Late last night it rained. The drops were quiet. The air smelled damp, earthy and had gotten chilly, down to 61°. It was a beautiful night. It was a harbinger of fall.

When I was a kid, I loved the fall. The mornings were cool, the days warm. I walked to school on a sidewalk with a mantle of leafy, tall trees whose branches I could almost touch. I didn’t need a coat, just a jacket. I carried my school bag and my lunch box. It was a walk of only a couple of blocks to school. We waited in the schoolyard for the nuns to ring the bell, a handbell they rang from the steps of the school. We got into lines and walked into the building. I always wished I could stay outside to enjoy the morning.

When I bought my house, my mother brought down treasures she had saved for me from my childhood. She brought books. The earliest books were about The Bobbsey Twins, two sets of them: Bert and Nan and Freddie and Flossie. My grandmother had written Happy Birthday in two of those books. I had several Nancy Drew books. I also read the classics. Heidi has yellow pages and is close to falling apart. The binding of Treasure Island is loose. I bought a small bookcase just for those books. I have eggs cups, yellow chicks from Fannie Farmer. My mother often made soft boiled eggs for our breakfasts. She’d toast some bread and cut it to fit the top of the eggs. Most of the chicks have lost their beaks. A child’s wooden chair painted white was made by my grandmother’s brother as a gift for me. My sisters also used it. The chair is still so sturdy I stood on it a while back to get at boxes on the shelf in my closet. I love those pieces of my childhood and my mother’s thoughtfulness.

I used to love to color. Every Christmas my stocking always had a coloring book and crayons. I remember the year I got a box of 24 crayons. It seemed so big until the year I got a box of 64. That box even had a sharpener. Crayons had a long life. As they got shorter, I’d tear off the paper and sharpen the ends. I used to keep the stubs in a cigar box. Last Christmas my sister gave me a box of 96 crayons and a coloring book of scenes from Ghana. I colored a few. I used all bright colors. That’s how I see Ghana.

The weather the last few days has been a delight. The days are hot but not unbearable. The nights are perfect. Last night it got down to 58°, closed window and light blanket weather. Today will be in the high 70’s with clouds popping in and out. I’m thinking this is a deck day.

When I was a kid, my friend and I sometimes slept in her backyard where there was a fence beyond the grass with a small field and pear trees behind it. We’d sometimes grab a pear from an overhanging branch. The pears never seemed to get ripe. They were always hard. We’d lie on our backs on a blanket on the soft grass so we could see the stars. Back then there were thousands or maybe millions of stars. At least that’s how I remember it. We’d eat a few snacks, chat a while then finally fall sleep. I loved waking up to the sounds of the birds in the early morning.

As we got closer to school starting, the days got shorter a little bit at a time. We still played outside after supper under the streetlights, but that was coming to an end. My mother soon enough would start sending us to bed early reminding us,” It’s a school day tomorrow,” as if we really needed reminding.

I remember school shopping. In Woolworth’s we’d buy all our supplies. I got to pick out my pencil case, my lunch box and my school bag. We’d also buy a few lined Big Chief notepads with an Indian on the front, pencils, a box of crayons and a wooden ruler. When I was young, I wanted TV stars on my lunchbox, but when I was older, I outgrew the stars. I’d choose a tartan design or something similar. I remember a red tartan lunchbox. My school bag was square with a handle on the top and a strap for over my shoulder.

School clothes were easy, a white blouse, a blue skirt and a clip-on western tie. I did get to choose my own shoes, but I was steered to sturdy shoes so they’d last longer. They were tie shoes. My mother would buy us new socks and underwear. School shopping was completed.

The first day of school was always exciting. The rest were seldom exciting.