I have to go out so I’ll finish when I get back. Be patient!

You’re probably thinking I did it again: went off without letting you know but not this time. Somnus and his cohort Morpheus stayed away until about three in the morning. I watched a couple of good films on TCM, did some reading and played on my computer. I slept until 11. Henry woke me up earlier, around 8, so I let him out and went back to bed. He joined me later. He also woke me up jumping on and off the bed and squeaking his toy over and over. He had it in his mouth and was running from my room to the guest room then on to the bed. His gross green toy goes everywhere Henry goes. It still has a squeaker but no insides, no head and only a couple of legs. It is right beside him on the couch.

Today is stunningly beautiful. The sky is deep blue and the sun is bright and hot. When I went to get the papers and then came back inside, it took a little bit for my eyes to adjust after being in the bright sunlight. Here in the den at the back of the house is still chilly. Last night got cold. Right now it is 70˚ and tonight will get down to 60˚. That sounds perfect to me.

I never did get out yesterday except to the deck. I filled all the feeders and hung some new stuff on the shingles. Today I’ll water the plants and I’ll really do errands. Henry needs canned food.

I do love my newspaper, but lately every story is sad or depressing or infuriating. Sometimes I have all three reactions from a single article. The best thing in today’s paper was the comics. They were in color.

When I was a kid, the summer was a wealth of adventures. A time of long lazy days to do everything or nothing. When I was teaching, I went to Europe most summers for 4 or 5 weeks. I was that iconic backpacker carrying my copy of Let’s Go Europe. I slept on trains  instead of in hotels; I ate dinner at happy hour while nursing a single drink; I knew the best way to see any new city and where the hostels were. I traveled totally on the cheap.

When I was an administrator, I worked summers but arranged my time so I had most Fridays and Mondays off. My friends and I got together often for drinks or rather for drinking. Now I have all the time in the world and have mostly empty dance cards but I don’t really mind. I’ve come to enjoy lazy days.

Today is a wonder, sunny and warm and beautiful. The leaves barely stir. It is a day to be outside.

My house still has that morning chill as last night was in the 50′, but it is already 75˚, the predicted high. Tonight will go back to the 50’s. If I could design a day, it would be just like today.

When I was a kid, we used to camp out in my friend’s back yard. She had only one neighbor in the back on the other side of a tall, grey metal fence which ran behind all the duplexes where we lived. It was like a border wall.  I remember that house. It was white, had a long front porch, and black shutters by every  window. Their yard closest to the fence was pear trees. We’d pick the pears through the fence. I remember they were hard to bite. I don’t think we ever waited until they were ripe. Our camp was simple. We’d put a tarp on the ground and have blankets and pillows. We’d each have a flashlight. We’d bring snacks. We were never afraid of sleeping outside. I remember lying on my back and looking at the stars. The sky was full of them. I was awed.

When I was in Ghana, I slept outside during the hottest part of the dry season. My mattress was brought out for the duration. The yard was concrete so the mattress was a must. During the day it was leaned against the wall separating my house from my neighbor’s house. Just as it was in my childhood, our house was a duplex. My friends lived on the other side of that wall. I had no other close neighbor’s. Once I was robbed, and I slept through the whole thing. I even had two guests, other volunteers, sleeping in yard with me. They never woke up either. We were all robbed of money. My camera was taken, but it was found just outside my house. You couldn’t buy film for it in Ghana so it was useless. Despite that robbery, I always felt safe in Ghana. Thieves wanted my money. They didn’t want me. While lying on my mattress, I stared at the stars. I had never seen so many in my whole life. The night was bright from the light of all those stars. I was awed.

My word retrieval skills have deserted me. I can’t think of the perfect adjectives to describe today. The cloudless sky is the deepest of blues. The sun is warm and bright. The colors of the flowers in the front garden are popping in the light. I noticed new purple and pink flowers this morning when I lingered at the front garden.

After Henry went out, I stayed on the deck watching him. I noticed the lilies of the valley in the backyard are blooming. My mother would’ve loved them. They did, after all, come from her yard.

This is the week I’ll shop at the garden center. I have three lists. The first is house plants as a few of mine have died. The next is flowers for the front garden, the front steps and  the back pots which sit on the deck rail. The last is for the deck window boxes, flowers which repel bugs. I also need a hanging plant. I always buy one which dead heads itself.

I don’t know much about flowers. I can describe most of them only by color, but I do know the plots to most of Stephen King’s novels. I also know much of the dialogue in Jaws and Independence Day as I watch them every year on or around the 4th of July. I know most of the birds which come to my feeder. When I first started putting out seed, I had to look up the birds. I have a well worn copy of the Birds of North America. I can sew buttons back on, but that is the height of my sewing skills. I sometimes staple hems. I can greet people in French, Spanish and Hausa and say please and thank you in Russian. I got through most of South America with my Spanish. I was a good listener. I can order food in French. I ate a lot of bifteck and pomme frites and visited the pâtisserie every day when I traveled to Togo. My Hausa is more extensive than my French. I find that a bit odd.

I have a variety of skills, many of which are not considered marketable, but that doesn’t matter. I like what I know.