The sun was here earlier but has since disappeared. We have that partially clouded forecast which I always contend should be partially sunny, just for the sake of optimism. It will be in the 70’s.

My leg still hurts to the touch but is getting better. Yesterday I bemoaned my fate. The deck is still in its winter mode. My lawn needs to be cut. Nala’s holes in the yard need filling before I fall to China. My deck is still covered with debris from the pine trees. I have yet to buy my flowers and herbs for the deck pots. I am very far behind my usual springtime. I guess I need to bite the bullet and start getting ready for summer.

My father was a lawn man. He did plant a few flowers in the small front garden, mostly pansies and marigolds, but his efforts were on the lawn. He used a hand mower, always. I can still close my eyes and hear the click click of the mower as my father moved up and down the lawn in a pattern, the same pattern every time. Saturday was yard day. I think it was the universal yard day in my neighborhood. All the fathers were out with mowers and rakes. I remember the scratching sound of the rakes as the cut grass was cleared. My father clipped around the perimeters of the garden, the grass and the fir trees on the side lawn. I remember him on his knees using the metal clipper which looked like scissors, big scissors. My father had a round sprinkler which made a squishing sound as it turned. He moved it all over the yard so everything was watered. My father was proud of his lawn.

The dogs love being in the yard. They are out so long I go and check on them. I remember when Gracie jumped the fence so I get a bit nervous. Henry can’t jump that high, but I’m not sure about Nala. She is small and athletic and feisty enough to jump to spite me.

Sunday is the quiet day. I can only hear birds sounds and the rustling of the leaves on the trees in the backyard when the wind blows. Henry does his barking inside the house. Nala seldom barks. I guess she figures Henry is loud enough for both of them. She’s right.

Today is another delightful day with lots of sun and a bit of warmth, 77˚ of warmth. My deck needs to be opened, but I’m stuck with this injury and knowing me, I’d do something to cause more injury. I also still need to shop for my flowers and herbs. The only flowers on the deck were brought by my friends Bill and Peg when they visited. Those flowers are a profusion of colors on the drab deck and are in the most delightful planter shaped like a bear. Bill made the bear. Bill is talented.

Nala stole two books. I saw them in the yard when I was standing on the deck yesterday. They had been in the living room waiting to be put into my little library. I watched that canine felon pick up one of the books and run the yard. The other book she tore apart just for the sheer joy of it. That dog makes me laugh, but she is a pip.

When I was a kid, Saturday was always the best day of the week. In the winter, I went to the matinee at the theater uptown. It never really mattered what the movie was. I loved them all. We got to see not only the movie but also some cartoons. The Road Runner was and still is one of my favorites. I love his beep beep and the cloud of dust around his feet. The Road Runner is the nemesis of Wile E. Coyote. He and his Acme dynamite never catch the Road Runner but not from lack of trying. When I was older, I got the play on words of Wile E. Coyote’s name. I love that he has a middle initial.

Spring and summer Saturdays were the crown glories of the week. I never stayed home. Either I rode my bike or walked all over town. My favorite walk was on the railroad tracks, now gone from my little town. I used to jump the double OO tracks so I wouldn’t break my mother’s back. I was skeptical about the power of those tracks, but I didn’t want to risk my mother’s back. I remember stopping for a drink at a pipe with flowing, clear water. It came out of a small hillside. The train station was at the end of the tracks. It still stands and has been used in a variety of ways over the years. I wish I had been around when it was an actual station. I did see trains run on those tracks from my grandparents’ house. The trains stopped at E.L.Patch Company beside the tracks. The name, the lettering, was on a long black sign toward the top of the building. I remember it from when I was a kid. I had no idea what the E.L.Patch Company sold but later found out it was pharmaceuticals. I used to dream about jumping on that train and leaving for parts unknown. I was never scared for the ride. I knew I’d bring a lunch, probably a PB & J sandwich, some cookies, Oreos if there were any left, and Zarex, orange Zarex, in my thermos. My love of adventure always came along for the ride, whether it was real or imagined.