Today is a stay at home day. Today is a stay in my cozies day. Reluctantly, I have also designated today the first cleaning day as I’ve decided to clean a room a day. The lucky room for today is the living room.

Today is a typical late fall day. It is 45°and cloudy. Through the window, the day looks uninviting. I’m happy to stay home.

When I was a kid, the time between Halloween and Thanksgiving was quiet. It was routine. The days were the same over and over. Weekdays were spent in school. Even the classes were in the same order every day except for art which was only once a week. We sat at our desks except for lunch and bathroom breaks. I remember those after lunch bathroom breaks. We were in single lines, boys on one side and girls on the other. We went in when someone came out. We couldn’t even talk in line. The nuns had perfected the LOOK. Once you got it, you stopped whatever you were doing. Afternoons after school were sometimes spent outside but this time of year were mostly spent inside watching TV. It was too cold to be outside. It was time to hibernate.

My neighborhood was filled with kids. Most houses had multiple kids. The backyard of every house was one big grassy hill shared between the houses up the hill and the houses at the bottom of the hill. One mother was a lawn tyrant. She claimed the lawn beyond the clothes line area was hers. She even put wooden stakes with string attached around the lawn. She’d scream out her kitchen window at any kid who dared to cross her lawn. It was greener than any other part of the yard because she watered it. The rest of the yard, the hill, only got water when it rained. In the winter younger kids sledded down the hill. No one started down the hill at her patch of yard. They started at the top behind the other houses. We older kids sledded down the street, a huge hill. We were a bit more reckless.

I have one more uke event this week. We are playing at the turnip festival on Saturday. That is always a fun time.

What a pretty day it is with a bright sun and a clear blue sky. The temperature will stay in the mid-40’s. The breeze is slight. Only the leaves at the ends of the branches are moving.

When I was a kid, my grandparents were quite different from one family to the other. My father’s parents weren’t warm people. His mother, my grandmother, wore flowered dresses and black shoes with clunky heels. She’d wear the clear bonnets and clear shoe covers, the ones with a button, when it rained. She wasn’t a good cook. She always wore an apron with a bib which had a front pocket and tied in the back. I remember going there on Thanksgiving evenings for supper. The dining room was right by the kitchen. She had dark furniture, but a wall with windows and a glass door gave the room light. She always wheeled a basket to the First National when she grocery shopped. My grandfather was short and stout. I remember him always wearing a suit and a fedora when he left the house. He had an imposing presence despite his height. They lived in the same town as we did.

My mother’s parents lived in the city. They always seemed to have an open house on Sundays which was filled with family. My mother was one of eight so it was a big family. My grandmother also wore an apron, but what I remember most are her slippers. She’d roll down her hosiery to the tops of her ankles and walk on the backs of those slippers. She’d shuffle a little when she walked. The kitchen was where the women were. It was on the bottom floor. It wasn’t very big. My grandmother made pasta, and it sat in a pan on the stove, a self-service meal. I loved that you grated your own cheese. She had a great backyard. I loved the city, the bakery down the street, the corner store and the house which sold Italian ice out the window. I loved wandering around near the house. I used to walk up a few streets to where my grandparents had originally lived. I remember that house well. Beyond that, a few more streets up, was a small park. I’d sometimes sit on a bench and read. I enjoyed going to East Boston.

My week is busy, uke busy as usual. I have practice, a lesson and two concerts. We are still doing bluegrass, but Christmas is coming. We’re practicing those songs tonight. I do love Christmas music.