The heat has me staying inside wearing socks to warm my feet, a small price to pay for a cold house. The temperature is 85° already but with the humidity it feels far warmer. The breeze is strong but does little to cool the air. The sky is cloudy but no rain is predicted.

I have an item on my dance card, a play tonight at the Cape Playhouse, An American in Paris. I haven’t seen this play before as it has never been staged at the Playhouse, but I have seen the movie and even know some of the songs. I’ll go from a cold house to a cold car to a cold theater. Such is summer life.

When I was a kid, we sort of all dressed the same in the summer. We wore shorts, sneakers and a blouse, sometimes a sleeveless blouse. My sneakers were aways white with pointed toes though by the end of the summer they were a bit dirty and well-worn. The younger I was the less I cared about keeping my sneakers white.

When I was in high school, I hung around most of the time. I’d sit inside or outside and read during the day. At night, I had drill practice twice a week and competitions on the weekends. On other nights, we’d sometimes play miniature golf, go to a drive-in or even bowl. I was a horrible bowler. Many balls made their way down the gutters, nowhere near the pins. My score was always an embarrassment. Being a good bowler is not an inherited trait. My mother bowled in a league. She was a good bowler.

My friend and I used to camp in the backyard. We’d lay a tarp on the ground, bring out pillows and spend the whole night outside. I loved to lie on my back and look at the stars which covered the sky. The nights were so bright with star-light there were shadows around us. I remember the long, skinny shadows of the trees and how one side of the house was a giant shadow on the ground. The front of the house and the sidewalk were lit by streetlights. In the road were the circles of light from the street light cutting through the darkness. The nights were alive with the sounds of insects, night birds and barking dogs. I was never afraid. I slept soundly the whole night.

Today will be hot, in the high 80’s. I am already behind closed doors with the AC cranking. The dogs are sprawled on the couch having their morning naps. Outside my window, the day, despite the heat, looks inviting with a blue sky and a bit of a breeze. My dance card is empty today, but I do need dog food. I’m thinking delivery.

When I was a kid, the future was tomorrow, but I did have dreams for when I was older. I knew I’d travel. That was a given after I had seen the first pictures in my geography book. I saw crops growing, snow covered mountains and houses, none of which resembled at all where I lived. I didn’t know anyone who had the same dreams I did. Travel meant New Hampshire or Maine or even as far as Vermont. We did make it to Canada and the falls. In my head, I started the list of countries I had visited, but that list didn’t get any longer than Canada for years, but I still dreamed of where I’d go.

For my college graduation my parents gave me a trip to Europe, one of those nine hundred countries in three days sort of trip. I was going to go with college friends. I didn’t; instead, I was going to Africa. My mother and I shopped from a list sent to us by Peace Corps. I was limited to eighty pounds of luggage. We bought enough underwear to outfit a chorus line. We bought dresses for a warm climate. One of them was purple, and I’m wearing it in several pictures. I also had skirts and short-sleeved tops. We bought sandals, leather sandals which didn’t do all that well in the heat of Ghana. The soles went first. We bought necessities like deodorant. We found a brand supposedly good for days with just an underarm swipe. It gave me boils which were really painful. I couldn’t raise my arm high enough to write on the chalkboard. The boils finally disappeared as did the deodorant. I tossed it. Some of the stuff we bought were found in Ghana like toothpaste, soap and tooth brushes.

My entire wardrobe after a time was made with Ghanaian cloth and sewn by a neighbor, a seamstress. I packed the purple dress away. It didn’t fit anymore, too big. It was the same with the other clothes I had brought, especially the underwear which got too big and wouldn’t stay up. I didn’t buy new underwear. It seemed a waste of money. I used a thin string belt to keep embarrassment away.

After Ghana, I still traveled. One summer I went from Venezuela to Rio. The trip took the whole summer. I saw my geography book come to life.

The list in my head of countries I have visited is a long one now with Canada still at the top. The order is chronological. Ghana is second on that list.