Sorry! It has been a couple of days. Yesterday it was Henry. I woke to hear him making the most ungodly cries, as if he were getting beaten. I was terrified for him. I quickly got dressed and took him to the emergency vet’s office. He was checked, but the vet found nothing wrong though I knew it was something as Henry just wasn’t Henry. He wouldn’t let me near him. He’d run if I got close. I had to herd him to get him inside the house. Next, it was Nala’s turn. When I got Henry home, he and Nala got into a fight. Nala started it after she smelled Henry. I figured he might have had an I was at the vet’s smell. Nala, though, got the worst of it, two deep teeth marks on her leg. She couldn’t walk on it. I put antiseptic on the wounds and covered them with gauze. I lifted her up and down the stairs when she wanted out. Both dogs took medication. 

Today is better. Henry is his happy self. Nala limps but is walking on that foot. When I changed the gauze, the wounds looked better, and she goes up and down the stairs alone. As for me, I barely slept last night as I woke up to every sound or movement from both dogs. Today I napped. Like the dogs, I am feeling better. 

Last night it rained. I was still awake to hear the first drops on the roof. I don’t know how long it rained but everything was wet this morning. Today is cloudy but warm in the 6o’s.

When I was a kid, our dog Duke, a boxer, was fierce. He protected us and the house. Once, he got into one fight with the dog from down the street, equally as fierce. The dog grabbed onto Duke’s neck before the fight was broken up, and Duke ended up with a horrible wound. My mother wanted to take him to the vet’s, but my father said Duke could take care of it himself. My father worked away all week. As soon as he was gone, my mother took Duke to the vet’s office. The vet treated the neck wound and put Duke on antibiotics. By Friday when my dad got home the wound looked much better. My father checked Duke and told my mother, “See, I told you he could take care of it himself.” My poor father lived much of his life in the dark!

 Today will be warm and sunny. It is already 61° and will get a bit warmer as the day moves on. The branch pile in my backyard is much larger. The Nala trash is gone. The bird feeders are all filled. I was busy yesterday.

The older I get the more often I have bouts of nostalgia. I remember my hometown as it was. When I drive on Main Street through the square, I can see in my mind’s eye the buildings of my childhood, but the years have not been kind, and most buildings just exist in my memory drawers.

 The square is much less interesting. I used to love to window shop. I’d ride my bike up town and walk it on the sidewalk. Woolworth’s had fun windows which changed with the seasons. My favorite was the Christmas window. Grant’s was far less interesting. Lobsters floated in a tank in the window of the fish market which had an unpleasant smell even outside the door. The diner was right below the square. Sometimes my dad took me there for breakfast. We always sat in a booth. He’d give me money to play the jukebox. When bread was baking at Hank’s, you could smell the aroma around the whole square. The movie theater had Saturday matinees and nighttime movies. I used to spend many a Saturday seeing a movie and a couple of cartoons and watching Oscar patrol the aisles with his flashlight while chomping on his cigar. Later the theater was sold but didn’t stay open long. It was closed for years and deteriorated. But it is back as a live theater and is anchoring the square. Three drug stores were in the square. The Chinese laundry and the barber shop were on the same block. A bank was near Woolworth’s. It had a sort of awning.

Further down the road, Hago Harrington’s Miniature Golf was adjacent to the China Moon which closed first. The Moon used to be the dinner spot before proms and special dances. My sister said nothing remains of Hago’s.

The bowling alleys are also gone. They were Saturday night spots when my friends and I would bowl a few games. I was an awful bowler. 

I have a fun singular memory. I had read about square dancing at Marconi Hall. My friend Jimmy and I decided to go. When we got there, we were told it was for adults only, but we asked to stay. They let us. We do-si-doed all night.