When I woke up, I saw a bit of blue and a glint of sunlight. When next I looked, both were gone. Clouds had filled the spaces. Clouds will be the weather today and for the next few days. We might even have some rain. The sun isn’t predicted to return until Friday. I guess we all hoped too hard when we wished for rain.

When I went to get the paper this morning, the air smelled sweet. Some flowers are still in bloom. I could hear the birds. Nobody was around, no dog walkers or carriage pushers. It was quiet.

There are so many birds in and out of the feeders they have to take a number and get in line. While my coffee was brewing, I watched from the kitchen window. I saw chickadees, nuthatches, titmice and Mrs. Cardinal. I’m glad I bought a bag of sunflower seeds yesterday. I also bought a mum and a pumpkin, ‘tis the season.

My storm doors are heavy, and it is time to haul them up from the cellar. I go slowly, step by step. The harder part is getting them in the door frames. When I was a kid, the house l lived in had wooden doors and wooden window frames. The storm windows were taken off every summer and put back in the late fall. The windows hung on hooks. When my father changed the windows, we all watched. He’d climb a tall ladder to each second floor window. He’d carry the window with him when he climbed. I remember how frustrated he’d get leaning against the house for balance while trying to hook the windows. It was an all day affair.

My play clothes this time of year were mostly flannel shirts and dungarees, girls’ dungarees with the zipper in the front pocket. I wore sneakers all year. I added socks in the fall and winter. Sometimes the socks had no elastic left at the top. They’d slide into my shoes. I walked on lumps.

When I’d get home from school, one of my favorite snacks was peanut butter or just plain butter on Saltines. Afterwards, I’d head out on my bike if the weather was pleasant enough. I never went far. The afternoons were too short.

I haven’t yet decided if I want to be busy. The house does need to be vacuumed. Henry hair is in clumps everywhere. Spiders’ webs stretch between even the smallest spaces. I saw one across the inside of a cup handle. My other option is the sloth option. I always favor that one. I’m thinking the only things I really need to do are to take a shower and go to uke practice tonight. I figure I can handle both of those.

We still have clouds. It is still in the low 60’s. It is a damp, dark morning. The weather forecast says it will be a partly cloudy day, but I think partly is a misnomer. The sky is socked in leaving no room for the sun.

Yesterday, I was so involved with bemoaning the day I missed welcoming the first day of fall, my favorite season. Today I’ll remedy that.

I noticed that some leaves on the backyard trees are turning color, a perfect welcome for fall. Some leaves are yellow. Other leaves are red. The deck is covered in yellow leaves blown by the heavy winds. The blanket of leaves in the backyard is getting taller. I can hear Nala doing her zoomies. The leaves crunch under her paws as she runs. That sound, that crunching sound of the leaves, is bright in my memory drawers and part of the melody of fall. I remember walking to school on sidewalks covered in the red leaves of the maple trees. The leaves crunched under my feet the whole walk to school.

I remember the first cold mornings of fall. The light had a shimmer to it. Everything looked brighter in the clear air. I bundled by wearing a sweater under my jacket. The day would warm as the sun rose higher.

I always think of soup this time of year. The most perfect lunch was tomato soup and a grilled cheese sandwich. My mother would put the soup into the pan and fill the can with milk, not water, then add it to the pan. That made for the thickest, creamiest tomato soup. The cheese was always yellow American cheese. In the frying pan, the bread got deep brown and the cheese melted, even oozing a bit from the sandwich. I always dipped the sandwich into the soup. It was the perfect bite.

I have a couple of errands. I have to open a new checking account and get another ATM card so I can get some money. The dollar I have won’t go far. I can’t even buy a Snickers. I also need to stop at Agway for dry dog food, bird seed and a mum for my front steps. Today is the only open day for errands as I have a uke event every day for the rest of the week.

We’re coming into cocoa weather.