Posted tagged ‘damp’
October 18, 2016
The morning is cloudy and damp. I could smell the ocean when I went to get the papers so I lingered outside a while. It was quiet. I knew my neighbors were awake as their shades were up, and their paper was gone. I don’t see them much. Thinking about it, I don’t see many of my neighbors. When I do, we always wave.
My groceries arrived right on time yesterday. My fridge is now filled. I bought some plantain hoping to make kelewele. I’m also going to try my hand at jollof rice. It’s fun making something new, especially dishes filled with memories.
I left my windows open last night. I had thought them closed for the season, but yesterday was warm. Today will be even warmer. I got to hear the birds sing when I woke up. They were far less intrusive than that Ghanaian rooster. It doesn’t really matter where I am. I love mornings the best. My dad used to switch to storm windows around this time of year. It took him the whole day. He had to get each window on hooks, and it wasn’t easy because he also had to lean on the ladder for balance. We all watched.
It is from my dad I inherited the gene associated with all my falls. His falls were sometimes spectacular. They were also sometimes funny like the sawing himself out of the tree fall I have mentioned before. He didn’t fall far. He did break his hip on a fall from a high ladder when he was painting his house. He always limped after that. I have been luckier with only a broken bone in my shoulder, and no after effects because of physical therapy. I just accept falls as a fact of life.
Categories: Musings, Uncategorized
Tags: birds, cloudy, damp, Jollof rice, memories, morning, neighbors, plantain, quiet, rooster, the ocean, waving
Comments: 21 Comments
October 14, 2016
Getting up before the sun appears is getting annoying. Getting up before my papers arrive is also annoying. The only thing saving the morning is my first cup of coffee.
Yesterday was warm. Today it will be much cooler, in the high 50’s. Right now it is windy and damp and quite chilly. I’m glad I put the storm pane on the back door.
Today I am having breakfast out, and I have a dentist appointment, my six-month cleaning. Gracie and I will do the dump later in the afternoon. I’m also thinking Chinese food for dinner. I have a hankering.
My friends and I ate jollof rice just about every evening in Ghana. Think jambalaya. I even got to have it on the plane ride home. It was served with chicken curry. The hotel restaurant served the biggest mound of jollof, and we seldom left any on our plates. We never tired of eating it. I’m thinking I might just have to learn to make it. I do have several recipes. I just ordered my Halloween candy.
I just ordered my Halloween candy, what we used to call nickel bars. I remember how excited we were to get a bar instead of loose candy. Usually it was a Hershey’s. Last year one kid yelled to his father standing by my gate, “It’s a whole big bar!” He’ll be able to yell the same thing this year.
Gracie just scared me. She fell into the table from the couch. I grabbed her and held on for all I am worth. My first thought was she had collapsed. I was set to take her to the 24-hour vet, but she left my arms and got off the couch. She seemed to walk fine. The final test was a treat. She wouldn’t eat the first three choices but took the fourth and then went back for the other three. I figure out she had been too close to the edge of the couch and lost her footing. I have begun to breath.
I haven’t decorated my house yet for Halloween, but I did finish unpacking and putting everything away. I only have one wash left to do. The cloth I bought is in this room in a tall pile. The colors are vivid. My favorite is the black and red tie and dye. It will make a great shirt. The 12 yard bolt is for tablecloths, Christmas presents. I also have a 6 yard bolt of a beautiful blue and black pattern. It too will be used for presents. I brought back a tablecloth for myself. Peg found the material and had it cut in half and hemmed so it wouldn’t fray. Now I just need to have some dinner guests so they can ooh and ah.
Categories: Musings
Tags: breakfast, chilly, cloth, cool, damp, dentist, early morning, Halloween candy, Jollof rice, nickel bar, tablecloth, teeth cleaning, tie and dye
Comments: 8 Comments
September 11, 2016
The weather stay cooperative last night so we had our movie night. Continuing the trend of bad movies we watched The Time Travelers. Three scientists and one other guy wearing a jumpsuit and sporting a shirt and tie went through a portal to the future, a grim future. Mutants lived above ground and humans lived below ground. Earth was doomed so a spaceship was being built and provisioned for a trip to Alpha Centauri. The women underground wore the tightest mostly pink-collared jumpsuits (which had panty lines to give you an idea of how tight). The men wore more elaborate jumpsuits with weird collars. The rest of the plot had the mutants attacking, our intrepid time travelers and a few underground scientists going back in time via the portal. They, however, went back too soon. I won’t give away the rest of the plot in case you are in the mood for a really bad science fiction movie.
The food was wonderful last night. We split a chicken quesadilla and a pizza, half cheese and half pepperoni. For movie candy we had chocolate covered caramel balls and chocolate covered bacon caramel balls. We played a game of Phase 10 first. It gets dark so early now the evening was over by 9.
The weather is damp. The sky is gray cloudy. A strong breeze comes and goes. No rain is expected here, but much of the state will have thunder showers. The house is really dark. I needed a light to read the papers. I have no ambition today. I gathered my laundry but purposefully left it upstairs. My bed is unmade. I’m not dressed, and I don’t intend to get dressed.
A bunny was in my yard when I went to get the papers. It hopped off when I got close. The coyotes must be elsewhere.
The big news is I have a new neighbor. She moved in two houses down. Yesterday there was a u-haul in the driveway and about 5 or 6 cars parked in front of the house. She is my third new neighbor in the last year, all of them women.
I am getting drowsy. Being the only creature in the house still awake makes me want to conform the standards set by the two cats and the dog. I think that’s probably why I didn’t make my bed.
Categories: Musings
Tags: bacon caramel, breezy, Bunny, chocolate covered caramel, cloudy, Coyote, damp, drowsy, movie night, mutants, new neighbor, Phase 10, Pizza, quesadilla, the future, The Time Travelers, tight jumpsuits, time portal
Comments: 6 Comments
July 10, 2016
Today is yesterday continued. It is cloudy, damp and still a bit chilly. The one difference is the sky looks a tad lighter so maybe there is hope for a better afternoon. Today I will finally pot those plants. I drag the soil bag from my car to the front walk then I nursed my back all last night. Such effort must not go to waste.
This morning my breakfast hardened back to my childhood. I had a bowl of Rice Krispies to which I added a cut banana. That cereal still snaps, crackles and pops. I remember putting my ear close to the bowl so I could hear the sound.
When I was a kid, there were so many different sounds I don’t hear much anymore. The pop of the toaster is one I remember well. Our toaster was noisy. It was also usually covered with crumbs. Two slots meant only two pieces of toast at a time. There were four of us so two of us had to practice patience. We didn’t do well with that.
The slamming of screen doors all summer long drove my mother crazy. She’d yell at us not to slam the door. We always did anyway. It was the quickest way to get out of the house. Screen doors now shut on their own.
My neighborhood was filled with kids. We all lived in a sea of duplexes. The ones at the top of the hill had their back doors facing our back doors at the bottom of the hill. Mothers always yelled out the back doors at lunch time and at dinner time. They always yelled names so the kids playing in the yards would know who had to go inside. By supper time the yards were empty, the kids all gone inside. My neighborhood here has a lot of kids: nine of them. They stay close to home so no yelling is necessary. I never hear a screen door slamming or a mother yelling.
Roller skates on sidewalks made a distinctive sound, a clacking sound. Those were the four wheel skates that fit over my shoes. They had a leather strap across the top of my foot and a front grip I tightened to my shoes using a key. Many times the skate fell off but only the front part. Losing the key was the worst of all. There wasn’t any way to tighten the skates. I just had to hope someone else’s key worked.
So many other sounds are gone mostly without us noticing. Our world is quieter now. The phone makes little noise, no more dialing. The fridge hums. No snow appears on the TV. I can’t remember the last time I heard baseball cards attached to the spokes of bicycle wheels. How about olly olly oxen free? Where did that go?
Categories: Musings
Tags: Banana, chilly, cloudy, crackle and pop, crumps, damp, duplexes, effort, kids, Rice Krispies, slamming screen doors, snap, Toaster, yelling out the back doors
Comments: 19 Comments
July 9, 2016
Today is another cold, damp, overcast day. I have shut all my windows, and I’m about to go get my sweatshirt. Rain is predicted for the afternoon. This is the sort of day which makes an afternoon nap sound inviting. I’m already tired thinking about it.
Peapod came this morning. I was told the delivery would arrive between 7:30 and 9:30. He knocked on my door just before 7:30. Luckily I was awake. The larder is full again.
Last night I saw a wonderful production of The Music Man at the Cape Playhouse which is starting its 90th year of continuous entertainment. I have been going there at least 35 years. I remember when every play was sold out. That’s not the case anymore. I’m thinking that live productions don’t appeal to the Netflix, Amazon Streaming, YouTube generation as I see so few of them at the Playhouse, but for the first time in a while there were several kids last night. I was glad they were being introduced to a live performance. None of the ones near me looked bored. That’s a good sign.
The library in my town had records you could borrow. I remember bringing home Camelot and playing it so many times I memorized most of the songs. A live version of Peter Pan with Mary Martin played on television when I was a kid. It was wonderful. My mother bought the records of the musical for us. They were 45’s. We’d load them on the middle piece you put on the hifi so we could pile three or four 45’s at once. I still remember most of the words to all the songs. My sister took my niece when she was young to a revival of Peter Pan. She loved it as much as we had only she was lucky to see it in person. She got to watch Peter fly. I never thought it strange that Peter Pan was always played by a woman when it was staged. My niece saw Cathy Rigby, but for me, Peter Pan is always Mary Martin.
I have flowers needing to be planted in pots and the dead flowers on my front step need to be replaced. Today seems the perfect day to do outside work, but I’m going to have to force myself to be motivated. Being cozy and warm inside is just so appealing.
Categories: Musings
Tags: Camelot, Cape Playhouse, cold day, damp, library, Mary Martin, nap, overcast, Peapod, Peter Pan, rain, records, The Music Man
Comments: 10 Comments
June 4, 2016
We’re back! Comcast solved the problem though it was vexing for a bit. It seems during the night my modem short circuited. The light was on, but it couldn’t connect. I now have a new modem and a technician is coming today to install a new box to match the new modem.
My deck is all ready for summer. All it needs now is some sun and a warm day. Yesterday it rained all afternoon, a light rain which didn’t stop the decorating and the planting. I had just enough flowers for every pot. I also planted my basil and rosemary. The basil joined the tomatoes in my small vegetable garden. The rosemary is in deck boxes which have new coats of paint. My fountain was also repainted its bright red. The only thing I couldn’t find was the adapter for my umbrella lights. I looked in all my usual spots then remembered I had placed it in a canister of coins on the floor. I have no idea how I remembered and no idea why I would have chosen such an unlikely spot. Tucked into another canister was the adapter for the fountain. I didn’t even know it too was among the missing as I haven’t yet connected the fountain.
The best of all news is my house sitter will stay here when I go to Ghana. She loves the animals and is always around the house as she doesn’t work. Gracie followed her around after her greetings to me then I got home the last time. I figured Lu, my sitter, was good for treats and Gracie had taken advantage. The hunt for flights is on. We have a tentative time of mid-September for going and we’re working on returning 2 and 1/2 weeks later. My friends have decided to go first class as they expect this will probably be their last trip to Ghana. I had been willing to go premium economy to be with them but I do like first class. I think I like the attention and the pampering. I definitely like the seat becoming a bed. It took me a long while to save enough for this trip given the flight cost, the pay to my house sitter, food and lodging and fun money so I’m thinking that it may also be the last time for me. I do want to travel more but to new places, closer places. I’m thinking the DR or Jamaica or even Cuba.
For a Saturday it is a quiet day. I did hear one mower earlier but now I hear only the birds. Their sound is so lovely I keep stopping to listen. I don’t know which birds are singing, but I know there are two or three different ones. That birds greet every day by singing is one of nature’s great gifts to us and the birds. I can’t imagine how wonderful it must feel that every day deserves a song.
Categories: Musings
Tags: adapters, back on line, bird songs, cloudy day, damp, deck decorating, flowers, fountain, Ghana, house-sitter, pots, quiet day, window boxes
Comments: 14 Comments
May 31, 2016
Today is warm and humid and still damp from the rain of the last two days. Only the middle of the street is beginning to dry. Much of the pollen has been washed away. My car is red again. Today I’m getting what I need to open the deck for summer. That would be paint for the planters, more clay pots, flowers and herbs. With my pad and pen in hand, I have to go on the deck and make a list of what I need then it’s off to Agway.
This morning I watched The Lone Ranger. Much of it was filmed outside on dusty roads among hills lined with rocks. It wasn’t really all that bad for being 59 years old. Tonto may have butchered the English language, but he was an equal partner to Kemosabe. Adam 12 was next. It hasn’t aged as well as The Lone Ranger filled as it is with 1970. After that, I was done with classic television.
When I was a kid, we had only a few channels to watch. Saturday mornings were filled with cartoons and half hour shows like Rin Tin Tin, Buffalo Bill, Annie Oakley and Captain Midnight. I really liked Annie Oakley. She was a female sheriff, and that was a big deal to me. She wore what would later be called cullottes but the legs on hers were so wide they looked almost like a dress. Everything she wore was fringed. Captain Midnight was another favorite. I wanted my mother to buy me Ovaltine because that’s what Captain Midnight drank. She didn’t.
I remember well one of our TV’s, the one in the console, a huge cabinet for a small screen. It was against the wall near the window on the back wall of the living room. We’d sit close and watch until my mother made us move back to save our eyes. I know we had a color TV on the cape but the colors weren’t very bright. My father blamed cable, but it was just the TV getting old.
The TV I have now was the first HD set in the neighborhood. It caused quite the stir. Now everyone has HD. Mine is getting on in age as it is around 12, but it seems fine and the colors are still bright.
I like watching television, mostly at night. I have to be really bored to watch it in the daytime. Today I was bored.
Categories: Musings
Tags: Adam 12, Annie Oakley, clay pots, damp, deck, flowers, HD, herbs, humid, Kemosabe, old TV console, The Lone Ranger, Tonto, warm
Comments: 15 Comments
May 24, 2016
Zip-a-dee-doo-dah, zip-a-dee-ay, my, oh my, what a wonderful day. I don’t know how exactly, but I managed to get my computer back. Whatever was loading disappeared or loaded. I have no idea. I left the computer on when I went to bed. It said 13 more hours to load. When I woke up, 9 hours later, all was well. I cheered when my screen saver loaded.
Today is damp and a bit chilly. It must have rained during the night. Outside is quiet. I don’t hear a single sound, not even a car.
Yesterday I bought my flowers for the front garden and the herb garden, and I bought a hanging tomato plant for the deck. All the flowers are perennials. Three of them are native plants which attract butterflies. I know one of them is a kind of milkweed. I also bought tall plants for the back of the garden. I couldn’t buy basil yet as it is still in the greenhouse. May 31st is the official date to start planting in New England, and because basil is susceptible to the cold, the plants will stay in the greenhouse until the 31st.
A woman working in the garden chose some plants for me. She even used their Latin names. I was thunderstruck and quite awed.
I don’t remember when I first discovered you could buy live herbs. It was quite the revelation. I grew up in a pansy garden house. My dad dutifully planted them in front every year. They were evenly spaced and in a variety of colors. Years later, in a different house, my mother planted a garden right by the kitchen windows. It was filled with flowers and a statue of St. Francis holding his seed filled hands out to the birds. Maggie, another dog of mine, discovered the garden. She horrified my mother by wandering among the plants which were so tightly arranged they left little room for visitors. I had to go get Maggie several times. My dad finally put up a fence around the opening. I loved that little garden right outside the windows.
Categories: Musings
Tags: attract butterflies, computer is back, damp, herbs, plants, rained, St. Francis, still air
Comments: 6 Comments
February 25, 2016
Today is the same as the last few days: damp, dark, occasionally rainy and very windy. The phone woke me around 8. I let it go to voice. No message was left. I couldn’t go back to sleep so Gracie, Fern and I got out of bed. They are now napping.
When I was in the eighth grade, my friends and I were allowed to go to Boston by ourselves for the first time. We took the Sullivan Square bus from the stop in front of the movie theater uptown. At Sullivan Square we took the train, the subway train. It wasn’t called the T back then. I don’t remember where we got off, but I figure it must have been at the stop which had entrances to Filene’s and Jordan Marsh. That would have put us right downtown on Washington Street.
We had no destination in mind. It was the going by ourselves which was important. We roamed all over the city. I remember it was a Saturday because the market was open. Pushcarts were in rows with narrow aisles between them. The aisles were crowded with people. The wooden carts held fruit, veggies, nuts or candy. Vendors called out to us to stop at their carts. Butcher shops were in small storefronts across from the carts. Meat hung down on hooks. The butchers wore what must have been at one time white aprons. A couple of places sold pizza by the slice. I remember the smell of the pizza cooking.
We went to the North End which was all Italian back then. Widows wearing black sat on wooden kitchen chairs placed on sidewalks in front of their houses. They spoke to each other in Italian. Bakeries sold what I found out later were cannolis. Some places sold pizza by the slice or the pie.
The North End was a foreign country to me. Rabbits hung in store windows. In a candy store, some candy looked exactly like fruits and vegetables. Some looked like white mice with black whiskers. I asked and found out they had been made with marzipan. I bought a mouse. It tasted horrible. The pizza was served in square slices. The crusts were thin.
I was a foreigner. The North End was the first real place to feed my wanderlust.
Categories: Musings
Tags: Boston, butcher shops, cannoli, carts, damp, dark, downtown, Haymarket, Italain, marzipan, North End, open market, Pizza, rainy, storefronts, subway, windy
Comments: 8 Comments
February 23, 2016
My sunny disposition has deserted me. It is an ugly, cold, damp, grey day. Gracie woke me up early when she barked at some outside noises. The house was still cold, and I was still tired, but I dragged myself out of bed and went downstairs and opened the door to check. If I had been a throwaway character in a horror movie, the slasher would have been outside the door just waiting for me. If I were watching the movie, I’ll think how stupid not to check before opening the door and I’d think the character got what she deserved. Luckily no one was there, but my newspapers were on the front step so someone had been there. It must have been my neighbor. I doubt the slasher would have been so thoughtful.
My dance card is total empty so I am going to hang around the house all day. I doubt I’ll even get dressed. I’ll probably nap as it’s the sort of day which invites getting warm and cozy in bed under the covers. I’ll bring my book.
March is when I am tired of winter. The first day of spring is in March. We turn our clocks ahead the second Sunday in March. Easter is at the end of March. Spring training is over. It’s time to put away the shovels and the heavy coats. I want to see the bright yellow of the forsythias. I want to sit on the deck and be warmed by the sun. I wish the coming of March was the signal that winter has finally packed its bags and moved south, but Mother Nature guarantees nothing.
I thumbed through a couple of travel magazines and salivated over the pictures. It was like I was a kid again reading my geography book and dreaming. My Barrett Syndrome has surfaced. I hope I can hang on until the trip back to Ghana in the fall.
Categories: Musings
Tags: cold, damp, grey, grouchy, hang around the house, horror movie, March, nap, slasher, throwaway character, tired of winter
Comments: 10 Comments
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