Today is bright and beautiful. It is also cold, only 34˚. The wind is blowing but only slightly in comparison to the winds of the last few days. The dogs are out and back inside quickly. Their ears are always cold.

My dance card has one item, dinner with friends tonight and maybe a game or two. My chore list has a few more items which I have been ignoring. My laundry is still in the hall. My kitchen floor is filled with paw prints from the door, down the hall to the den. My bed is unmade. I did water my plants yesterday, my biggest achievement of the day. It was exhausting.

My den is cluttered, and that’s being kind. My collections are here: my hats, my snow globes, baskets from Ghana, my vinyl, some wind-up toys, many cookbooks in wooden boxes and some bobble heads. The couch is where the three of us spend our time. I get the middle. Each dog has a side.

When I was a kid, Saturday was sacrosanct. The morning was for eating cereal in front of the TV. The rest of the day depended on the season and the weather. A winter Saturday was often a movie matinee at the theater uptown. I loved that theater. It was special, unique. It was built in 1917 and was called The Stoneham. The ticket window was on the left wall. There was an incline to the rest of the theater. The stairs to the balcony, usually closed off with a red rope unless there were too many kids, were also on the left wall. The concession stand was at the top of the incline in the middle of the wall between the doors to the seats. In the very back seats were always kissing couples. They were the only teenagers at the matinee. The front of the theater had a stage. When my mother was young, there were giveaways like dishes. One Saturday I saw The Wizard of Oz for the first time. I clapped when it turned to color. Al and his wife owned and ran the theater. She was at the concession stand, and he went up and down the aisles shining his flashlight at us and trying to maintain order. He always wore a jacket and a tie.

I still go to that theater, but now it is a live theater where the Greater Boston Stage Company performs six shows a year. My sister and I usually go to the Christmas play every year. The balcony is always open. Nobody throws candy anymore.