Posted tagged ‘dark’
September 8, 2016
Yesterday was hot and humid. Today is dark and humid. Tomorrow will be blistering hot. It rained earlier. My guess is sometime after 6 as underneath my papers was dry. Today, Gracie and I are finally getting to the dump. I have been storing bags on the deck. They smell this time of year.
The Globe this morning had a few tidbits. My favorite was titled ” Are sightings Pennywise or just clown foolish.”Stephen King fans will recognize Pennywise as the clown in his novel It. The book is scary enough, but the movie clown is frightening. I looked it up: coulrophobia is fear of clowns. The newspaper relates the story of a man in Greensboro, NC who saw a clown who was typically dressed: red curls, oversized shoes, blue pants and a poker dot shirt. The clown, however, was wearing a scary mask. The guy had a machete and chased the clown who disappeared into the woods. The guy called the police. It doesn’t say why. The officers searched but were unable to find anyone matching the description. That, however, was not the first sighting. It seems clowns have been menacing the area since early August and one tried to lure some children into the woods. There have been a half-dozen sightings. The police haven’t found any proof, and the reason for the clowns’ existence is just as perplexing. It could be a stunt for a new movie, “31.” The police announced they will arrest anyone dressed like a clown, “It’s illegal. It’s dangerous. It’s inappropriate, and it’s creating community concern and needs to be stopped.”
Killer Klowns from Outer Space is a horror comedy. I love it. Shadow puppets are weapons. Victims are wrapped in cotton candy. Popcorn attacks people. An ice cream truck is important to the plot. My suggestion is if you like silly but fun movies this is the one; however, if you are afraid of clowns stay away from this movie.
I am going to miss the first debate, and I am so bummed. There is an internet cafe in Bolga for which you pay by the hour. My first thought was to find where the debate is streaming, pay the money and use the password to connect from my iPad, but the cafe will be closed by the time the debate starts as Ghana is 4 hours ahead. Plan B is hoping one of my former students might know someone with a home router and wifi.
When I think about my trip, all sorts of pictures “dance in my head.”Ghana is colorful. The market is the best place to roam. It is a treasure trove of cloth, fruits and vegetables. The streets are lined with people selling food. On my last trip I found the sausage man. The kelewele wagon is parked at the end of the stores. That one I’ll visit often!
Categories: Musings
Tags: clowns, coulrophobia, dark, debate, Ghana, humid, internet cafe, It, Killer Klowns from Outer Space, North Carolina, Pennywise, Stephen King, wifi
Comments: 9 Comments
July 31, 2016
It is a still morning. Not a leaf blows on the trees overhanging the deck. Not even a bird disturbs the silence. The day is cloudy and feels close. The humidity is higher than the last few days but still tolerable. My house is 74˚, not time for AC yet. Gracie likes the doors open so she can survey the neighborhood. The cats just sleep. That’s what cats do.
Last night I was awoken two times. The first was Fern meowing and looking for attention. She has figured out that waking me up means she gets her pats. I scratch her by the tail, pat her a few times then fall back to sleep. She is content and sleeps the rest of the night beside me. The second time was when my bed was shaking. I knew Gracie was panting. That meant she was uncomfortable and needed to go out. We went down stairs, and when I opened the door, she was out like a shot. She was back about 5 minutes later, and we both went back to bed. She fell asleep right away. It took me a whole lot longer.
My to do list is short today. I just have to water plants inside and out, but if truth be told, I don’t even feel like making that small effort. Sunday is a quiet day for me, a throwback from my childhood. When I worked, it was dump and laundry day. Now, I can’t imagine doing both of those in one day. The effort seems monumental. I went to the dump late yesterday afternoon with two weeks worth of trash. I have laundry I could do, but there is still laundry in the dryer from last week. I have embraced a lazy lifestyle.
Categories: Musings
Tags: awoken, cloudy, dark, needing attention, open doors, panting dog, quiet, sleeping cats, still morning, Sunday, to do list, water plants
Comments: 5 Comments
July 29, 2016
Rain! Finally we have rain, a gentle but persistent rain.
I shut off the air conditioning and opened the windows so I could hear the rain falling on the leaves. The day is extremely dark. I needed a light when I read the papers. The only light now is from my computer. The day is quiet. Rain does that, mutes most other sounds. According to the weather report, it will rain most of the day, and the Cape is under a flash flood warning.
It is only 72˚, the coolest day in a few weeks. I like having the doors and windows opened connecting me with outside. I was happy to turn off the air conditioner.
In the paper this morning I learned a new word for a grouping. The reporter wrote, “A flock of purple, white and red balloons was released.” Who knew many balloons were designated a flock?
I can’t imagine being on the road today. Tourists will be out and about trying to find something to while away the hours. Movie theaters and their parking lots will be filled so some cars will be parked outside the lots on grass and beside all the roads leading to the theaters. Souvenir shop owners love a rainy day.
During college summers I worked in Hyannis. It was crowded with people even on rainy days. Tourists didn’t seem to mind the weather. Cars crawled on Main Street in what looked like rush hour traffic. All on street parking spaces were taken. The store with the most customers sold penny candy, now a nickel or a dime. The Planter’s Peanut store also had a line of customers. I think they were drawn by the aroma. Every restaurant had lines. My favorite was the deli.
I’ll find enough around the house to keep me busy. I do need to make a dump run, but I’m not anxious to fight with the traffic. The dump is a few streets and three long lights away and one of them means waiting a few cycles before I get the green light.
A nap actually sounds good for today. I always think falling asleep to the sound of rain drops is the best nap of all.
Categories: Musings
Tags: 72˚, a flock of balloons, crowded roads, dark, deli, Hyannis, movies, penny candy, quiet, rain, souvenirs
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
June 26, 2015
The morning is dark, wet and chilly. It is the sort of weather which dampens energy and enthusiasm. I heard one bird loudly singing and hoping, I think, others would join him in a morning song. None did, and now he is gone and the day is quiet, almost silent. The leaves on the oak tree ruffle a bit but not enough to make any sound. The silence is a bit eerie.
It rained earlier this morning and looks as if it may rain again. The rain must have been more of mist as the deck under the furniture never got wet. It is a good day to stay home.
Fern woke me up this morning. She was meowing over and over. I pretended to be asleep. She jumped on the bed and head butted my arm then licked my hand hoping for a response. I ignored her and she finally fell asleep beside me; however, she is still restless, the only one of my pets not asleep on the couch with me. This is their morning nap time, not to be confused with their afternoon or evening naps, but Fern is now standing in the doorway outside this room and meowing.
We always had pets when I was a kid. We had goldfish which never lasted very long. I always figured they were bored with life in a glass bowl. We had a turtle from Woolworth’s which lived for years. His plastic enclosure had a fake palm tree and a little island. We loved stunning flies to feed him as he preferred them alive. We’d put the fly in the bowl and watch it skimming the water while the turtle was swimming over to dine. We had a parakeet, a green one, and a couple of chameleons, whose color varied based on surroundings. I had two hamsters, both males according to the pet store. They had a litter. Go figure! Duke, our boxer, was around the whole of my childhood. He died when I was in college. Duke is the reason I love boxers. We had cats, Gideon, being the first followed by Luther and Josh. I don’t ever remember a time in my life when I didn’t have a pet to love and be loved in return.
Categories: Musings
Tags: afternoon naps, birds, cats, chameleons, dark, dogs, Fish, meowing, pets, rain, silence, staying inside
Comments: 6 Comments
September 26, 2014
The rain fell for most of the night, but it wasn’t nearly enough to wash away the drought. The sky is still cloudy and the day is dark though the sun is supposed to make an entrance later, hang around for a while and give tomorrow some summer warmth. I’m thinking it may be warm enough for the last movie on the deck night.
When I was a kid, I was not a girly girl. My sisters were. They played with dolls, wore dresses with pouffy slips underneath and loved hats and patent leather shoes. I didn’t. I wore skirts and blouses when I was forced to get dressed-up and had to wear them to school and church. Slacks and sometimes sweaters were my weekends and after school ensembles. I went through the wearing the cardigan backwards fashion craze. I suppose that made me a bit stylish or at least current. I remember stretch slacks with the loops on the bottoms for your feet. They were popular for a while, and I got a pair for Christmas one year. I also got a pink fuzzy sweater the same year. They too were popular. I loved that outfit and wore it until the fuzz disappeared.
I don’t get dressed up much any more. I wear nice pants and blouses or shirts when I go out. If it is somewhere special, I pull out one of my three dresses. Because my entire professional career was spent in dresses or skirts, I figure I’m entitled to wear what I want. I do make sure everything complements each other so I’m never messy or odd, just comfortable.
I think there is magic age where you can mix and match whatever you want. That black and white striped shirt is just fine with the yellow plaid capri pants, the blue ankle socks and the white sneakers with velcro. You just have to be old enough to pull it off.
Categories: Musings
Tags: backwards cardigans, cloudy, comfortable, dark, deck movie, Dresses, fuzzy sweaters, looped pants, patent rather shoes, pouffy slips, rain, skirts, sun, warm day
Comments: 8 Comments
April 8, 2014
The morning has already been a full one. I think I’m ready to join Gracie in a morning nap. I had my library board meeting, stops at the pharmacy, Stop and Shop and Ring Brothers, my favorite store for almost anything. I’m shortly going to get into my cozies and while away the day. Right now it’s pouring. It rained during the night, stopped so I could do my errands then started again when I got home. I love rainy days like this one. The house is dark except for the light in this room, my comfort, warm and cozy, a refuge from the rain.
My yard is spring ready. My landscaper and two of his workmen raked the lawn, edged and cleaned the flower beds, blew the debris from my deck and cleared the backyard of all its fallen branches. The lawn also got fertilized. Sebastian, my neighbor and landscaper, wanted it done so the rain would soak the fertilizer into the grass. Once the garden is cleared, I get itching to flower shop, but I know it is way too early. I’ll just have to buy a few pansies for pots on the front steps to hold me in the meanwhile.
My flamingo and my Travelocity gnome winter here in the house. All summer they stay on the deck and enjoy the sunshine. The flamingo dresses for every occasion. Right now he is wearing rabbit ears and a jaunty jacket. The gnome has no wardrobe but is content in his blue coat and conical red hat.
I used to think fireflies were fairies, relatives of Tinker Bell. At night there were so many in the field below my house they seemed to lift the darkness. We’d run and catch them in jars but keep them only a while. They were always one of the best parts of a warm summer night.
Spring and summer are wondrous seasons for me. The world is fresh and new in spring and every flower is welcomed after the drabness of winter. Summer is gardens bursting with color and it is late nights on the deck. I sit in the darkness and watch the fireflies flitting in my backyard among the pine trees, and I still point and yell and watch until they disappear into the next yard.
Categories: Musings
Tags: dark, errands, fireflies, flamingo, flowers, full morning, garden, meeting, pnsies, rainy, spring and summer, Travelocity gnome, yard clean-up
Comments: 8 Comments
January 18, 2014
Raw is the best description for the morning. It is cold, rainy and dark, a stay close to home and keep warm sort of day. If I had the fixings, I’d make stew with dumplings.
My memory banks seem to be closed today. In between typing sentences I get up and walk around to find something to do. On my last wandering I stopped and oiled the old child’s desk in the bathroom. It looks great. I’d wash my kitchen floor next, covered as it is in paw prints, but it is still raining.
I have two hot dogs left. All I’d need to add would be brown bread and baked beans to make our family’s usual Saturday night dinner. I never ate the beans, but I liked the brown bread. I even like brown bread now but toasted. I still don’t like beans.
I ate sardines when I was young. My dad would open the can using the key attached to the bottom and roll the top. He’d bring out the Saltines, and we’d finish off the can. That grosses me out now. My dad also loved Spam, straight from the can in a sandwich with mustard, the yellow kind. My sister still likes Spam. I never did. I used to hate vegetables, and there are still a few I won’t eat, but for the most part, I love vegetables. It’s interesting how tastes change.
My mother never made us eat what we didn’t like. She disguised carrots by mashing them with potatoes, and we ate them not knowing we had been duped. We liked peas, except for my brother, so she served those often. We all ate corn, especially fresh ears of summer corn. I tolerated green beans but now eat them only at Thanksgiving dinner which isn’t complete without green bean casserole. My mother made favorite dinners like American Chop Suey, fried dough and a hamburger dish we thought exotic because it had bean sprouts and water chestnuts. I could have eaten her meatloaf every night, especially the one she frosted with mashed potatoes. For the most part, though, we were average kids, not adventurous eaters. I, however, have become an adventurous eater mostly through circumstances and ignorance.
Categories: Music
Tags: brown bread and baked beans, changing tastes, cold, dark, ears of corn, empty memory banks, hot dogs, oiling furniture, peas, rainy, raw day, sardines, Spam, vegetab;es
Comments: 6 Comments
November 5, 2013
The sun is among the missing. It’s been gone a while. Today is dark and bleak. Very little color is left in my yard except for one small tree next to the drive-way. Its has red leaves, brilliant red leaves against the backdrop of empty branches.
I filled the feeders yesterday, and I got really cold. My fingers were the coldest of all. I filled three feeders with sunflower seeds and two with thistle. I also filled one suet feeder, cleaned out the bird bath and added water to it. When I looked later, the birds had descended in full force. When I looked after that, a red spawn was inside one of the feeders. I ran out and scared it so much the panicked spawn had trouble getting out from behind the wires on the feeder. I kept running at it, and the spawn was close enough to touch before it jumped to a branch. It is the same spawn who got hosed all summer. I’m thinking a squirt gun as the hose is put away for the winter.
When I was young, we’d go into Boston, to the Public Garden, and ride the swan boats. The boat pond was always filled with ducks and the garden itself had a million squirrels and pigeons. People would sit on benches and feed the birds and the squirrels pieces of bread and peanuts from vendors who sold them from red carts along the walkways. I always wanted to feed the squirrels. I thought they were cute. What did I know? I was little.
Life is filled with routine. It starts when we go to school. We get up every weekday, eat breakfast, get dressed and walk to school. The subjects come in the same order every day except on music and art day. We eat lunch at the same time every day. We go out for recess unless it’s raining. High school doesn’t change the routine much. For me the only difference was I took a bus every day, every day at the same time with the same people. The subjects still came in order. Lunch was at the same time every day . We didn’t have recess but we did go out for air in the small fenced in yard behind the school.
College is when the routine starts to change, and we begin to taste the freedom of choice. Pick your own classes mindful of the schedule. Eat when you have time. Sit around and play cards in the canteen. Skip a class now and then.
After college, the routine reasserts itself at work. Be there at a certain time, eat lunch at the same time as yesterday and the day before and the day before that, teach the same classes in the same order every day. Go home around the same time every day. That, however, was the first routine I barely noticed and never minded. I didn’t like the getting up part, but I loved the work part. I loved my first two years in Ghana and I loved the next thirty-three here on the cape. I think loving what you do makes the day joyful though not every day because we couldn’t be that lucky, but it does for most days.
I have no routine now, and I’m glad. I get to choose whatever my day will be. It doesn’t get much better than that.
Categories: Musings
Tags: bird feerers, college, colorless, dark, drear day, feeding squirrels, high school, Public Garden, red leaves, routine, school, spawn of satan, sunflower seeds, swan boats, thistle, work
Comments: 16 Comments
July 25, 2013
Okay, this may be difficult to believe but it is actually chilly and damp. That’s right: I said chilly. It is 66˚, and I’m loving it. All the windows and doors are opened, and Gracie is in and out at her pleasure. The day is dark and cloudy. It’s a candle sort of day, and I have a few lit in here and some of the electric ones lit in the living room. They shed just the right amount of light and make the house feel cozy. The candle closest to me flickers and its flame moves with the breeze. The scent of this candle is coffee.
Last night two of my friends and I went down-Cape to Eastham for dinner. We went to Karoo’s, a South African restaurant, and it was wonderful. The waitress was perfect as were her suggestions for food and drink. For starters, I had a combo plate and could make a few changes. I went with the monkey ribs instead of two snail rangoons. They and the peri-peri chicken were my favorites. For dinner I had Durban Bunny Chow, and it was so good I left only a few forlorn potato and carrot pieces on the plate. The drinks went down easily. Sadly, we had no room for dessert. I need to go back there and try more. That ostrich sattay (their spelling) and the bobotie looked darn good, and I could manage another couple of those drinks.
When I was growing up, we never ate exotic food except Italian and Chinese. One sit-down restaurant was Chinese, and there was a luncheonette up town with mostly stools. I don’t even remember if it had tables. Other places were take-out sub shops, pizza places and a Carrol’s, a McDonald like hamburger spot. It was cheap enough, but my parents never bought dinner there. I don’t know why. Later, high school later, we all used to hang out in the parking lot leaning against the cars and drinking shakes or cokes. That town now has an Indian and a Thai restaurant and still has that Chinese restaurant as well as a wonderful Italian restaurant. It also boasts a Burger King and a McDonald’s just over the line in the next town. The seafood restaurant always has a line, but we mostly do take-out.
My first strange food was, as I’ve mentioned a million times, in Ghana during training. I didn’t eat a lot of it. No one told us what we were being served so we were all pretty cautious. Breakfast with coffee and rolls was the most popular meal. I do remember the first time I ate goat. It was at my live-in. It was in some kind of soup. I knew it was meat, but I had no idea what kind of meat, and no one told me, but I tried it anyway. Other than having a lot of bones, it was pretty good. After that, I tried just about everything. That ostrich I mentioned will be next!
Categories: Musings
Tags: 66˚, bobotie, candles, Carrol's, chilly, chinese food, cloudy, dark, Durban bunny chow, Easthan, Goat, Karoo's, ostrich sattay, peri peri chicken, strange food
Comments: 9 Comments
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