The dogs are out in the yard. I haven’t seen them in a while. They do that on the best days.

I like mornings like today’s. The house is still a little chilly from nighttime. My den is dark. It gets afternoon light. When I turn on the light, it brightens every corner of the room. It feels cozy.

We leave people behind every new stage of our lives, but we also keep some with us every step we take. I remember the names of classmates from grammar school, classmates I haven’t seen or heard of since eighth grade. I sometimes wonder where they are, what sorts of lives they led. What happened to the bullies and the bullied?

I see high school friends and classmates around town. We always stop to catch up, to chat a bit, but I wonder. Where are the rest of my high school friends? Are they happy? Are they content with the lives they’ve led? I lost touch with my college friends when I went into the Peace Corps. They moved on with their lives. Some got married. A few died. My two best Peace Corps friends are still with me. We see each other and talk all the time. We even went back to Ghana together. I don’t know where the rest of my Peace Corps friends are, but I know if I see them, we will still be connected. We shared so much.

When I was a kid, the future was tomorrow. When my aunt the nun used to ask me what I wanted to be when I grew up, I was stymied. I used to say teacher just to answer the question, but I really had no idea. I was ten. I wish I could go back and tell her I want a world of choices. I want to be an adventurer. I want to live in Africa. I want to work at a job I love. I want to live life to the fullest. That’s what I would tell my aunt the nun.

The morning is just so pretty. The sun is bright. The sky is a lovely blue. The air is calm, nothing is moving. The dogs have been out for the longest time. They came in, got their biscuits and went right back outside. They love these mornings and their romps in the yard. They also love their biscuits.

My dance card is filled this week, all uke related. I have my usual practice and lesson and I also have three concerts. We are playing our book Songs Across America with Kansas City, Old Cape Cod, Walking in Memphis and similar songs about places here. We end it with a Patriotic medley.

I live in Massachusetts. People make fun of our accent, the old Harvard Yard bit. When I first got to Ghana, we had a full group sort of assembly where we were told about customs, the different tribes in the various parts of the country and Ghanaian English. I had been asked ahead of time to stand up and say a sentence they had given me. It leaned heavily on my Boston accent. I got laughed at. The speaker, an assistant director, stopped the laughter when he said I would be the first to be understood by Ghanaians. My accent, with remnants of a British accent, mirrored the Ghanaian accent.

I’m going to give you a language lesson in case you visit Massachusetts.

My mother would walk up town. We take the subway to go in town. We drank tonic. My father used to take his shirts to the cleanser. We buy liquor at a packie. My father was a townie. We drink water from a bubbler. We bang a u-ie. The best mornings start at a Dunks. We wore dungarees. We drink frappes. I hosied the front seat. Regular coffee comes with cream and sugar. Cars on the rotary have the right of way. We ate supper every night. My mother carried a pocketbook. We put jimmies on our ice cream cones. My father always said so don’t I. I could care less is also common. Staties hide hoping to catch speeders on the highways. Wicked and very are interchangeable.

I buy subs. Other people buy grinders. I live on The Cape. Here we drive up Cape or down Cape. My brother-in-law wanted to know how far way something was. I told him about twenty minutes. We don’t talk miles here.

You are now well versed in English as it is spoken here. Enjoy your visit. You’ll fit right in.