The weather is perfect. The daytime high will be 74° while the nighttime will get down to the high 50’s. Such a day as today screams fall though I know summer is still hanging in the wings.

My friends have taken care of me. Elaine gave me individual creamers. I enjoyed my coffee this morning and so did the dogs. Henry did not turn his nose up and, instead, lapped up his treat. Jan gave me Snickers. I can’t keep my hands off them.

When I let the dogs out, yes, I was the one, a chipmunk scurried cross the deck by the back door and sort of hopped down the stairs. The dogs hadn’t been on the deck so he was anticipating. It is the first chipmunk I’ve seen, but there are holes in the front lawn.

When I was a kid, I loved seeing animals sort of in the wild. That included the spawns of Satan. Chipmunks were a bit of a rarity. I always thought they were cute. Once in a while, while we were taking a Sunday drive, a family adventure when I was growing up, we’d see deer in a field. We’d all scream for my father to stop so we could watch them. We were always excited to see deer. My father used to take his time. Sunday drives were not meant for speed. We’d ride on backroads going and usually the highway riding back. Sometimes we’d stop for ice cream cones. I was a fan of sugar cones with two scoops of different ice creams.

We used to go to East Boston to visit my grandparents, part of the ride was on Route 1 through Saugus. I loved that ride. The sides of the highway were filled with stores like Zayre’s and Child World. There were restaurants like Adventure Car Hop. I loved the orange dinosaur by the miniature golf course. One of the places which always caught my eye was Kiddie Ranch, a small amusement park off the road behind a store. I could see some of the rides. I always begged my father to stop. He never did. Once, we were going for a ride on Route 1. My brother and I had words so my father said that was enough, and he turned around at the rotary and headed home. We begged him to keep going and vowed we’d be good, but my father didn’t change his mind. All of a sudden he got off the highway, went behind the store and stopped at Kiddie Ranch. He had had to turn around to get there. That was one of the biggest surprises in my life back then.

The morning is a bit chilly. It is also windy and overcast. The high will be 72°. The low will be in the 50’s. Today feels like fall.

When I was growing up, we had traditions for every season and every holiday. Each fall we collected leaves which had turned color. I loved the yellows and the reds. We’d use wax paper to preserve the leaves. I’d take a piece of wax paper and artistically, at least to me, arrange the leaves on the paper. The last step was to iron the paper. The leaves became encased in the wax, their colors still bright. We saved them.

I remember walking to school on rainy fall days on sidewalks covered with wet leaves clinging to the pavement. Most of them were yellow leaves. They were slippery.

On some damp mornings, I can smell the ocean. I don’t live close to the ocean, but the dampness holds and carries the ocean smell. In the evenings I can smell wood burning. I have a chiminea and piñon wood. I’m looking forward to my first fire on the deck on a cool evening.

My clothes were divided into school clothes and play clothes. As soon as I got home from school, I’d change into my play clothes. They were usually girl jeans, a blouse, socks and sneakers, low rider sneakers. I’d add a sweater or sweatshirt on cool days. Even when I was older, adult old, I always changed out of my school clothes. Old habits don’t die.

I used to love to lie in bed on a cool or rainy afternoon and read. My room was quiet. The noise was downstairs, people talking, the TV blaring. I always had books to read. Some were mine while others came from the library. In all these years, little has changed. I still love to read in bed, and I always have books. Sometimes I even have my upstairs book and my downstairs book. When I used to travel to Boston and knew I’d be stuck in traffic, I also had my car book.

My dogs are spoiled though I doubt that is much of a surprise. Every morning I save a little bit of coffee for each of the two dogs. Henry stares at my cup as I drink hoping that I will make me finish faster. Yesterday I had no light cream. I tried the coffee black. I am not a fan, but I did drink most of it. When I was finished, I headed to the kitchen. Henry followed. I put some in his bowl. He looked at the black coffee then looked at me in what I figure is dog horror. He walked away in disgust.