Keep the Coffee Comimg

Last night was cold. It got down to the 30’s, but the day has bounced back to the 40’s. The sun is brilliant. The sky is clear of clouds. It is a lovely fall day.

My front yard and back deck are covered in dead, brown oak leaves. Every time the wind blows it rains leaves. The backyard is a wild place with trees and bushes and layers of leaves. It is the dogs’ realm. I only venture into the yard to pick up the stolen goods Nala has sneaked out the dog door. Both dogs love this weather and spend a long time in the yard. Nala suns while Henry sniffs.

When I was a kid, I wanted fall to last forever. It was still warm enough in the morning not to layer warm clothes for the walk to school, and I still didn’t need the dreaded hat and pink longish underwear. I’d walk through the piles of leaves in the gutter on my way to school. The leaves crunched under my feet. They’d whirl and fly into the air. I could ride my bike in the afternoons and on Saturdays, my days for adventure. I never wasted a fall day. Winter was too close.

I remember when the mornings got cold enough so I could see my breath. I’d hold a twig like a cigarette and pretend to smoke. The afternoons usually warmed for the walk home from school, but the nights were cold, blanket cold.

I always liked this week because we had a mini vacation from school: a half day on Wednesday and two days off for Thanksgiving. I remember school on Wednesday was a waste. We usually got out around 10:30. We’d spend the morning coloring or making turkey decorations. I remember my turkeys always had multi-colored, spread out tails made from construction paper. My mother used to put our turkeys on the Thanksgiving table as decorations.

Today is dump day. I need to get dry dog food so I figured I might as well go to the dump while I’m out. I have only uke practice on Tuesday so the rest of my dance card is empty. We’ve started practicing our Christmas music. The other day I practiced Silent Night, just the music, not the lyrics. I was pleased my fingers remembered.

Today is rainy but warm, nearly 60°, but it looks like a November day, a dreary November day. Yesterday’s wind blew leaves at an angle, slanted sideways. Everything is now covered in the brown, dead leaves. My deck has disappeared under oak leaves. I hadn’t covered the deck table but the time has come.

I am watching a parade from Plymouth. I love parades, the colors, the floats and the bands. When I was a kid, I marched with the drill team in all sorts of parades. I have vivid memories of those parades, some great, some not so great. The worst parade was the Halloween parade. Eggs were thrown, and I remember one slid down my leg into my boot. I marched on egg shells. I could hear the crunch until the shells were pulverized. St. Patrick’s Day was another parade we dreaded. It was cold and the partakers of green brew tried to march with us. My favorite parade was July 4th. People set up their chairs in the morning along the parade route to reserve the best spots for watching. My family always went to my father’s friend’s house along the parade route. Everyone at the party watched from the porch. As we marched by, they started yelling my name over and over. I was both embarrassed and pleased. They used to make us march in the parish May procession. We were almost last. Behind us was only whoever was crowning the statue of Mary. We were told the parish supported us and marching was the least we could do.

A quiet week is coming. I have uke practice on Tuesday, the Christmas book. The big event is, of course, Thanksgiving. I’ve ordered a turkey dinner with all the fixings. I’ll watch the parade just as I did every year when I was a kid. I’ll even buy the same parade snacks, but I’ll skip the mixed nuts even though I have an old wooden bowl with the silver nutcrackers. I’ll have a few tangerines and definitely M&M’s. I’ll wear my pajamas, but I won’t sit on the floor in front of the TV. I’d never get back up.

Coffee is takin a brief hiatus today. I don’t have the time to write it, at least this morning. I have to leave shortly for my uke concert. If I get home early enough, I’ll give Coffee a go.