Yesterday was damp and chilly. Nala and I went to the dump then on to Agway. She thoroughly enjoyed the store, greeted everyone then tried to steal the biscuits on the counter. Nala has no shame.

Last night the wind howled, and the rain started, but it was warm. At 1 am, it was in the low 50’s. This morning the rain is still falling and the wind is still fierce. It is warm at 55˚.

When I was a kid, I loved the wind. I remember walking across the field at the foot of my street, opening my jacket, spreading out my arms and letting the wind take me, even push me so I almost had to run a bit to stay on my feet. It was exhilarating. I remember laughing the whole time.

Pine trees have shallow roots which grow straight down. My yard is filled with pine trees. After every wind storm, branches are strewn about the backyard. I made a pile after the last storm. I’m going to have add to that pile from this storm which has had gusts as high as 60 MPH. I can also see some limbs hanging, ready to fall. None are near the deck. In my front yard, three pine trees have been cut down over the years. One more is dead. It has ivy growing up its truck so I want the bottom half of the trunk saved.

In Ghana, when I saw my first baobab tree, my jaw dropped. It was the biggest, widest tree I’d ever seen. Where I lived was savannah grassland so a tree was precious. My favorite road was between Bolga where I lived and Navrongo, 22 miles north. One part of the road was tree-lined. It was utterly beautiful. I found out later they are mahogany trees and had been planted.

Many roads on the cape are dark, no streetlights. Many houses have white lights lit all year long, mine usually being one of them, but I need new lights as one or two sets no longer work. The other night I saw houses with tree trunks circled in white lights and other houses with Christmas lights glowing through the darkness.

Many roads on the Cape are dark, no streetlights. Many houses have white lights lit all year long, mine usually being one of them, but I need new lights as one or two sets no longer work. The other night I saw houses with tree trunks circled in white lights and other houses with Christmas lights glowing through the darkness. I drive slowly pass them.

The wind last night was so strong it blew down branches in the backyard. I could feel the cold from the dog door all the way down the hall to the den. When I checked, I could see the cover flapping. I shut the back door. Noises came with the wind. A branch scraped against the house. A metallic sound came from the back wall in the kitchen, the one looking on to the deck. I didn’t go out. It was far too windy. The dogs were quickly out and back.

This morning I surveyed the deck and yard. It is still quite windy, and the branches are swaying. Nala was doing her zoomies with paper in her mouth, paper stolen from my recycle bin. When I looked over the deck rail, I could see trash in my yard, empty lot in the city trash, all papers. A tall light was the sound against the house, no damage.

We have a sky full of grey clouds, a high wind warning and 51˚. Heinous chores are on my to do list. The laundry is already down here in a basket leaning against the cellar door. My bed has been stripped. A couple of trash bags are in the trunk. I guess I’ll go to the dump. Nala will come with me. She really enjoys the car ride to the dump. I don’t. Maybe if I stuck my head out the window like Nala I might enjoy the ride and the dump more.

My life has been a bit boring of late. The only interesting tidbits of activity have to do with my uke. Sunday it was a concert, Tuesday was practice and Wednesday was my lesson. The highlight of the week will be Saturday and dinner with friends, but first I have to get through Friday and the dentist who’s filling a tooth.

When I was a kid, I was seldom bored. My neighborhood was filled with kids. Our backyards were grassy with a hill in the middle separating the houses on the top from the houses on the bottom where I lived. We used to play games on the grass, games like Red Rover, Hide and Seek, Red Light, Green Light, Tag and Simon Says. We also played a freeze game whose name I don’t remember. The it person would touch us, and we’d have to freeze until another player touched us, and we could unfreeze. I don’t remember how that game ended. I’m thinking maybe when all of us were frozen. We all had roller skates, ice skates, sleds and bikes. Our sleds were wooden, our bikes had no gears and back pedal brakes, but our ice skates were classics, still the same today.

I’m still aghast and horrified. I saw an article in a magazine about the granny cart, the same cart I bought a while back. I keep it in the trunk. Granny cart? Please!!!