Ray Bradbury’s “All Summer in a Day” must have been inspired by a day like today. Delightful seems archaic but that’s all I can think of to describe it. The coolness of the morning is here in this dark room while the sun shines through the front door giving Fern a perfect place to nap. Her fur is even hot to the touch. The day gave me a burst of energy, and I have already changed the sheets on my bed, a chore I generally don’t like, put my new bedspread on it, swept the kitchen floor and taken a shower. That’s usually a whole day’s worth of expended energy.

Tonight is movie night. I was going to show West Side Story but I can’t find it. Later I’ll have to pick a few movies and let my friends decide. We’re having hot dogs and salad for dinner, nothing fancy. Cheese, dips and crackers and a game of Phase 10 will be first, and they’ll be movie snacks for later. I lean toward popcorn and Nonpareils.

I can’t believe that summer is almost over. Last year at this time I was getting excited about going back to Ghana. This year the big excitement was new pillows, a new spread for my bed and new bedroom curtains. I am nearly giddy.

My friends are going to Ghana, and I wish them the same feelings of being home that I felt. Last summer I was sitting on the main street of Bolga and having a Coke and watching the world walk. It was just so familiar. I remember we used to walk up a small flight of stairs to sit at the end store where there were a couple of outside tables. We’d have cold Cokes before heading home. Cold Coke was a rarity and a reward for a dusty shopping trip through the market. Bill asked if I was jealous of him and Peg and their trip: extremely was my answer.

Meanwhile, the pennies for my next trip mount up in the tin with the stars. I put in any change I get and a few dollar bills when I can.  Next week I’ll have to start redeeming my Coke cans. I have bags of them and figure I’ve got over $50.00 worth. That’ll go into the tin too. Austerity is never bad when the reason is good.

I used to love finding a couple of empty bottles when I was a kid. They meant a dime and that meant ten cents worth of penny candy, a whole bagful. The glass cabinet at the white store had wood all around the outside edges of it but inside of that cabinet was every kid’s dream. There were rows of boxes and each box had a different penny candy. The choices were almost overwhelming. I liked stuff which lasted a while, chewy stuff like Mary Jane’s and Squirrels (little did I know the relationship squirrels and I would have in the future). I like the wax bottles because you could chew the wax for a while. Fire balls were just about my favorites of them all. I always challenged myself to keep it in my mouth the whole time. Only the sissies couldn’t stand the heat. I was never among them!!