Keep the Coffee Comimg

Today, despite the bright sun, is chilly at 62°. The chill will stay around all day, but I don’t mind as I’m warm in my trusty sweater shirt and socks and have no inclination to go outside.

This morning I had my usual cups of coffee and I added toast. I don’t know why, but the toast reminded me of breakfast in Ghana. It was the same every morning, but I didn’t really mind. The water for my coffee and the eggs were cooked on a small round charcoal burner. The bread was toasted by leaning it around the burner. The eggs were fried in groundnut oil, peanut oil here. They were delicious. I’d also have another cup of coffee after teaching my first class. My house was on school grounds, a walk of a couple of minutes from the classroom block. I always went home between classes.

Lunch was fresh cut fruit: bananas, oranges, pineapple, pawpaw (papaya) and mango. That was the first time I tasted mango and papaya. Probably even the first time I ever saw them. The oranges were small, sweet and green. I remember mountains (slight exaggeration here) of oranges for sale in the market.

Dinner was generally beef but sometimes chicken. The beef was cooked for a while in a tomato sauce to help tenderize it, but you could also rub the beef with pawpaw, a natural tenderizer. I always had yam, mashed yam. I’d slather it with margarine, butter being an expensive import, as the yam was usually dry. I drank water at lunch and dinner.

For sweets, I could buy Cadbury chocolate bars or Tree bars from Ghana. I also used to buy Fan ice cream, a term used loosely here, in small triangular packages. They were sold by bike riding vendors with a freezer box on the front of their bikes. I also bought bofrot, sold by small girls from a wooden box with glass sides carried on their heads. The bofrot were puffy and round like a donut hole. They are still one of my favorite Ghanaian foodstuffs.

My all time favorites are jollof rice and kelewele. I never tired of them. On all trips back I did the same, eaten my fill as often as I could. On my last trip I think I had jollof rice every dinner.

Today is chilly, fall chilly. The wind is strong. I can the chimes from my backyard. They have a sweet sound. The dogs are outside enjoying the weather. Last night they went wild. Henry leapt off the couch and moved quicker than I’d ever seen him. Nala followed. They barked at the front door then ran out the back. This went on for a while. I knew they had sensed a critter. Henry was protective. Nala was thinking prey. I opened the front door but saw nothing. This morning I checked, and the trash bag by the steps had been opened and a few things pulled out. The bag goes into the trunk today for my next dump run.

I can hear all of you scolding me, but I chose caution so you can save your scolding for another day. It all started yesterday when I noticed my ceiling light in the kitchen was too dim. I pulled out my old step ladder and placed it as close to under the light as I could. I climbed two steps. The ladder moved from side to side. Knowing my history, I took the movement as a warning and got off. I have another step ladder, a good one, a safe one, but it is heavy and was in the closet. I got it anyway. Changing the dead bulb was the worst experience, but here I am unscathed.

My father never let a lack of ability stop him from from trying to repair house problems. I remember when he worked on the toilet. Afterwards, my mother called a plumber who wanted to know who destroyed the insides of the toilet. He got shocked a few times when he tried to fix lights. When I was younger, he cut all his fingers on one hand trying to fix the fan. My favorite was when I looked out the window and saw him sitting on a branch and sawing it. I called my mother over to watch. My father was sitting on the wrong side of the branch. He was sawing himself out of the tree. He hit the ground, but it was only a little way below the branch which is why I didn’t tell him.

My dance card is fairly empty this week. I have uke practice and a lesson, and those are the only events. I do have chores, but I am of the mindset that chores can always wait.