Today will be a short musing. I have a huge list of chores. Friends are coming to dinner. It has been a while since I have entertained. It will be a game night.

The deck needs sweeping as it is filled with acorns. Nala does her best to clear the deck by bringing the acorns inside the house. The air was blue with cursing when I stepped on one with my bare feet.

Last night got cold. I even had to shut the windows. It was down to the mid 60’s. The change was delightful. Right now it is cloudy and a bit damp though no rain is predicted. It is 70° but feels chillier. The sun is working its way through the clouds. I’m rooting for the sunshine.

When I was a kid, the summer seemed to last forever. Every day was filled. I loved all the sun, but I also loved summer rains. I remember kicking the water in the sort of river running along the road beside the sidewalk. The water arced left and right as I kicked. My sneakers got so soaked they bubbled at the toes. I loved both a downpour and a gentle summer rain.

I bought Oreos the other day. I can’t remember the last time I ate Oreos. They were our go to cookies when I was kid. Back then there was only one variety, your plain regular Oreos. Now there are just so many choices. I am a purist at heart, but I consider doubt stuffed to be the younger brother of the original, just bigger and stronger. My sisters used to sit on the back step, pull the Oreos apart, scrape off the cream with their teeth, the best method to eat the cream, and give Duke, our boxer, the cookies. My Oreos did not disappoint.

Well, I need to start on that extensive to-so list. I wished for elves, but they didn’t surprise me the way they surprised the shoemaker.

Around two this morning, I was sitting with Jack the cat when the lights went out. They came back on then flickered and went out again then on again before going out again. I could hear Henry growling in the hall. He doesn’t do well with anomalies. The lights then came on and stayed on. Poor Henry was shaking. I petted and reassured him. He stopped shaking.

The morning is dark, and the air feels damp. Rain is predicted, but I won’t hold my breath as it was predicted the other day, the dry day. (It is much later than when I started. It is raining).

I had a dentist appointment this morning to have my teeth cleaned. It didn’t go well. I’ll leave it with that.

I’m going to continue the story of my Peace Corps training. After two weeks, we all broke into smaller groups for our live-ins around the country. We would be living for three weeks with families who spoke the languages we were learning. My group of eight had the furthest to travel. We made our way to Tamale then to Bolga then to Bawku. We traveled all day and into the night and arrived too late to meet our families. The next day I met Imaru Sanda, my Ghanaian father, and his daughter, my hostess. The house had a generator, and the family owned another sort of house close by with a courtyard where movies were shown. I remember a spaghetti western where reel 3 was shown before reel 2. My father was a Muslim and had four wives. They lived a short walk away in a compound with their young children. They cooked all my meals and brought them to the house. I loved visiting that compound. The babies liked me, but the toddlers cried, scared by my white skin. The walk to visit the women was on a dirt walkway between compounds. I always passed small boys sitting on stools under a tree with a teacher in front of them. They were intoning the Koran and memorizing it. I loved that walk.

My stay in Bawku was amazing and filled with new people, new foods, a growing sense of comfort and a recognition that I was strong, able to adapt and was falling in love with a wonderful place I could never have imagined. There is far more to my live-in story, but I’ll stop here and leave you hungering for more.