The sun was out when I woke up but has since disappeared. The sky is cloudy but no rain is predicted. It is cold and will stay cold all day. I am going out later to visit friends giving me a new record, four days out in a single week.

My bird feeders need filling. This morning a bright red cardinal, a bright yellow goldfinch and my favorite little chickadees were at the feeder eating the last few sunflower seeds.

I can’t find Henry’s halter, his harness. It has been on the floor so he’ll get familiar with it and not go crazy when I put it on him. I have looked all over downstairs. Its disappearance is driving me crazy.

This morning I watched a YouTube video filmed in Ghana. An American was visiting for the first time and was touring Makola Market. He mispronounced Accra and says Ghanians. The Ghanaian with him was far too polite to correct him. I screamed at the TV a few times. I wished it was two way.

I keep losing track of which day of the week it is. All my days are so similar I sometimes have to check the masthead of the paper.

When I was a kid, I got a Cinderella watch for my first communion. I was seven. My aunt had taught me to tell time, and she was the giver of my wonderful gift. I remember Cinderella wore a blue gown and was the background of the watch face. The strap too was blue, a light blue. I used to look at my watch with a flourish so everyone would see Cinderella on my wrist.

I still prefer an analog watch. I have a few of them, all of which need batteries. My favorite was a 50th birthday present from my mother. The watch has a red leather strap and silver around the face. The only time I wear a watch is when I travel, when time sometimes matters, but I never wear that watch; instead, I wear my least expensive time piece in case I lose it or break it or have it stolen. I wear my Timex with gold numbers. It is at least thirty years old.

When I was in Uruguay, I got on an elevator at my hotel which already had a male passenger. I was wearing my watch. He pointed first at my wrist then at my pocket. He wanted me to put my watch away. I remember before I left for my trip my father kept trying to get me to stay home. He told me South America was too dangerous. He said he knew a woman who knew a different woman who had been there. Her arm, the second woman’s, was dangling out a window when all of a sudden a thief grabbed her hand and cut off her finger to get her ring. To say I was skeptical was an understatement. I came home with my watch and an intact arm.

Last night it poured. Poor Henry stuck his nose out the door then backed into the kitchen. I wish I had his bladder. He lasted until 10 this morning. The sky is covered in clouds but the clouds are light, almost white. Rain is predicted for today but not yet. It will be in the high 40’s. I have no errands. I will stay home in my cozies. I have books and plenty of food though none of it is sweet. That’s a drawback.

Yesterday I bought another set of lights for the spawns to chew. It is needed on the back stairs because it is so dark at night Henry won’t go out unless I turn on the back light. Such a brave boy! This morning he actually came in the dog door because he thought Jack was getting a treat.

When I was a kid, our house wasn’t very big. It was one side of a duplex which was a mirror image of our side. The kitchen was small. There were three bedrooms upstairs. The cellar was huge. One side of it had a sink where the washing machine, a wringer, was connected. The other side had the oil tank but still had plenty of room. I used to ride my bike around the cellar. It did get tricky crossing the bottom the stairs but that didn’t matter. I rode it anyway. The road where I lived ended at a cut de sac. We used to roller skate on the sidewalk. I remember the skate wheels made noise on what we always called the hot top. The faster I went, the louder the noise.

I remember the Bal-A-Roue skating rink in Medford. My friends and I used to go on a Friday or a Saturday night. The roller skates had high sides and a lot of laces. The girl rented white skates, the boys black. The rink was long and was wooden. It was more of an oblong than a circle. Music played while we skated. I was better on ice skates. The wheels of the roller skates seem to take off on their own. One way to stop was to hope to grab the sides, but mostly I fell which stopped all forward progression. I’d grab the side to pull myself off the floor or a friend would skate by and give me a hand. By the end of the evening, my pants were filthy from contact with the floor. I remember watching in awe skaters who could do spins usually in the middle of the floor as most of us kept to the side, the safer place. I also remember couples who danced together as they skated, their feet in perfect rhythm. I never aspired to spin or dance. I spent all my energy and concentration trying to stay off the floor. I wasn’t very successful.