Keep the Coffee Comimg

The day is dark, and it is already raining though only a little rain so far, a spitting rain. The morning is warmish at 67°. The air is still. I’m staying home all day. I have a few things I can do around the house, but I’m waffling between being a sloth and being productive.

When I was a kid, the future was tomorrow except for the countdowns to special days like Christmas and Halloween. I had a regimen every weekday of school and after school play time. I never really complained. It wasn’t as if I had a choice. Besides, I liked school. Saturday was my day. It was anything I wanted it to be. Sunday was family day, staying around the house for Sunday dinner and maybe Sunday visits with family. The weeks were the same, but I was every kid.

I lived in a project, one with duplexes. We all had lawns, backyards and clotheslines. There were kids everywhere. I never really noticed we didn’t have much money. We had everything we needed. We had a few away vacations, but most were daycations to special places like museums and lakes and the beach. We went to the drive-in almost weekly. When I was 15 or 16, we went to Niagara Falls. That was our biggest vacation ever. I still remember my dad talking to a wax figure when he was trying to buy tickets to Madame Tussauds. He asked over and over, more impatient and louder each time. That is one of my favorite Dad stories.

I have fulfilled the childhood promise I made to myself, the one to travel, but my expectations back then were low. Traveling for weeks in South America and living in Africa for over two years never entered my head. I was thinking England. How lucky I have been.

We are still enjoying the most amazing weather. It is already 70°. The sky is partly cloudy, but every now and then the sun owns the sky and highlights all the leaves and trees. I am going to the dump today, to Agway to buy some cat food and one more stop for a few groceries, boring errands at best.

Last night Henry came inside but Nala didn’t. I was a bit worried as I still have Gracie and her jumping the fence in mind so with flashlight in hand, I went Nala hunting. She didn’t come when I called. I flashed the light all over the yard and finally saw her in the dark the back. I could also see something in her mouth and saw it was a possum. I didn’t chase her but kept approaching her. She dropped it, and I dragged her into the house. Later I went outside and moved the possum to the driveway out of the yard. I thought I saw it move but I wasn’t sure. This morning it was gone. I hope it was on its own feet and not in the mouth of a predator.

My socks, when I was a kid, usually lost the elastic on the top. I’d wear them anyway, but I had to endure the socks slipping into my shoes. I’d stop to pull them back up but gravity and no elasticity won every time. I walked on the lump in my shoes.

I knew how to button my clothes, but sometimes I mismatched the button to the hole. At the bottom of my jacket one side was longer than the other. I didn’t really care. I just figured buttoned is buttoned. It was sort of the same with zippers. I’d try to get one side into the other but sometimes failed without realizing it. I’d zip it up but the zipper would only go up one side. It took a bit patience to get the zipper right.

I am watching a video from a train ride in Ghana on African Walk Videos. It is as if were sitting there looking out the train window. I have always loved trains, even subway trains. Whenever I can, I have ridden trains when I travel. I look out the window and see everyday life. I am not a part of it but immersed in it.