The rain is gone. The sun and blue are back but so is a bit of wind. It will only be in the high 50’s today. Welcome to spring on Cape Cod.

I’m treating myself to lunch today. It is opening day at Captain Frosty’s. I never miss opening day. I can already taste the shrimp and the onion rings or the scallops and the onion rings or the clams and said onion rings. So many choices! Maybe a seafood platter?

When I was a kid, we started practicing May procession songs in April. Every day in class we’d sing the songs particular to the procession always held on a May Sunday. The route was a square, a couple of blocks, from one side of the school to the other, to where the grotto was. The whole school marched in grades from eighth to first. The second graders wore all white, the clothes from their First Communion. We’d sing at the grotto where the statue of Mary was in a niche off the ground, “Mary, we crown thee with blossoms today, Queen of the angels, queen of the May.”

I was the crowner when I was in the eighth grade. It was quite an honor. I was at the end of the procession so the first groups of grades got to the grotto well before me. I admit I did stop for pictures when I saw my parents. I posed. That slowed me down a bit. At the grotto, I stood off to the side waiting for my cue to climb the small ladder with the handrail on one side, important to the story. I was in a long dress, a wedding dress, so the stairs were scary. When it was time, I grabbed the handrail with one hand, and I held the flower crown with the other. I climbed trying not to walk on the bottom of my long dress. I kept trying to lift it and still hold the crown. The priest saw my struggle and graciously put out his hand. I held it until I reached the top of the ladder. The statue was taller than I was so I needed to be on tiptoes to crown Mary during the right part of the song. It was precarious, but I did it without mishap, even getting down the steep stairs when it was over.

Somewhere in this house are the pictures from that day. I put them away for safe keeping, and there they are, safe from even me.

The rain is loud and heavy. Henry wouldn’t go out further than the deck steps. He kept looking at me soulfully so I let him in figuring he’d know when he needed to go. It wasn’t much later, after his morning snack, that he went without urging. He came back inside soaked.

It will rain on and off all day. The house is dark. I always feel comforted somehow by the darkness and the rain. The house seems to circle around me, keeping me safe. I watched the rain out the front door for a while. It was coming from the north but is just a rainstorm, not a nor’easter.

When I was a kid, I hated getting to school wet. My shoes were the worst. I never had rain boots. My feet sloshed when I walked. My socks got soaked, but I wore them anyway. They dried during the day. Now I wonder why I didn’t pack another pair of socks.

When I was in the fourth grade, my classroom was on the top floor of the old school. The long windows were both behind me and on the right wall away from my desk. I could hear the rain hitting the windows behind me, but I couldn’t see without turning around and looking. When I did, Miss Konapacka would suggest I turn around. The word suggest is tongue in cheek.

I vacuumed yesterday with my new hand vacuum. It did the best job particularly in cleaning the kitty litter off the floor, but when I went in this morning, there was more litter all over the floor. There is a large mat under the box, but I would need a room size one to catch all the litter scattered about by the cats. Jack barely fits in the box. I have a larger one, but the cats won’t use it. I’d make the larger one the only box, but I’m afraid they’ll find a spot outside the box. That would not be a treasure hunt.

My mother always grocery shopped on Friday nights when I was a kid. My father drove her as my mother didn’t have her license back then. We’d help bring in the bags. We’d also hunt for the Oreos. They never lasted long. I still have a fondness for Fig Newtons, another cookie my mother bought. They lasted far longer than the Oreos.

I have one more grocery order to do, for me at the regular supermarket. The animals are all set. Henry’s food came in this morning. The cats’ food arrived the other day. Because I continue to have an empty dance card, I need food to raise my spirits, food like cookies and chips and chocolate, lots of chocolate. It drives away even the dullest mood.