This morning is just lovely. The sun is bright and has already warmed the day. It is 64°. Last night got chilly, and the house is still cold. That always happens this time of year. The night air lingers. The day is calm and quiet.

My muse is on a break today. I started and stopped four or five times so I’ve decided on a here and there sort of blog today.

We used to go to the beach on weekends. We always went to Wingaersheek Beach in Gloucester. My mother never went into the water. My sisters used to walk the beach and collect shells. The water was cold so I did most of my swimming at low tide in the tidal pools at the sand bars. Huge rocks were in the water, and we’d climb them at low tide. I remember the huge, beautiful houses overlooking the beach. I always wanted to live in one. My father hated sand in his car. He’d also put a towel on the back seat in case our bathing suits were still wet. Before we could get into the car we had to dip our feet into a bucket of water to get all the sand off then we’d step right into the car. We’d go to bed early, tired from the day. Sometimes, with my head on the pillow, a bit of warm water would drain from my ear, a leftover from swimming underwater.

Most of the time we ate meat and potatoes, but we’d also eat Chinese and Italian. My mother made a Chinese dinner we loved. It had pea pods, water chestnuts, bamboo shoots and ground beef. She’d cook it her electric dry pan on the counter. It was served with chow mein noodles on the top.

My father’s mother was a horrible cook. On her spaghetti she’d put stewed tomatoes from a can. My mother was a good cook. Her spaghetti always had a tasty meat sauce. I am not a fan of eggplant, but I loved my mother’s eggplant Parmesan. I remember she made it for my after high school graduation party.

Going to Ghana expanded my palate exponentially. Of course, I ate Ghanaian food which introduced me to goat, okra, plantain, tuber yam, mango, pawpaw and garden eggs, little eggplants. I ate Lebanese food as there were several sort of small, hole in the wall Lebanese restaurants in Ghana, and the food wasn’t expensive. I became a fan of hummus and tabbouleh, foods I’d never heard of before. I ate Indian food at the Maharaja Restaurant. None of it was familiar.

I have a couple of errands today. It is a pretty day to be out and about.