I wake up every day at 9:30 no matter when I go to sleep. It is as if my body has been programmed. This morning I went downstairs at my usual time. The house was cold, down to 61°. I let the dogs out then, for a change, I went back to bed and slept two more hours. This morning quickly became this afternoon.

Yesterday I went to Agway as I needed creature food. They were having a sale on a variety of items. I bought two Christmas presents. I was pretty happy as I am behind my usual Christmas shopping time. My next stop was for chocolates, but I went to the shop next door first, a shop I love. It too was having a sale. I bought four Christmas presents, beautiful presents. I was tempted to keep one for myself but the rule is firm. I cannot take anything I first bought for someone else at Christmas time. I did buy myself some chocolates and some red licorice. Two days ago I ordered Hess trucks, three of them for my grand nephews: Jamison, Jaxon and Grayson, his first Hess truck. My Christmas shopping has now officially begun.

Today is cool, 58°. It is sunny, but the sun is just a backdrop giving light but no warmth. The breeze is strong. Branches are swaying. I can see the first changes of leaves in the backyard, some yellow leaves. The deck is covered in brown leaves, small branches and acorns. I have yet to close the deck. I need both hands for that.

When I was a kid, dressing for the walk to school this time of year was a conundrum. The mornings were cool, even cold, but the afternoons were warm. A winter coat was heavy. A spring jacket had no lining. My mother solved the problem by layering our clothes. She added a warm sweater beneath the jacket. She had us wear knee socks. I also had pink sort of longish underwear which went beneath my uniform skirt almost to my knees. The underwear was thermal. I was never cold on my walks to school.

I just did a trash check in the backyard. I found empty cat food cans from the trash in Jack’s room. I found the Temptations I had bought yesterday. The bags were empty. Nala did it again. I had put the treats up high, but she figured a way to get at them. I’m going to need a stepladder to put the food even higher, but I suspect Nala will find a way around that too. The strangest thing I found was a basketball. It was still filled with air so it hadn’t been there long. There is no way Nala had anything to do with it being in the yard. I figured it belongs to the kids down the street, but Henry’s barking kept them from going through the gate to get it. I threw it over the gate onto the driveway. I hope they find it.

The clouds are still here though the rain has gone. Partly cloudy is the forecast with a high of 66°. I’ll be home today. I have a few odd tasks on my to do list. I’m going to reline the kitchen silverware drawer with flowered vinyl paper. What is there now celebrated its 45th anniversary last year. I figured it’s time to say good-bye. I want to rearrange the stuff in the drawers of the small hall chest. After that, I might do laundry but that may be a stretch. I still have clean clothes.

I have an appointment with my surgeon on the 29th at the ungodly hour of eight am. When I spoke to his secretary, she had messages. The pins need to stay in longer. He is hoping I’m using my finger and bending it more, but I find when I use my finger it hurts, sort of a dull ache and an occasional zap of bad pain, but I’ll just have to grit my teeth and bear it.

Earlier, the dogs were quiet and not with me. I got suspicious. When I got to the living room, they ran down the stairs. Nala’s tail was wagging, a bad sign. She does that when she has been up to no good. It is her guilt personified. I looked up the stairs and saw the gate was still up so she had been in my room. I decided not to check right now. It is a bit scary.

I went to St. Patrick’s grammar school from first grade to eighth grade. I was in the old school through the fourth grade. In the fifth grade we traveled to a different school in the next town over because there were so many of us we didn’t fit in our school any more. That’s when they built a new school. We then had two schools we always called the new and the old. I have bits of memories of the old school. It had beautiful wooded stairs and you could see from the bottom to the top of the stairs, to the top floor. The bathrooms were in the cellar. The girls’ room had exposed pipes and a funny smell, not gross but strange, maybe an odd clean cleaning fluid. There were wooden toilet doors. My first grade classroom had a cloak room with not enough hooks. My fourth grade class was up the stairs. I remember when the tall windows behind my desk were open I could hear guys playing basketball in the schoolyard.

In the second half of the fifth grade we moved into the new school. I was on the bottom floor next to the windows overlooking the school yard. Everything, as befitting a new school, was shiny and bright, but it lacked a quirkiness, a personality. I liked the new school, but I missed the old school, even the overhead pipes and the smell of the girls’ bathroom in the cellar.