometimes even overnight. The right clothes and shoes were a necessity. Boys got important. I seldom noticed the weather except for rain. It ruined my hair. School meant hours of homework. I did have fun with my friends and I was out most weekends, but the future was always looming.
College was work but it was fun. We partied a lot. Some weekends passed in a daze. I was far too busy with classes and weekends to notice much about the world. I had choices to make my senior year. I chose the Peace Corps, and I am forever thankful for that. All of a sudden it was a new world and I was wide-eyed again. I stopped and looked and slept outside under a billion stars. I was a little kid again.
I still stop and notice. Once relearned, it isn’t ever forgotten.
Categories: Musings
Tags: a bit of summer, being a kid, Burning bush, college, cut grass, high school, Peace Corps, rollers, smell of the ocean, teenagers, the joys of life, warm day, wide-eyed
Comments: 8 Comments
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