Keep the Coffee Comimg

When I first woke up, I could hear the rain. I went back to bed and back to sleep. When next I woke, the rain had stopped and been replaced by muted light from the sun, but the sky is cloudy again. It will stay that way all day with the sun and clouds playing flip flop. It is warm, already in the 50’s.

I have an empty dance card for the next few days. I have nowhere I need to be until Monday. Next week is a busy uke week. Besides practice and my lesson, there are 3 concerts. I will definitely attend two of them.

When I was a kid, March was a boring month. It was the month between February vacation and April’s spring vacation so, despite having St. Patrick’s Day off, it felt like the longest month of endless days of school. The weather in March was always unpredictable as if the weather god, the storm god, couldn’t make up his mind. Some days were spring warm while other days were more like winter with chilly winds. I usually chose spring and wore a sweater under a spring jacket for my walk to school. That satisfied my mother.

My mother was less vigilant on Saturdays. I could get away with wearing just a sweater or just a jacket. Mostly on March Saturdays I’d ride my bike. When I was speeding down the hills, the wind would sometimes blow up the sleeves of my jacket, and I’d feel cold. I never admitted that to my mother. She would have demanded layers.

I loved my mother’s brownies. She always chocolate frosted them and then sprinkled jimmies on the top. The crunchy brownies on the corners were my favorites. I don’t remember my mother making a white cake. I just remember chocolate cakes with chocolate frosting. When I make a cake, it is always chocolate with chocolate frosting. That is heredity.

Today has a hint of spring about it. It is a warmish morning, in the mid 40’s. The sun is about, but the sky is cloudy probably practicing for tomorrow when it is supposed to rain. The wind is gone. The dogs are out longer on days like today. Miss Nala naps in the sun. Henry wanders the yard.

I have a concert this afternoon. We are still playing our St. Patrick’s Day music.

My housecleaning has been intermittent. Yesterday it was a few sweatshirt sleeve wipes on the dusty tables in my living room. The hall got vacuumed. That was enough.

When I was a kid, I read all the classics. My mother had bought me Little Woman for Christmas, and that was the start. I loved Treasure Island. In my mind’s eye I knew exactly what Long John Silver looked like, and, when I saw my first Treasure Island movie, he looked just as I had imagined. Books took me away to the most amazing places. I met all sorts of people. One of my favorite characters was Doctor Dolittle. I always wished I could speak with animals. I even wish it now. Nala would be getting a piece of my mind about her thievery, but I do expect she’d talk back. I remember the Bobbsey Twins, two sets of them, Nan and Bert and Freddie and Flossy. I envied their travels. As I got older, I moved into The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew. I never stopped to think that their adventures were unrealistic. I was too immersed in the pages.

I could spend an entire day and night reading without noticing the passage of time. On one trip to England, I brought Gone with the Wind with me. I read the whole flight. I was shocked when we got ready for landing. For so many reasons, I was lucky being stationed in Ghana. One reason was because there were libraries and all of the books were in English. I went to my town library often. A shop in my town sold the African Writers’ Series. I brought many of those books home with me.

I can’t imagine a life without books.