Last night my feet were cold. I found some socks then wrapped my feet in a blanket. I wore my sweatshirt to stay warm. This morning the house was only 63°. The sky is gray. The wind is blowing. It is an ugly day.

When I was a kid, June was a special month. The weather got warm, sometimes even hot. School wrapped up for the year. On the last day, a half day, we’d get our report cards. The nun would call us up to her desk one name at a time. I’d check my report card as I walked back to my desk to make sure I’d been promoted. I always was.

All the school year rules ended. No more waking up early. Bedtime was later. Meals, except for supper, were catch as catch can. I’d make my own lunch, usually a sandwich and some Oreos if there were any left. Oreos went fast in our house. Bologna was my sandwich meat of choice. The bread was always white. I’d slather the bread with mustard and add a few chopped hot peppers. The juice from the peppers sometimes leaked through the top of the bread. I didn’t care. Sandwiches didn’t have to be pretty.

I have favorite smells. I used to love walking uptown when the aroma of baking bread from Hank’s filled the air. Sometimes I could smell popcorn popping at the candy store. My mother’s kitchen was always filled with great smells. Cookies baking were the best. I used to hang around until a batch came out of the oven so I could snag one. Chocolate chip was the summer cookie. On Saturdays the air was redolent with the smell of mown grass. Every father was out with a mower. Back then they were all hand mowers so you could hear the click click as the grass was mown. I could always smell summer rain before it came. The sharp odor of ozone filled the air. After the rain, I could smell earth, dirt from the gardens.

In Ghana, my favorite smell was wood charcoal burning. It was a sweet smell. In the mornings the compounds behind my house had smoke curling into the air from the fires when breakfast was being cooked. Every meal was the same, three times a day. The market had different smells as you walked around to shop. The fruit and veggie markets, the butcher’s shop and the live chickens for sale areas had distinct smells. When I first got to Ghana, I found some smells unpleasant. I even threw up after my first visit to a market, but it didn’t take long for my nose to get used to the smells. I stopped noticing.

Summer mornings have the best smells.

It rained, but I missed it, and no more rain is predicted. The day is cloudy and cold, 51° cold. The leaves are being buffeted by a constant wind. It is a day to stay close to heath and home.

Yesterday I finished the move from here to there and back again. The chore went like this. I moved the photo albums, but I looked through them first. Two were my family, but the rest I had bought. My favorite album chronicles a trip through Italy in the late 1930’s with pictures, postcards and commentary. I wondered why families would give up such a treasure. Perhaps, I thought, the people in the photos passed away, and the albums had no emotional value to the rest of the family. Anyway, it took a while to figure out where to put the albums. Finally, I was left with an empty spot. Next, I removed almost everything from the kitchen shelf. The books, now dusted, went on the spot formerly held by the albums. Everything else from the shelf went on the counter. I cleaned the shelf then found the dishes stored in the Peterborough basket and moved them to the empty shelf. Finally, I washed the stuff originally from the shelf then found places to put them. Chore ended. I was hot and sweaty but triumphant.

This is the rainy season in Bolga. The fields are green. Millet is growing high. The dust has disappeared, but the bugs have reappeared. The light in my living room, a simple bulb, hung from the ceiling. I made a lamp shade for it out of a Bolga basket. Below the basket was a circle of light, the circumference of the basket. Every night the circle was black, filled in by the dead bugs attracted to the light.

Today I declare a sloth day. My larder is filled. The groceries were delivered yesterday. My fridge is overflowing. I have all my favorites. I’ve almost finished my book but have more waiting in the wings. I’ll stay in my cozies. Today is a good day.