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“Candy is childhood, the best and bright moments you wish could have lasted forever.”

August 11, 2013

Ray Bradbury’s “All Summer in a Day” must have been inspired by a day like today. Delightful seems archaic but that’s all I can think of to describe it. The coolness of the morning is here in this dark room while the sun shines through the front door giving Fern a perfect place to nap. Her fur is even hot to the touch. The day gave me a burst of energy, and I have already changed the sheets on my bed, a chore I generally don’t like, put my new bedspread on it, swept the kitchen floor and taken a shower. That’s usually a whole day’s worth of expended energy.

Tonight is movie night. I was going to show West Side Story but I can’t find it. Later I’ll have to pick a few movies and let my friends decide. We’re having hot dogs and salad for dinner, nothing fancy. Cheese, dips and crackers and a game of Phase 10 will be first, and they’ll be movie snacks for later. I lean toward popcorn and Nonpareils.

I can’t believe that summer is almost over. Last year at this time I was getting excited about going back to Ghana. This year the big excitement was new pillows, a new spread for my bed and new bedroom curtains. I am nearly giddy.

My friends are going to Ghana, and I wish them the same feelings of being home that I felt. Last summer I was sitting on the main street of Bolga and having a Coke and watching the world walk. It was just so familiar. I remember we used to walk up a small flight of stairs to sit at the end store where there were a couple of outside tables. We’d have cold Cokes before heading home. Cold Coke was a rarity and a reward for a dusty shopping trip through the market. Bill asked if I was jealous of him and Peg and their trip: extremely was my answer.

Meanwhile, the pennies for my next trip mount up in the tin with the stars. I put in any change I get and a few dollar bills when I can.  Next week I’ll have to start redeeming my Coke cans. I have bags of them and figure I’ve got over $50.00 worth. That’ll go into the tin too. Austerity is never bad when the reason is good.

I used to love finding a couple of empty bottles when I was a kid. They meant a dime and that meant ten cents worth of penny candy, a whole bagful. The glass cabinet at the white store had wood all around the outside edges of it but inside of that cabinet was every kid’s dream. There were rows of boxes and each box had a different penny candy. The choices were almost overwhelming. I liked stuff which lasted a while, chewy stuff like Mary Jane’s and Squirrels (little did I know the relationship squirrels and I would have in the future). I like the wax bottles because you could chew the wax for a while. Fire balls were just about my favorites of them all. I always challenged myself to keep it in my mouth the whole time. Only the sissies couldn’t stand the heat. I was never among them!!

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“And forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair”

August 10, 2013

Yesterday’s rain had a tropical feel about it. It was preceded by the wind, came down in torrents then disappeared. Later, in the evening, the rain came again but only intermittent wiper rain. Today has no humidity. The breeze even feels cool. Gracie isn’t panting.

I never buy lottery tickets, but I always plan what I’d do with the money. My family, my sisters and my niece and nephews, would each be given a good chunk, in the 6 figure range. I’d travel, but that’s an easy one. I’d plan an amazing trip to exotic places and invite people to come along for the journey. I wouldn’t be offended if they refused, given the off-beat places I want to go, places like Bora Bora, Laos, Cambodia, Nepal, India, Botswana for a safari and a trip along the Okavango, Madagascar and a few more of the Pacific Islands. I’d go to Ghana, but no one seems interested in going with me except my sister Moe. The trip wouldn’t have to be all at once. We could do it in geographic chunks with stops at home to catch up with ourselves. I know this all dreaming, but I love to dream.

I saw a coyote in my car lights last night as it was walking on my street. It was a small one, maybe young. He crossed another street and went into a backyard. I lost track then.

Bare feet give me a different perspective on the world. I walk across the grass to get the papers and my feet get wet from the morning watering. On the deck, I sometimes step on those small acorns, and my foot jumps into the air hurting just a little. During the afternoon, the deck wood is hot from the sun, and I hurry to get under the shade of the umbrella. In the backyard, I walk on dirt and sand. They each feel different to my feet. In the house, the floors are cool in the morning but never feel warm in the afternoon. At night, my feet sometimes get cold even though it’s summer. When I put on my sandals, Gracie knows I’m going somewhere. When I was a kid and my mother put on lipstick, I knew she was going somewhere. It’s the unusual, shoes for me and lipstick for my mother, both dead giveaways.

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“The entire world revolves around this wretched Alien.”

August 9, 2013

Today is like being shut in a closet with no air. The sky is cloudy, and the humidity is high, way too high. The breeze is blowing, the sort of breeze which comes before a storm. It sprinkled a bit earlier but that doesn’t count. Only real rain counts, heavy drops of rain.

I went to breakfast this morning with my retired friends. We go out once a month. I went spicy with linguica, Monterey Ray Jack cheese and salsa: all served on one side of a Portuguese roll.

The painting continues. This time it is the upstairs bathroom and the color is green. I can’t describe the exact sort of green as I forget the  name because I didn’t really pay attention. I was only making sure it matched one of the cloths in my Ghanaian shower curtain. It will take forever to dry in this humidity.

I am generally verbose, but today I seem to have nothing more worth mentioning. I have a blank dance card. I suppose I can drag myself to buy flowers to fill a few of the empty spots in the front garden, but I don’t have the energy, and beside, I don’t want to get wet if it rains again. I might just have to be content staying home and watching the programs I recorded.

Yesterday was alien invasion day on the Syfy channel, and all of them were bent on Earth domination and the destruction of the human race. That got me thinking about friendly aliens, there being so few. E.T. came to mind easily. I also remember Starman with Jeff Bridges. One of my favorite little conversations in that movie occurred while he was driving and just after he had driven through a red light. “Okay? Are you crazy? You almost got us killed! You said you watched me, you said you knew the rules!” His answer: “I watched you very carefully. Red light stop, green light go, yellow light go very fast.” My favorite alien name is Paul. Klaatu got nicer as the movie progressed even though he’d been shot. Superman is an alien but I don’t really count him. After all, he did grow up here.

Yesterday one of the movies was Independence Day-Saster. It did steal from a similarly named movie, but it had its own little quirks. I liked the name of that movie, another made up SyFy channel name. Last night’s movie, a new one, had an ordinary name, and I was disappointed. Invasion Roswell, the name of the movie, seemed to sum up the entire plot. I watched it anyway. The Sox were losing so I switched channels. I think the movie ended up being the better choice.

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“The school looks very good. The uniforms are a good thing. It will be easy for my wife. She won’t have to fight about clothes.”

August 8, 2013

Unlike the past few days, the weather this morning is humid and cloudy with intermittent rain, a soft rain you barely notice, but the paper does say a chance of thunder showers throughout the day and has predicted them for tonight and tomorrow, but right now the sun is working its way from behind the clouds seems to be struggling, maybe even losing the battle for today’s weather. The breeze is a bit stronger, always a bad sign on a cloudy, damp day.

Yesterday I earned a blue ribbon. I did my laundry, finally, all two loads, watered the inside and outside plants, paid all my bills, did four errands, filled the bird feeders and took all the stuff off the walls in the bathroom which is right now being painted and then around 6:30 met my friend for dinner. Today I have one stop, to buy more flowers for the front garden and some bird seed, then I’m going Peapod on-line grocery shopping. I think I have been the ant, not the grasshopper, for the last two days and deserve a few days of rest which I will gladly take.

We never needed back to school clothes except for a new pair of shoes and one outfit, for the first day, as after that we wore uniforms. My mother was glad for those uniforms as they saved her so much money. Outfitting four kids was expensive. We didn’t care about wearing them because that’s all we knew and all our friends wore them too. Even in high school I had a uniform; all Catholic high school students wore one sort of uniform or another.

My students in Ghana had three different uniforms. Most bought the cloth and had the dresses made. The classroom uniforms were lilac and all the students wore same style and color, regardless of which level they were. I remember watching students iron the uniforms using a charcoal iron. The uniforms were always stiff with starch and wrinkled easily. The students also had their afternoon chore dresses, and there were four different patterns, each one designating the graduation year of the student. The dresses were simple: one piece. Their Sunday bests, wore for church service and into town, were traditional, generally three pieces, and were also four different patterns. You could identify whether the student was T1, T2, T3 or T4 just by the pattern. The patterns followed the students from one year to the next so they only had to buy whatever they had grown out of or worn out. The incoming T1’s would have their own patterns.

I thought of my students when I saw Harry Potter and his friends go into town for the day, for the one day they were allowed off grounds. For my students it was Sunday. They could have visitors come or the older students could go into town to do some shopping, and usually a photographer or two came to the school and took pictures of students into their spiffiest clothes. I have a few of those pictures which were given to me as gifts so I wouldn’t forget my students. They did the same thing at the ceremony last summer. They had a photographer come and take pictures of the event and individual pictures of me with one of them, and they ordered copies. This time it was so they wouldn’t forget me.

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“The first week of August hangs at the very top of summer, the top of the live-long year, like the highest seat of a Ferris wheel when it pauses in its turning.”

August 6, 2013

Last night my feet were cold, and I closed the window in the den facing north. It was a wonderful evening for sleeping and both Fern and Gracie slept right beside me for warmth. Today will be another delight and tonight might just mean socks. The temperature all week will be in the mid to high 70’s during the day and the high 50’s to low 60’s at night. I figure that’s about as perfect as August can get.

My factotum is back today. Skip is right now replacing the two steps out my back door. Later, he’ll replace the long board on the deck that has a weak spot then he’ll paint the downstairs bathroom. This is the perfect week to work in the coolness of these days.

When I was young, I loved August because it is my birthday month. I knew I’d get presents and always a card from my grandparents with a five dollar bill inside. That was a treasure of great value in those days. Her whole life my grandmother never missed sending a card, but later, when I was older, the card had two one dollar bills instead of a five then a few years after that no dollars, just the card. I guessed she figured birthdays should only be celebrated by the young. I, of course, am of the opinion that birthdays should always be celebrated. The big holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas are celebrated by most people, but that day, that birthday, is so special you never have to share (I know-one of you might mention twins but I’m disregarding that for now ). About this time in August I’d start the countdown to my birthday. It always seemed so far away. Time seemed to take forever to pass back then.

Time now runs swiftly. Once I was told the reason for that, and it made perfect sense. When you were four, that year was only one-fourth of your life, but each subsequent year you got older and the fraction got smaller. This last year was one-sixty fifth of my life, and that took only the blink of an eye to pass.

Yesterday my grand-nephew, Ryder, started school, second grade. Where has the summer gone because I didn’t notice it’s been leaving.

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“The power of finding beauty in the humblest things makes home happy and life lovely.”

August 5, 2013

Today has already been busy and it really just started. First it was Sunday breakfast, changed to Mondays until after Labor Day, then Skip, my factotum, came over and we went through the list of stuff needing to be done. He measured then off we went to the paint store then the lumber yard. He is replacing a board and two steps in the original part of the deck, sanding and painting a small table, filling in Gracie holes which are half-way to China, repainting parts of the deck chairs, painting both bathrooms and repairing an antique small cabinet which just needs gluing. I wait until I can keep him busy for most of a week before I get him over to work. Right now he is working on the Gracie holes. She’ll be thrilled. Tomorrow she can dig them all again!

My friend Clare has had spawns of Satan chewing the back webbing of her deck chairs, similar chairs to the ones I have where the spawn gnawed off the paint a couple of years back. Her spawns have eaten one chair so much the back is no longer attached to the frame. This morning I noticed one of my chairs has been gnawed a bit on both sides at the top, same spots as hers. I’m thinking her spawn has ranged about and found my deck. I sprayed the chairs with a red pepper spray the spawns don’t like and put chairs one on top of the other so the spawn has no access to the tops. I’ll check tomorrow to find out whether or not my efforts have thwarted those offsprings of Satan.

I have new neighbors. I think they are weekenders as they were here from Friday until this morning. The house they bought was in some obvious disrepair, needing paint and landscaping, but it seems the worst couldn’t be seen from the street as the backyard was filled with trash bags and hadn’t been touched by a mower or trimmer. My new neighbors did exactly what I would have done. They hired Sebastian, my neighbor and landscaper, to do all the back clean-up.

Today is an absolutely perfect day, sunny and cool. It was only 68˚ earlier this morning and has since warmed up but only to the low 70’s. The sun is brilliant and beautifully framed by the bluest of skies. Not a cloud mars the beauty. It’s a day to be on the deck with a cold drink and a good book. That’s it: my entire plan for the day. My work is done.

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“Find ecstasy in life; the mere sense of living is joy enough.”

August 4, 2013

Having spent yesterday accomplishing nothing, I am raring to go this morning. I want all my errands done post-haste so this will be a short, quick musing as doing nothing for a couple of days doesn’t provide much fodder for conversation. Here was my entire day yesterday: took nap, took shower, watched baseball game, finished leftovers for dinner and went to bed late. In between there was a trip or two to the deck, a few dishes washed and the mail read, but that was it for the whole day so I’m doing my errands this morning, but I don’t really mind. That gives me the rest of the day to while away.

I was quite content yesterday. I have found that I don’t need excitement or fireworks to enjoy living each day. I don’t even have to get dressed. I do have to brush my teeth and most days take a shower, but that’s it for the musts. Oh yeah, food is in there somewhere but nothing formal: cheese and crackers or fruit make for great lunches. Dinner is catch as catch can. I’m not fussy.

When I worked, every day was hectic especially the weekends. Those two days were filled. I had to clean the house, change the bed, do laundry, grocery shop, go to the dump, correct papers (when I was teaching), plan lessons and run around doing all the other errands on that long list I used to make every week. Now I think how silly. I wasted two great days.

Now I have all the time in the world, and I don’t waste a single day. I consider doing nothing a gift, a huge gift which I wrapped with beautiful paper and huge colored bows and gave myself. I worried a bit about retiring so young and being able to take a day without structure. All of my adult life had been structured, mostly around work, so I wondered how I would spend my days.

The first day of my retirement was glorious. I got to sleep-in. No alarm at 5:00 woke me. I got to read the entire paper and have a couple of cups of coffee. I absolutely do not remember what I did with the rest of the day, but it doesn’t matter. I just remember I loved that day and the next and the next. I still feel that way.

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“We shall meet again before long to march to new triumphs.”

August 3, 2013

The sun was here earlier but has since disappeared. It was replaced by a cloudy sky and a stiff breeze. The paper forecasts the possibility of rain. It is 72˚ now with 85% humidity. Yesterday the breeze disappeared, and the humidity was so high I turned on the air conditioner in the late afternoon. That made for a comfortable evening.

Doing nothing worked. My back is better today and I’m happier. I’m even willing to brave the roads to do a few errands. I need odd things, those not often bought: light bulbs, a flood light, paint to do my fish table and candle bulbs for the window lights. I figure I’ll reward myself with my favorite sandwich: a panini with cheddar, bacon and avocado. I’m thinking a whoopie pie for dessert and maybe some biscotti for tomorrow morning.

The laundry has made some progress. I brought it down here and leaned it next to the cellar door. I can see it from my seat, but that doesn’t matter any more. I have learned to let it sit until I’m ready.

Yesterday afternoon I heard a huge crash as if something had fallen to my deck. I went out and found nothing. I checked both the front and the back yards then I thought maybe a branch had fallen on the roof part I can’t see, but I swore whatever it was had hit the deck. Skip, my factotum, is coming on Monday so maybe he can figure it out.

In September St. Patrick’s drill team is having a reunion. I marched from 1957 to 1964. Two of my aunts marched at the beginning, 1947, when the drill tam was started. Three of my cousins also marched but years later, they being younger than I by a lot of years. Most of the comments on the Facebook page are not from my contemporaries but from that younger group. My friends and I seem to be the grand dames.

The drill team had practice once a week in the winter and twice a week in the summer, the competition season. Competitions were on the weekends, usually a Sunday afternoon but also some Friday and Saturday nights. When we didn’t have a competition, we went to one anyway. All of my friends were on the drill team. We spent a lot of time together. Our instructor, a man named John Kelley, had to be the most patient man in the world. He’d go over and over certain parts of the maneuver until he was certain we had it down pat. It was difficult in the winter as we had to break it down into parts to fit the armory dimensions where we practiced. Once the weather changed and we could get on the field or in the schoolyard we had to work at putting it all together.

We never won much in the beginning. I remember coming home and telling my parents we had come in second, and we had, but there were only two drill teams competing. I didn’t tell them that part. We eventually won several championships both in winter color guard and summer drill. The first time we won the summer championship, someone called ahead to the fire station. We got off our bus uptown and one of the fire trucks with the siren going led us through town to the church. We were almost giddy. Finally we were the champions, and we had a huge trophy to prove it!

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“Learn from yesterday, live for today, look to tomorrow, rest this afternoon.”

August 2, 2013

Last night it poured but not until well after dinner. It started about the time my guests were leaving. I went out to the deck after they had left just as the rain was starting and found the umbrella lights were on so I turned them off and brought in a few dishes I had left near the grill. This morning in the daylight I checked the deck again but everything had been cleared. I came inside, made coffee and went to get the papers. Just as I got back inside the house, it started raining again, heavily.

The rain has stopped now and the day is dreary at best. I can hear drops falling from the leaves. I feel a chill from the window behind me, the sort dampness brings.

Today is a day to stay off the roads so I’ll occupy myself here. I have a few books I can start and laundry I might do, but after all of my doings yesterday, a day of rest might be what I need. Dinner was delicious. The sausages were just right as were the peppers and onions. I had bought brioche rolls and I toasted them on the grill. I caught them at just the right time. I had the fixings for a salad, but we ate almost all of the cheese and crackers before dinner so no salad. Dessert was coconut ice cream with sea salt chocolate caramel sauce. We didn’t talk during dessert; we just ate.

The Red Sox capped off our evening with an exciting walk-off win. They were down 7-1 when I first checked and 7-2 when I checked again. We decided to eat dessert inside and watch the rest of the game. It was spectacular. People had left because of the score, and I suspect they’ll lie about it if asked. How can you admit you gave up on the Sox and missed one amazing finale?

Days like today invite lethargy. I’m not even going to get dressed. For lunch I’ll have a sausage sandwich and for dinner I’ll add a salad to those sausages. A zapping in the microwave and lunch and dinner will be ready. The cats and the dog are napping. They all had such strenuous mornings lying around doing nothing. They inspire me!

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“All of us learn to write in the second grade. Most of us go on to greater things. “

August 1, 2013

This morning I’m groggy. I actually stayed up and watched the Red Sox defeat the Mariners in 15 innings. It took until almost 12:30.  Then, far earlier than I expected to be awake, I heard the loudest banging noises. They came from my neighbor’s yard where they were loading his trucks for the day. I tried to go back to sleep but couldn’t. Gracie, of course, is now asleep on the couch.

The morning is really lovely so I suppose I should stop complaining. I do have to go shopping as guests are coming for dinner. It will be on the deck and quite casual. My entertaining skills are rusty, having been hibernating all summer, but I’m thinking witty and personable will make their appearances!!!

Summer nights on the deck are sometimes perfect. The lights in the yard are bright in the darkness, and the palm tree still survives though the flamingo is a bit worse for wear. If there is a breeze to be had, the deck gets it, and the bugs are blown elsewhere. I hope the weather stays just as it is, comfortable and sunny.

August, the last summer month, can’t be here already, but the back-to-school ads have started. It seems early, but I know my nephew’s son goes back to school tomorrow, a sort of meet and greet day before school really starts on Monday. He’ll be in the second grade.

I remember my second grade teacher, Mrs. Kerrigan. St. Pat’s had lay teachers as well as nuns, and you ended up with a lay teacher every other year. I think Mrs. Kerrigan was the stereotypical spinster teacher of the 50’s. She was old, at least to my seven-year old eyes. She always wore flowered dresses and clunky tie shoes with wide heels. Her hair was white and she had a bun in the back. I remember Mrs. Kerrigan lived in an apartment in an old house across from the church so she walked to school every day. It probably took her about five minutes. Second grade was the year of my first communion. We had to learn all sorts of stuff, but the end result was worth it. I loved my new dress.

We walked two by two from the school to the church then down the main aisle to our seats. We had practiced several times. The boys wore white suits and ties, and all the girls had white dresses, mostly fancy white dresses. Flashbulbs followed our progress. We had our hands in front of us held as if we were praying. That’s about as much as I remember except for the cards and money and the gifts. My favorite gift was the Cinderella watch my Aunt Mary gave me. The band was blue and matched the blue in Cinderella’s ball dress. I kept asking people if they wanted to what time it was so I could raise my wrist and show off my new watch.

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