The rain started slowly late yesterday afternoon, got a bit heavier and then stayed around most of the night. The morning is chilly at 67°, still overcast, breezy and damp. The sun is supposed to warm the day to the mid-70’s but seems reluctant to appear. The clouds are hanging on, but the rain is gone.

Henry still has some dog door issues. Sometimes he looks through the flap and whacks it but doesn’t come inside. I try to ignore him but then I feel bad and let him in. Other times he gives up and comes inside. What I love is he’ll be in the hall tapping his nails on the floor until I say, “Go, Henry,” then he runs up the hall and goes outside. He has no trouble going out.

When I was a kid, summer days were the best days of the year. I was gone from just after breakfast until close to supper. The streetlights came on later because of the light hanging around longer so I could even go out playing after dinner. I remember hide and seek. We hid in the shadows.

We were a game family. Every Christmas we got a new game, and we played it around the kitchen table. My father taught us whist, and we played in teams, girls against boys. My mother and I usually won. Sorry was the best game. It was so much fun and so very aggravating. Knocking someone back to start was followed by hooting and cheering. Even when I was an adult, we sat around the kitchen table playing cards. We played endless games of hi-low Jack. My father was both the worst winner and the worst loser. When he lost, we taunted him. Once his back gave out and he fell off the bench, but he still bid from the floor. My father loved his card games.

The birds have found the feeders. They were constantly in and out this morning. The chickadees waited in line. They all seemed to like the same feeder. The titmouse chose the feeder the spawn likes. Today it was the female cardinal. Both she and the male like the new feeder. They can sit in it and munch. I had seen the shells of the sunflower seeds in that feeder and wondered how they got there. Now I know.