We are in the house is colder than outside season of the year. It was only 64° in the house but 66° outside when we got out of bed. The dogs have been in and out a couple of times. They are now having their morning naps, not to be confused with their afternoon and evening naps. I’ll be home today. I have a few chores, the first of which is putting in the storm doors so I can leave the inside doors open.

I have had favorites spots in favorite places. In my hometown, one was the swamp in a grove in the woods close to my house. My two favorite swamp seasons were spring and winter. In the winter the swamp froze over, and we ice skated. We’d also follow the small frozen canals from the main swamp to where the swamp ended. The rest of the year the banks by those canals were too overgrown to fight the underbrush to go beyond the grove. What was neat was the ice was so clear I could see the wild grass looking windblown but frozen in time. In the spring the tadpoles flitted in the water close to the edge. I used to lie on my stomach to watch them. I’d go often to the swamp to watch the tadpoles become frogs. First they had legs then tails.

I’d visit the horses in the town’s barn. It was around the corner from the junkman’s house. He used to go up and down the streets in his wagon asking for paper and rags. Back then, my town was far more colorful, filled with unique people and places. I remember the sharpener man on his bicycle, the noisy milkman with his bottles hitting his wire carrier and the trash men hanging off the backs of their trucks.

In Ghana, I loved one stretch of road between Bolga, where I lived, and Navrongo, some 18 miles north. I lived in the savannah so trees were scarce. Mostly there were baobab, tamarind and pawpaw, but on that one stretch were mahogany trees lined up on each side of the road. I always stopped, thrilled at the beauty of those trees shading the road in the hottest part of Ghana.

Here on the cape, there are too many places to list, but I think my favorite is anywhere with a view of the ocean. The winter ocean is the one I love the most with its wind and white crested waves beating the beach. When I stand on the shore, I feel small in the face of the wind and water.

We’re still stuck with a cloudy day and a chill in the air. The high will only be in the low 60’s, and the clouds will hang around all day. Today is an ugly day, a socks and sweatshirt day.

My uke and I will be busy this week. My dance card is filled with uke events starting tonight with my usual practice. Tomorrow is my lesson and a concert. The second concert is Saturday. When will I fit in my naps?

When I think about growing up, I remember walking and biking all over my town. I used to go to the square. Back then it was filled with stores. My favorite was Woolworths. It seemed like a kids’ store with its toy counter and comic books on a spinning rack. The floor was wooden and squeaky. The shelves too were wooden. None of them were tall. I’d have a dime. I could buy a comic book or a balsa plane or even jacks. There were yo-yos, but I was really bad with yo-yo tricks, no sleeping and no walking the dog. If getting knots in the string was a trick, that one I could do. Most times I’d buy a comic book. It lasted. Balsa planes didn’t. Jacks were my second choice. My mother had taught me jacks, and I never could beat her. I used to get them in my stocking and sometimes my Easter basket so I had assorted jacks and small red rubber balls stored in cigar boxes. I’d spin the comics carousel and then pick my comic book. I was partial to Little Lulu, Archie, Casper or Superman. I remember stopping on my way home to sit on a bench by the town hall to read my new comic.

At the drug store, I’d sometimes sit at the soda fountain and buy a vanilla coke. I’d watch my coke being made with a squirt of coke syrup, some vanilla and soda water. I always used a straw, back then a paper straw. My favorite stop was Middlesex Drugs. It was the best with its marbled topped soda fountain and spinning red covered stools. I always shopped there at Christmas for the usual, a handkerchief for my father and perfume for my mother. I doubt my mother ever used the cheap perfume, but she always gushed when she opened the present.

Now, the only places where I enjoy shopping are the small shops, the one and only shops though I make one exception, the Ben Franklin store. It is a throwback. I swear it was a Woolworth’s in its other life.