Posted tagged ‘dark day’
July 26, 2015
Today is overcast and dark and the air has a damp chill. It feels as if rain is pending. I hope so. It has been too long since the last rain fell.
Last night was perfect for movie night. It wasn’t too hot or too cold. Goldilocks would have found it just right. The crowd liked Breaking Away and they clapped when the Cutters won.
I lived in a project from the time I was five until I was sixteen. It was in my small town and back then the word project had no stigma attached. We never thought twice about calling it the project when we talked about where we lived. Even now, when my sisters and I remember growing up, we start our memories with, “In the project…” The houses were all duplexes made of wood. The front yards had lawns, bushes and flower gardens. We lived in a corner duplex so we had a huge front yard with a small hill leading to the sidewalk and the street. All the backyards had clotheslines, and each side of the duplex had two of those clotheslines. In the middle of the backyards, between the sets of duplexes and behind the clotheslines, was a grass-covered hill, perfect for little kids to sled on in winter and to slip ‘n slide on in summer. The project was loaded with kids of all ages. My best friend lived up above from where I lived, and she even lived in the same duplex where we had first lived. Everyone in the project was a neighbor. One of our favorite neighbors lived in the house next door and another favorite lived right beside us in the same duplex. Their side was a mirror image of ours. A few neighbors were not so friendly, but only a few.
When I talk about my childhood with someone, I usually have to explain the project, defend it somehow, as most people tend to think of projects as block after block of brick high-risers in the poorest part of any city. They never think of them as I do: a place filled with kids, ready playmates, with a grassy field of grasshoppers which jumped in front of you when you walked, an old tree for climbing, blueberries for picking, woods for exploring and a swamp perfect for catching pollywogs in spring and for ice skating on in winter. It was the best place in which to grow up. My sisters and I agree on that.
Categories: Musings
Tags: a swamp, blueberries, Breaking Away, chilly day, clotheslines, cloudy day, dark day, duplexes, grasshoppers, growing up, hills for sledding, lawns, the project, \exploring
Comments: 8 Comments
February 2, 2015
If the groundhog had had any control, he wouldn’t have emerged from his home. He’d have stayed inside warm and cozy, turned over and slipped back to sleep; however, that can never be his choice. The poor groundhog is always wrested from his house then put on display. Today, Groundhog Day, Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow which, considering the overcast sky, must have been metaphoric. He predicted six more weeks of winter. I figure the falling snow might have been a clue.
We are in the middle of what one newsman called a weather event. For the Cape that means snow then rain. When I woke up, it was snowing but now heavy rain is pelting the snow. The day is ugly and the sky dark and ominous. The pine tree branches in the backyard stand starkly silhouetted against the sky. Rain drips from the roof. I will go nowhere today.
The Super Bowl last night was amazing. My hometown boys took the win, but it seemed a gift from the gods because the Seahawks, on the one yard line, passed the ball instead of running it and gave a Patriots’ undrafted rookie the chance to intercept the ball with only 20 seconds left to play. Come to find out, he had practiced that very play and been beaten to the ball, but he wasn’t this time. He knew what to expect. The camera after that panned to Brady jumping in the air and spinning while Richard Sherman’s face had an incredulous look at first then a painful one when he realized the game was lost. All his on-camera trash talk was for naught.
We had great food last night. Chips and onion dip are a tradition as are corn curls so we had to have them so as not to break the luck. We also had Swedish meatballs, cheesy bread with pizza sauce for dipping and Margherita pizza which had a basil pesto base on naan.
We watch the hoopla after the game. The sky was raining confetti and the Patriots were already wearing their championship hats and shirts. It was a good night all around.
Categories: Musings
Tags: dark day, Groundhod Day, Happy Brady, interception, Margherita pizza, more winter, ominous sky, snow and rain, Suoer Bowl food, Super Bowl, Super Bowl food, the trash mouth, undrafted rookie, unhappy Sherman
Comments: 12 Comments
January 12, 2015
Cloudy day today, a storm cloudy day, a rainy day. When I saw the clouds, I knew. I didn’t need to look at the weather prediction. Snow clouds are different. They have an eerie light, almost a warning system. Fair day clouds are puffy and very white. Storm clouds cover the sky and darken the day. The pine tree branches look stark, even bold. A winter rain is bone chilling. I will not be going anywhere today. I am into comfort and warmth.
I started reading a Ghanaian mystery by Kwei Quartey. It is the fourth book of his I’ve read. His plots are simple: murder, investigation and arrest. But I am not drawn to his novels by the plots. It is Ghana. I love reading of places where I’ve been and of things Ghanaian. I know what dinner looks like when it is fufu and stew. The main character was riding through Adabraka, a section of Accra. I knew it well. The hostel was there as was Talal’s, a spot for lunch, for Peace Corps pizza as Talal used to call it: pita bread with tomatoes and melted cheese. A movie theater was within walking distance of the hostel as was a pretty good restaurant. Back then, if you were young and white and asked to go to Adabraka, the taxi driver would take you right to the hostel for twenty pesewas from anywhere in the city. I looked for that hostel as did my friends Bill and Peg. We didn’t find it. So far in the novel, Death at the Voyager Hotel, we haven’t a murder, a death yes but only one person believes it a murder.
A dismal day demands little, and that’s what it will get.
Categories: Musings
Tags: Accra, Adabraka, Clouds, dark day, Ghana mystery, Kwei Quartey, Peace Corps hostel, rainy day, snow clouds, stark branches, Talal's, winter rain
Comments: 10 Comments
December 19, 2014
It is quite late for me because I had several errands. I also treated myself to lunch in between as I had a half hour wait before I could finish my last errand. Today is a still day, a windless day. It is dark and cold. Everyone was bundled up and was moving quickly from store to store.
I need to get out of my public clothes into my cozies. I’ll be glad when I’m really old because I’ll wear whatever I want in public and people will chalk it up to old age.
The Christmas tree lot at Stop and Shop is gone. A few trees are on the ground, the leftovers I expect. Agway is still open but has very few trees. I remember my mother talking about her Christmas tree and how it was decorated when they were in bed on Christmas Eve. They’d wake up in the morning to a glorious tree and gifts from Santa. I like having the tree around longer. I get to admire it in the living room, and I get to sit and read surrounded by Christmas. Both trees are lit now. They have given the day its only color.
Fern has taken to sleeping on the tree skirt. She falls asleep warmed by the lights and sleeps so deeply she snores but ever so slightly. I have to listen closely to hear her. Gracie, on the other hand, snores loudly, like a grown man, a big grown man. She snorts as she sleeps. Sometimes I can’t fall asleep for the racket. Boxers tend to be snorers.
A few Christmas jobs remain. I have my baking to do, presents to wrap for my Cape friends and Christmas dinner to plan. I ordered a pork roast from the butcher, but that is as far as I’ve gotten. I know I’ll do an apple dish and some sort of potato, and I’m thinking baby carrots for color and one more vegetable yet to be decided. I’m going to do a relish tray. My grandmother always had one on her table when we ate there. I was always drawn to the celery. I have the perfect dish to use: a very old glass sectioned plate just like the one my grandmother had. The old touches are always great memories to add to the table.
When I think of dessert, I think of the Cratchits and their Christmas pudding. The flame was always so dramatic and such a splendid finish to dinner.
Categories: Musings
Tags: cat under the tree, Christmas Eve, Christmas trees, cold, cozy clothes, dark day, decorating the tree, errands, planning dinner, relish tray, Snoring, still day, tree lights, wrapping presents
Comments: 10 Comments
November 7, 2014
The morning has been a busy one already. First I was awakened by the ungodly sound of the alarm ringing at 7:30. I know it seems silly that I need an alarm for 7:30, but for me that is still early morning. I groaned out of bed, shuffled down the stairs and went to get the papers. I had my coffee, a necessity that early, and read the papers. I then got dressed and left as I started physical therapy this morning. My back or rather my hip has been horrific with painful spasms at night. I am rudely awakened by a woman howling in pain. Shockingly I am the screamer. The doctor decided physical therapy might help so I started my two days a week today.
Gracie is herself. The last test determined she has an irregular heartbeat, but they still don’t know what happened. The vet speculated that her blood pressure went down when she had multiple irregular heartbeats in a row and that caused her to fall. There were two other possibilities but the vet thinks this is the reason. Gracie is starting today on fish oil and some pills from the pharmacy to maintain her heartbeat. In a week and a half she’ll have a second test on her heart. I watch her all the time. One of my Boxers had cardiomyopathy so I worry about Miss Gracie. The vet doesn’t seem to think so, but they didn’t think Maggie did either. In a bit Gracie and I are heading to the dump. The vet called too late to go yesterday.
It is dark, ugly, damp and cold today. It’s a jacket or heavy sweatshirt weather. I didn’t wear one this morning, and I was cold. I think it is a perfect stay in the house day, wear comfy clothes, read and have a grilled cheese sandwich for lunch. I might even make meatloaf and mashed potatoes tonight. I’m in a comfort food mode.
Sunny days lend themselves to activities, to being outside, to taking in all that vitamin D. Dark days are an excuse for staying home and being comfortable. Black and white horror movies should be on the TV. The house should smell like popcorn. I’m going to post my music, take Gracie to the dump, pick up her pills then come home and enjoy being cozy and comfy. I’ll bring out the afghan and lie on the couch. I suspect Gracie will lie with me. I see a nap in both our futures.
Categories: Musings
Tags: comfort foods, comfy clothes, damp day, dark day, dump run, fish oil, irregular heartbeat, naps, physical therapy, sore back, ugly day
Comments: 10 Comments
September 25, 2014
I am back to myself again. The only aches and pains come from age.
The morning is dark, almost ominous. Everything is still. The house was cold when I woke up, down to 64˚. I broke my no heat vow. The house is now comfortable, and I am in my winter garb including slippers and a sweatshirt. I’m thinking it might be time to replace the back door screen with glass. That’s where Gracie’s dog door is, and when it’s cold, I have to keep the inside door shut, and Gracie can’t come and go at will. I’ve added that to my to do list for today. I’m also going to put a blanket on the bed. I was cold last night, and I know Gracie was too because she was leaning against me. It wasn’t comfortable.
Duke, the boxer I grew up with, was not allowed on furniture, including beds, but he always figured that only held true when we could see him. At night he’d sleep on the couch. We could hear him getting off when we walked down the stairs in the morning. When we went somewhere and Duke was home alone, the bedspreads would miraculously get circles in the middle, the sort a dog makes when turning around and around. We never did catch him at it. He was one smart dog.
Yesterday was computer day from hell. My Mac screen stayed black. The keyboard lit and the cursor worked, but the screen would die just after the apple appeared. I went crazy. I got my iPad and went hunting. One site told me to hold the shift key so it would open in safe mode. That didn’t work. I’d read my book for a while, but I kept stopping to stare at the computer. I hate computer problems, and I have this overwhelming need to solve them. I’d put my book down and try something else suggested by some poor computer illiterate with the same problem. I went from forum to forum. I felt like Diogenes wandering with my lamp looking not for an honest man but for a solution. I actually found one. It was five steps, and the woman who posted it had gotten the solution from Apple. The comments after the steps were from people thanking her which gave me encouragement and also let me know the problem was not the machine. It was a glitch from an Apple system automatic update that never quite got past the login screen. When my desktop appeared, I was Rocky running up the stairs of the art museum in triumph: computer 0, me 1.
Categories: Musings
Tags: animals on the bed, dark day, Dog, furnace, heat, off the bed, rain, Storm door
Comments: 12 Comments
July 27, 2014
Yesterday was both a wonderful day and a strange one. The strange part was in the late afternoon. I’d bring the stuff outside I needed for dinner then it would start raining, and I’d pick everything up, including the heavy wooden ironing board, and bring it back inside. The rain, more of a sprinkle, would stop and I’d carry all my stuff back outside then the rain would start again, and I’d haul everything back inside. The third time the rain came I just put everything under the umbrella, made a drink and sat listening to the rain fall on the umbrella, one of the best summer sounds. My shirt and I were soaked from the humidity and I was already tired, but the sound of the rain was calming as were a few sips of my drink. When the rain finally stopped, I got everything ready. The corn was shucked, the meat ready for the grill, the appetizer finished and the serving pieces set out on the ironing board. I was exhausted. My friends came and we sat a bit enjoying the appetizers. We did ourselves proud: muhammara, flatbread pizza and pot stickers. Not much later I had to start dinner, but the pork was slow roasting so I had time to sit. Dinner was pork tenderloin, salad and fresh corn from the farmers’ market. By then the rain was gone and we could see blue skies and a bit of sun. It would be movie night after all.
Everyone loved Westworld. For an old movie, it has held up fairly well. The audience even applauded at the end. I had cleaned up between dinner and the movie so there wasn’t a whole lot left to do. Clay, aka AV boy, brought in all the equipment and Tony brought in the ironing board. I said goodnight to my guests, finished the last of the cleaning and sat. I was so tired I slept until 10:30 this morning.
I loved last night being with friends, having a great dinner and watching a movie. It was such fun. We got to loll outside on a pretty night with a canopy of stars, eat malted milk balls and nonpareils and talk if we wanted, no hushers on the deck. There was a breeze, but it was a warm night, no sweatshirt needed. I thought it a perfect summer evening.
Today is a do nothing day as I am exhausted, and my back is loudly complaining. It is supposed to rain, and I think it will. The day has darkened and the wind, from the north, seems to portent a coming storm. I think I’ll like today.
Categories: Musings
Tags: dark day, deck movie, fresh corn, movie candy, movie night, perfect summer night, pot stickers, rain and rain again, rain today, sitting on the deck farmers' market, Westworld
Comments: 8 Comments
July 24, 2014
Yesterday I was productive. I did errands, potted a few flowers, cleaned the deck, changed the litter, made my bed, went to the post office and went out for lunch. I wanted applause.
Yesterday was Humid, with a capital H. I put on the AC and left it cranking until this morning.
Today is dark but not so humid so I don’t have that closed in feeling. A small breeze is coming through the north window. Thundershowers are predicted for later.
The spawns of Satan have been eating acorns and tossing the pieces on the deck. I go barefoot so I have been stepping on them, yelping and then cursing. I believe the spawns know exactly what they’re doing. Every morning I clean off the pieces, and every afternoon more are back. That sounds like a plot to me. The red spawn isn’t coming around as much. I don’t think it likes the jet of water I spray at him. Now I just walk out on the deck and he’s gone in a flash. Even though I can’t reach him, I spray in his direction for effect.
My neighborhood is so quiet today. I don’t know where the screaming kids and barking dogs have gone. Yesterday my landscaper took down two dead pine trees from my backyard and hauled away the huge branch which had broken off the large pine tree. The back of his truck was filled. It had been a noisy day so today is a pleasure.
When I think back, I remember my neighborhood was only quiet late at night. During the day there were kids playing in the backyards, mostly younger kids who couldn’t go far and didn’t yet have the independence of a bike. My sisters used to play dolls on the steps right outside the back door. I remember them sitting there, one sitting on a step higher than the other. They talked through their dolls using voices wholly different from their own, voices higher in pitch, doll talk.
The neighborhood would start to quiet down around suppertime. The kitchens of all the houses faced the back yard, and I could hear dishes rattling and snatches of conversation. It was not a neighborhood for privacy. We all shared the back yard and the windows were open all summer. The night quieted as it got older; kids went to bed and I could hear the TV from the house closest to mine. That were always the last sound I remembered hearing on any summer night.
Categories: Musings
Tags: acorns, cutting down trees, dark day, dead branches, doll talk, errands, humidity, pine trees, playing dolls, playing in the yard, red spawn of Satan, thundershwers
Comments: 12 Comments
February 13, 2014
When I woke up, I could hear the rain falling on the roof and dripping on the deck. It’s a steady rain, a good rain, and I love a rainy day. My house is dark except for the light here in the den. It seems to brighten every corner of the room. I have always felt somehow comforted by the rain. It surrounds me and fills my ears with a different melody every time. I remember in elementary school I loved to watch the rain dripping down the windows. Though no one spoke, the classroom was never quiet. I could hear the shuffling of papers, the turning of book pages and the rain. I felt warm and safe. After school, I’d get home, take off my wet clothes, put on my pajamas and read in bed. It was the nicest of afternoons.
Yesterday I filled the bird feeders, and the birds are taking full advantage of the seeds. I even filled an extra feeder for the chickadees who are outnumbered by the gold finches who seem to be at all the other feeders and don’t share well. The finches don’t like the different feeder I filled, but the chickadees do. In the afternoon, from my kitchen window, I watched the red spawn jump from the deck rail to the feeder, grab a seed then fall back to the rail to dine. I went outside in stealth mode hoping to scare it again, but it ran. Later I watched a fat gray spawn walking on the rail and closing in on where the red spawn was standing. I waited as the grey spawn got closer and closer. Sure enough, that red spawn went after the grey one which took off in a heartbeat despite its superiority in size. The red spawn is evil.
Last night around 12:30, I let Gracie out for the last time before bed. She took off like a shot. I knew she had either heard or seen something. I stood on the deck and watched as she ran a few times around a tree in the yard. I could hear her sniffing. I called and was ignored. Then she took off and ran the perimeter of the yard along the fence. I lost track of her so I gingerly went down the steps which are, for the most part, free of ice. I, of course, found the one spot which wasn’t, and my leg went though the space between the stairs. Luckily I wasn’t hurt and was able to get my leg back on the step. Finally I managed to get to the ground and stood on a spot free of ice. I located Gracie at the opposite side of the yard. I yelled for her and offered treats. She came running at full force, ran up the steps and into the house leaving me in the dust. I went upstairs gingerly and went inside. She was waiting patiently by her crate for her treat. I still wonder what it was that attracted her attention. Luckily she never found it and luckily I made it safely back into the house limbs intact.
Categories: Musings
Tags: bird feeders, dark day, icy steps, late at night, melody of the rain, noise in the yard, rain, red and grey spawns of Satan
Comments: 8 Comments
December 23, 2013
The day is warm but rainy and dreary. The temperature, though, is due for a radical change: from the 50’s of this morning to the 30’s tonight. I just hope the roads don’t freeze. The paper even mentioned the possibility of snow. If I were a little kid, I’ll keep checking out the window hoping to see flakes falling. It was always fun to be the first to yell. “It’s snowing!”
Last night Gracie was barking her intruder bark, and I could hear frantic knocking on my front door. I jumped out of bed and stood in the hall but heard nothing. I turned and saw Gracie asleep on the bed. I realized I had been dreaming so I rejoined Gracie and went back to sleep.
Yesterday I wrapped again and am down to two unwrapped presents. I like this leisurely approach. Tonight I’ll finish up and put away all the paper and tags until next year. My presents, from my two sisters, are in the living room. Some are under the trees and others are arranged in front of the table, an arrangement being a genetic trait. I remember Christmas mornings and coming downstairs and my first look through the bannister. The tree was always lit, and the presents were arranged in front of it. My brother’s gifts were to the left then came mine then each of my two sisters’ gifts. Santa never wrapped our gifts. That made sense to me as I doubted he and the elves had time. They were too busy making the gifts. Games were upright in front. One year my brother’s new bike was in the kitchen, a surprise. He was sent to get matches and did so in the dark and didn’t even see his bike. My parents sent him back and told him to turn on the light. I remember his yelp at seeing his bike. We’d each sit in front of our spots and check out our gifts one by one. We’d show my parents who would act surprised. I don’t remember ever being disappointed.
Categories: Musings
Tags: Christmas morning, Christmas tree, cold night, dark day, dreaming, possibility of snow, presents, rainy
Comments: 24 Comments
keepthecoffeecoming.blog 