We are still stuck in the heat. It is already in the mid 80’s. My AC is cranking. The sky is cloudy and sunny and cloudy. It rained last night, a heavy rain for a while. Today will be dry.

This is a busy uke week for me. Last week I had none. This week I have a lesson, a practice and a concert every day starting tonight in Hyannis. My fingers will be tired.

I remember odd events.

I was on a bus one time, and there were three women sitting on the front seat which faced the other front seat. They never stopped talking. One woman lit a cigarette and somehow kept talking. She wasn’t paying attention and put the lit end of the cigarette in her mouth. She sputtered and spit.

I used to take the bus from Boston to Hyannis when I was in college. It left from the old Trailways terminal in Park Square. That terminal had a small luncheonette and a kiosk selling newspapers, magazines and candy. The chairs were along the wall. I was sitting and reading and smoking when my bus was called. I put out the cigarette in the metal ashtray and went to stand in line. Right behind me a guy walked over, picked my cigarette butt out of the ashtray, lit it and started smoking. The Trailways terminal didn’t always attract the best clientele.

I remember my confirmation when I was in the sixth grade. I had to wear a robe with a white collar topped by a red beanie. The bishop came to perform the ceremony. The nuns had prepared us. They told us the bishop would slap us on the cheek as a reminder that we might have to suffer for our faith, that we were becoming soldiers for Christ. I got slapped, but it didn’t really hurt though I had braced myself.

I remember the flight to Ghana. My seatbelt got stuck between the wall and the seat so I couldn’t use it. I hoped no stewardess would notice. They showed one movie, The Love Bug.

I remember learning to tie a bow. My mother sat on the chair in the living room, and I knelt beside her. She had yarn, and she’d show me how to tie a bow then would have me try. It took a few times, but I succeeded in tying a bow. A triumph!

My memory drawers are filled with all these odd little memories, most of little consequence in the scheme of things.

The morning is hot, humid and windy. It is also cloudy again. I have a couple of errands. Jack, the cat, needs more food. Nala, the thief, got in and stole all the envelopes of Jack’s new food. I have cans of food, but Jack doesn’t like the food in the cans, the same food he ate last week. Cats are peculiar.

When I was a little kid, I believed in Santa, the Easter Bunny, the tooth fairy and all magical beings. I thought fireflies were fairies, relatives of Tinker Bell. The nights, though, were for vigilance when witches, trolls and goblins wandered. I always figured that was why I had to be home when the streetlights came on, to keep me safe from the dark creatures. I loved stories like Hansel and Gretel, The Brave Little Tailor and Jack and the Beanstalk. They were the good guys. They beat the bad guys.

In Ghana, my language instructor told us folk tales. Mosquito buzzes ear because mosquito is in love with ear who rejected him. The buzzing reminds ear that mosquito is still around. Adze, in a Ewe folktale, is a vampire who turns into a firefly and even a human. It possesses people and turns them into witches. People still believe in witches in Ghana, and there are witch camps where women accused of witchcraft, who have had to flee their villages, live in safety.

I love the classic horror stories rather than the ones with blood and gore and victims a plenty. I’ll always watch Dracula, my favorite. His eyes are mesmerizing, and his cape work captivating especially when he hides his victims and bites behind it. I’d like to be invisible though not mad, crazy, like The Invisible Man. I’d sneak on planes and travel. I’d spook people on Halloween. I’d never want to be The Wolfman, the poor, old sad Wolfman. Frankenstein is my least favorite.

When I was a kid, I knew the difference between what is real and what isn’t, but I remember hearing noises and, instead of hiding, I’d yell out and warn whatever was out there I was armed. It was a lie. It was bravado, but it seemed to work. I never did get attacked