Last night it rained. It was unexpected. The morning started as a leftover, cloudy day, a warm day at 45°, but the sun has broken through and the blue sky spans the horizon. The Globe had an article about this winter’s heat. January’s average temperature was 16° above normal, and they are predicting an almost snowless, warmer than average February. Soon enough, okay not so soon, New England is predicted to have weather similar to present day Florida’s winter warmth. I guess that means a return migration. They’ll be back, all those Floridians who used to be New Englanders.

Yesterday I outdid myself. First, I cleaned the yard and was quite surprised by the treasures Nala chose to steal. One was the wastebasket from upstairs. It is made of Ghanaian cloth and is lined with plastic from water sachets which are heat sealed plastic bags filled with sanitized water. They are sold by small girls from trays carried on their heads. They are the trash everywhere in Ghana. Surprisingly, there was no damage so it is back upstairs, but I don’t know for how long. I also found the jar of my Colorado blueberry jelly. The cover was still on. Empty cat food cans filled with water littered the yard. Gnawed, torn pieces of paper were all over the yard. My prisoner stick worked well on those. I found stuffing from cloth Christmas decorations which looked like snow, fluffy white snow. When I finished, I treated myself to coffee and toast with blueberry jelly.

My next chore was to bring down to the cellar the bins filled with Christmas and those decorations too big for the bins. I made 5 trips going slowly one step at a time as I do have a near tragic history with stairs. Think broken bones. On two of those trips I took only one decoration at a time, first the block tree then the pine cone tree. No animals were hurt during this activity. I replaced the front door wreath with a wooden snowflake then I took another coffee break.

Last night I was tired. All that cleaning is unnatural. I am a sloth.

The sun was shining earlier. I was surprised at how warm it was when I got the papers. It was 50°, almost today’s high of 52°. No wind is the difference. I have a list of chores. Topping that list is the yard clean-up. I see papers everywhere. The house is next. It too still needs a bit of clean-up, but for that I need my dustpan and brush. It was in the living room. It isn’t now. I guess it grew appendages.

Sometimes I forget what I want. I start to go to somewhere, but then, on the way, I get distracted by things like a crooked picture, a giant, menacing dust bunny or Nala’s chewed scraps of paper. I stop to clean, but by the time I’m finished, I have usually totally forgotten what I originally wanted. I decided to start carrying a notepad and a pencil connected to the pad by a string. I’ll write on the pad the day and date and where I’m going and why. I’ll just have to remember to check.

When I was a kid, I had no idea what was going on with world until John Kennedy was running for president. I read the paper for the news, followed his campaign and wore his buttons. “If I were twenty-one, I’d vote for Kennedy,” is the message on the big campaign button and my favorite button. My second favorite is, “Returned Peace Corps Volunteer for McGovern-Schriver.” I also have a McGovern-Eagleton button I pinned to my backpack when I went to Europe the summer before the election. In Finland, I was sitting in in the hotel restaurant having dinner, reindeer, and watching TV. I was in the Arctic Circle with herds of reindeer blocking the road and an endless sun.

When I lived in Ghana, I knew what was happening in the world as it was summarized in the Week in Review from the New York Times which Peace Corps sent us every week. So much was happening. I missed, in my first year, 1969-1970, the moon landing, Woodstock, Manson, the breakup of The Beatles, the continuing anti-war protests and Kent State.

I, hungry for news, at first greedily read that paper, but, within a short time, I’d only browse the column headlines then give the rest of the paper to Thomas to use to start charcoal and to sell in the market. Time moved, and I stopped reading the Week in Review at all. I disconnected.