The chill of fall has finally taken hold. The daily temperature this week will only be in the 30’s. The sun is bright but not warm. The breeze is slight so the brown leaves at the ends of oak branches sway just a bit. Today will be a quiet day. I do have an errand, but I’m going to delay it until tomorrow. I have to go out then anyway.

When I was a kid, I didn’t love this time of year because playtime after school was cut short. It got dark early. We’d go inside and spend the rest of the afternoon watching TV. I remember watching The Mickey Mouse Club and Superman. My mother cooked supper.

My father wore a suit to work. His shirts were always white and starched. He made a Windsor knot in his ties. In the winter he wore a top coat and a fedora. On Saturdays he did his errands. He also did seasonal yard work. That meant mowing the lawn in the summer and raking leaves in the fall. He’d wear his sort of play clothes. I remember baggy pants and a maroon jacket he’d wear in the fall. He never wore a hat on Saturdays. He loved wearing his hush puppies from Thom McCan. They were brown suede.

Both my parents were readers. My mother loved mysteries, and my father loved books like those written by Alistair MacLean. They are the reasons I became a reader.

When I was in Ghana, my town was lucky enough to have a library. I also had a Peace Corps book locker and read every book, some of them a couple of times. I went to the library often. I read every one of their mysteries. Many were written by authors I did not know like Ngaio Marsh. Reading was the way I spend so much of my leisure time.

One Christmas my package from home had some neat stuff to do to while away the time. There was an origami book which mostly thwarted me. I was never good at origami. I always ended up with just wrinkled paper. I remember a paint by number. That was really fun and became a decoration in my living room. There was always book or two. I loved my packages.

I heard the rain hitting the windows when I woke up. It was raining heavily, but I rolled up my pant legs to keep them dry and braved the rain to get the paper. Sunday needs to start with coffee and the paper.

The rain has just stopped, but I can hear the drops falling from the trees as if it were still raining. The day is ugly, dark, almost foreboding. I can imagine Renfield in Dracula’s carriage on his way to the Count’s castle. The only things missing are the sound effects of the howling wolves.

Today will be in the high 50’s but it will get cold tonight, in the high 30’s. I will probably go to the dump then get home and stay warm and cozy.

When I was a kid, I gave no thought to the future, the big future. I didn’t know what I wanted to be when I grew up. I made up answers when my aunt the nun, on one of our annual visits to her in Connecticut, always asked me. That was about the only communication she and I had. I think I mostly told her a teacher or maybe a nurse though I never wanted to be a nurse.

I have started my Christmas shopping, quite late for me. A few of the gifts came from one of my favorite local shops. They were the first. The other day I ordered all the Christmas books for my grands. They get a new one every year. That tradition started with their parents getting books. Also, in keeping with a long time tradition, I ordered new ornaments for everyone. I still need to order the toothbrushes, stocking standards. They are expected.

Nala has stopped taking things out. Now she brings them in. Yesterday she brought in pine branches, needles and chewed pine cones. I keep picking up pieces of sticks in the hall and on the rugs. The worst was last night. A sharp pain in my leg woke me up. I reached down to rub it when the other leg got a sharp pain. I reached down under the covers and under the pant leg to rub the painful spots. I got another pain. That’s when I found a small pine branch and a larger pine branch sticking me (pun there!). Nala had brought them to my bed where she chewed them and then left them. She isn’t big on clean up.

The rain has started again.