Keep the Coffee Comimg

Yesterday it rained. Today it may rain. When I went out the morning, it felt warm. It isn’t. The temperature is only 38°. Late yesterday I couldn’t stand the kitchen floor so I did a quick wipe. The dogs noticed and went right outside, and I swear they danced in the mud. My floor is again filled with dog prints.

When I was a little girl, I had a Ginny doll. She looked like a little girl, not a curvy Barbie. I had a set of her bedroom furniture, all pink. Her wardrobe was filled with dresses and a few hats. I still have a Ginny doll. She is wearing a dress, a sweater and a beret. She is on the top shelf in my bedroom. She doesn’t really look her age.

When I was young, I wanted a train set. I never got one. It was considered a boy’s toy. When I was an adult, my friend gave me a set of HO trains. I even built houses and stores from kits. I added trains. I added track. That train set is downstairs in boxes. I had to put it away as my cat used to attack it. I wouldn’t put it up now even if I had the room. I have Nala.

At the end of summer, my mother used to walk us all to the shoe store for school shoes. We never got to choose our shoes. She was into sturdy shoes, hoping they’d last the school year. Usually they were sort of clunky tie shoes. My favorite part of the shoe store was the x-ray machine. I got to see the bones in my feet. The shoe salesman measured my feet with a metal sliding measure. He used to sit on a short metal stool with an extension on the front. That was where he’d place each foot so he could put a shoe on it. He’d pinch the front of the shoe to check where my toes were. I’d walk up and down the store a couple of times to see how they looked. I’d check out my feet in the line of mirrors close to floor. If they fit, my mother bought them.

My favorite sandwich was bologna with squares of American cheese and yellow mustard. If I made the sandwich myself, I’d have to cut slices from the bologna roll. I wasn’t very good at cutting bologna. One side was always thicker than the other. My sandwich was odd looking.

Today I will be a sloth.

Today is almost balmy at 48°. It rained during the night, and rain is predicted for today. Everywhere is wet from the melting snow. My kitchen floor is hidden under layers of paw prints. I think the dogs need boots.

My fifth uke event of the week is today, a concert. We are still playing songs of the 60’s. After next week we switch to Irish.

It still astonishes me that I can play the uke. My rhythm band triangle career ended after the first grade. That was the last time I played an instrument. I now own three ukes. This is getting serious.

I get to be a sloth this whole weekend. I have been far too busy so I will lounge. Next week I have a doctor’s appointment and three uke events, practice, my lesson and a concert, so I need to conserve my energy.

When I was a kid, I loved school. My favorite subjects were English and geography. That love never left. I became an English teacher and traveled to many of the places I remembered from my geography book. I was astonished standing underneath Christ the Redeemer on Corcovado mountain in Rio. When I learned about the Equator, it was described as an imaginary line. I wondered. How did they know where it really is if it’s imaginary. I stood on that imaginary line, taking them at their word. My geography book had come to life, and I was on the pages.

When we had recess after lunch in grammar school, we girls often just stood in groups and talked. Other girls jump roped. The boys played at the two basketball hoops. After I started playing CYO basketball, I asked if the girls could use one of the hoops. I got turned down and was told hoops were not for girls. I politely balked but the nun was adamant. She and I came from different worlds.