Posted tagged ‘life’
January 4, 2026
I know it is late but that seems to be my pattern. I spoke with a friend for quite a while which made me even later.
Today is another ugly day. It is in the 20’s and grey and drab. Last night, around 1:30, it started to snow, around two inches fell. It covered the front path I had cleared, the back steps and the newspaper. Maybe I’ll sweep the path and clear the car, a big maybe.
When I was a kid, I was not a fan of walking in the rain, but I loved walking in the snow. I’d stick out my tongue to catch the snowflakes, and I’d run and slide down the sidewalk. Snow had potential. Rain did not. Snow could mean no school, an afternoon of sledding or a day spent in the building of an impregnable fort to defend ourselves from snowball fights. Rain did give us water flowing down the street beside the curbstone to the drains, and we’d splash and kick the water at each other. We’d also get soaked. Wet clothes got cold quickly. I always hurried home on rainy days in the winter.
When I was really young, I wanted to be older. I couldn’t wait to be a teenager though little changed the day I turned thirteen. It took until I was twenty-one for the big changes. I could finally vote. I had watched political races since John Kennedy ran for president in 1960, and I was more than ready. Twenty-one was also the magic number for legal drinking, but I had been practicing so all was good.
Of late, I have become older. I am saddened by not being able to do everything I did. People offer to help me with the grocery bags. I used to say no thinking I didn’t need help. Now, if I need help, I say yes. Those bags are heavy. I know how old I am. I’m happy most days. I’m happy with busy days and sloth days. I love living my life with all its quirks and its oddities. I look forward to all new memories. I have a few empty drawers.
Categories: Musings
Tags: family, life, Snow, travel, winter
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December 25, 2025
Merry. Christmas, my Coffee friends. I thank you for dropping by to visit. Coffee turned 20 last year. My first musings, on blogger, in 2004 were about the Sox and their journey to the World Series. It was also the year I had retired. Such big events in one year!!
I have been ruffling through my memory drawers. Christmas is easy to find. I have so many stories and so many memories. I love finding the right gift. My sister calls it the Christmas curse, a gift from our mother. We find one gift and think it is not enough, and that goes on for a while. We always give each other many presents, some fun, something to wear, a book and some special gifts. This year my sister Sheila gave me a pair of slippers with the picture of Henry and Nala on the stairs. Their names are above. Moe gave me rolls of Reeds cinnamon and root beer life savers. My mouth is burning now from the cinnamon. When I was in Ghana I craved root beer, for some odd unknown reason. I never found any there, but my sister always find some here. My sister gave me a cloth ornament of Ben Franklin holding a kite. I love cloth ornaments. I smiled the whole time I unwrapped presents.
When I was a kid, there was the tiniest open bannister toward the bottom of the steps from upstairs. That’s where we got our first look at the tree surrounded by presents. Most were unwrapped. I can still see my new blue bike in front of all my presents. It was the best present I ever got. I swear we were stunned for a bit then we’d racedown to our presents. Each of us had a pile with only our presents, most unwrapped but a few wrapped written from mom and dad. We’d open those then check out all our gifts. The games were often in the front. I remember the year of Sorry. That game stayed with us forever. We played it on Saturday game nights for years.
We again checked out our gifts and played with them until we got ready for dinner time. Christmas dinner was the best dinner of the year for me. We were all finely dressed. One of my dinner outfits had been a gift that Christmas. We often had roast beef, a good piece of meat, mashed potatoes, peas, corn and sometimes a surprise vegetable like butternut squash or, my all time favorite, creamed onions. Desserts were many. I went for the sugar cookies, and for my special box of cookies labeled To: Leenie Love, Uncle Jack. They were his anise cookies, my all time favorites, and the cookies were his gift to me. They were perfect, the best I ever had, and they have a forever spot in my memories.
Christmas overflows with meaning. We carry traditions and add new ones. One of my family dishes, added by my mother, is the butternut squash dish. We have all made Whoopi Pies but it is my sister who stands out, and they have become her tradition added to the rest. I gave Christmas stockings to all three of my sister’s kids. One came from on-line, another a friend knit, and I needlepointed my niece’s. It became tradition. I have given stockings to 5 grandnephews and one grandniece. My sister reminded me I needed to get the stockings so I did. Family memories get wider and longer. They become traditions.
Categories: Musings
Tags: Christmas, family, Holiday, holidays, life
Comments: 2 Comments
December 22, 2025
I apologize for the lateness of the hour. I slept in having gone to bed even later than the wee hours then I took my time savoring the morning. I finished the word puzzles and the crossword, always a good sign.
The morning is lovely though wintry cold. The high today will be 30°. I have no intention of facing the weather. I am actually going to clean starting with the living room. The dust balls have taken over, fodder for a Stephen King novel, okay maybe a short story.
The last day of school before vacation was fun. We colored, wandered the classroom and had a party. We all brought something. Chocolate chip cookies outnumbered all the rest. Sometimes they’d be sugar cookies. I’d grab one of those. They are Christmas to me. I think I ran home once we were dismissed.
I loved the living room with the lamps unlit and only the tree lights gleaming in the dark. They were always big, colored bulbs which got hot to the touch. On the ends of the branches were the bubble lights, my favorite lights. We’d sit and look at the tree right to left and left to right hoping to be the first to see the bubbles. I loved watching the red and green bubbles. My mother put her big glass ornaments on the tree. They were always safe on the top branches we couldn’t reach. When my mother gave us all some of the ornaments from our childhood trees, she gave each of us a big ornament. I always put mine on a top branch.
We had turkey for Christmas dinner, almost a repeat Thanksgiving. I never minded as I liked turkey and all the turkey dishes which came after, especially open face turkey sandwiches on bread, toast I think, covered in gravy with a side of cranberry sauce. My father always picked the turkey clean so my mother could make turkey salad and turkey soup.
My mother always put a few wrapped presents under the tree. We knew we’d open new pajamas on Christmas Eve. We didn’t have a choice. We needed to look good for pictures. My sister always tore a tiny hole in the wrapping paper of every present under the tree, all of our presents, not just hers. She had a talent. Just that little peek was enough for her to identify each present. Over time, she honed her craft. She could shake a present and know exactly what it was. She never missed.
Only two more days until Santa.
Categories: Musings
Tags: Christmas, Christmas tree, family, holidays, life
Comments: Comments Off on “The magic of Christmas shines through each little light.”
December 12, 2025
The winter weather is here to stay. I find myself thankful for days in the high 30’s after nights in the teens or, at best, the low 20’s. We may even get an inch of snow.
My sisters and I love Christmas. We carry with us the traditions started by our mother. We all have live trees. We take time to find just the right presents. We tease each other. We even bake the same cookies. Some might say we overdo the decorations, but I am of the firm belief you can never overdo Christmas. My sister loves mechanical decorations including ornaments which move. She has a giant Santa who dances and sometimes scares little kids. I have a piano playing snowman. He sings as he plays. He doesn’t scare kids.
When I was a kid, my parish had a Christmas fair every year. My mother always gave me enough spending money to buy gifts, mostly for her and my father, and to buy lunch. When the fair opened, we had a half day of school. The fair was at the town hall down the street from the school. We walked there with our classes two by two. The best table was the kid’s table where every gift cost maybe a dime or a quarter. My sister one year bought my mother a Christmas cactus. It sat on the table in kitchen, got huge and has lived forever. I always bought my father handkerchiefs. They came in a package of three. Lunch was hot dogs and a small bag of chips. I always thought they were the best hot dogs. I’d spend the afternoon there until I ran out of money then I’d head home. The gifts I bought were hidden until it was time to wrap them. I used to tease my parents about their gifts.
I always think Christmas is a celebration of the senses. Lights shine off the tree. Candles glow in the windows. Houses are outlined in lights. Bushes have colored lights which stave off the darkness. The house has the best smells. First is always the tree. On baking day, the kitchen fills with the aroma of cookies and pies in the oven. We used to wait in the kitchen until the cookies were done then we’d beg my mother for one. The taste of the slightly warm sugar cookies was heavenly. I took my time eating it. Christmas carols played while we decorated the tree, and we sang along. I used to run my hand up and down a tree branch then smell my hand. It was pine.
Categories: Musings
Tags: Christmas, family, Holiday, holidays, life
Comments: Comments Off on “Each of our five senses contains an art.”
July 7, 2017
“Okay, I am in crisis mode as my laptop isn’t working. It stopped last night. Now it makes a noise and the battery isn’t recharging. The computer boots but I am warned about the low battery. I’m going to have to visit an Apple Store. I am using my iPad, and I hate it for typing. The keyboard is either too small or my fingers are too large.
Today is humid and chilly, the sort of chill that goes to the bone because of the dampness. It wasn’t raining when I went out with the dog, but as soon as we got outside, the rain started. Of course it did.
Last night the back outside lights didn’t come on. I have to check them, but I’m thinking the spawns ate them again. They ate red lights off the last sets so I’m wondering what color attracted them to this set. I swear the spawns who come here are crazy. There was the summer of the paint eating spawn who gnawed all the black paint off the chair arms. This one may be related.
The mouse trap is still vacant of any resident. It is filled with peanut butter. Either the mouse isn’t hungry or there are no more kitchen mice.
The summer has been uneventful. It is still early, I know, but nothing is planned. Last year I had Ghana ahead of me. That set the bar so very high that little will compete with the excitement and the countdown of the days watching the trip get closer and closer.
When I look at my pictures from Ghana, there is still a sense of amazement. I was in Africa. I wonder if my far younger me would believe I had lived there and it had an every day quality about it. I know I mention Ghana here often, but it is so much a part of whom I am I can’t help but write about it. It shines so brightly in my memory banks. The colors and sounds are so vivid. Going back has only intensified my feelings about Ghana and the wonderful Ghanaians.
I can only hear the rain.
Categories: Musings
Tags: Apple, computer, damp, Ghana, life, mouse trap, rain, rainy, summer
Comments: 22 Comments
August 17, 2014
My dad used to tell me the story of my birth. The hospital was in the same town where my mother’s family lived so my father kept driving back and forth with updates. My aunt was getting married that very day and was not happy her beauty sleep was being interrupted by my dad. My grandmother told her to deal with it. After all, this would be the birth of her first grandchild. Later, back at the hospital, my dad was sitting in the waiting room, the only one there. Finally a nurse came in and asked for Mr. Ryan. My father, after a hectic, exhausting night, said, “Who in the hell do you think I am?” She had him follow her, and they were just wheeling my mother out when he saw her and me. That never usually happened. Most times the father first saw his wife when she was in bed and the new baby in a bassinet in the nursery. My mother always complained she looked awful and should have had time to clean up. “What is it? was his first question. The it was girl. The it was me. It was around 3 AM when I arrived. I still like a good entrance.
I have been most fortunate. My life is filled with loving family, the best of friends and countless adventures. I have lived in Africa. Who could have predicted that? In Ecuador, I stood with one foot in each hemisphere. That is just so cool. I have the best aim when it comes to holes in the ground making me an overachiever in such an important skill. My friends make me laugh and give my life joy. My two sisters are amazing. They love making fun of me, but they’d be here in a heartbeat if I needed them. My friends and I have traditions like celebrating the first day of spring by watching the sunrise over the ocean, playing Sunday night games before The Amazing Race, Saturday night movies on the deck, Easter at the Ocean House and impromptu nights with munchies and games. My Peace Corps friends are back in my life and I am so much the better for knowing them. My former Ghanaian students too are back in my life. Two called and wished me a Happy Birthday today. KTCC has given me close friends for whom I am always thankful.
Okay, there have been ups and downs and bruises, but they never soured me on life. They made more grateful for what I have and taught me resilience and how best to land with the least amount of injury.
This morning my friend Clare left a mum on my front walkway. She does this every year, and it is one of favorite birthday traditions. Yesterday afternoon my friends took me to the Ocean House for a late lunch by the water. The food was scrumptious, the view spectacular and the drinks mighty tasty. They went down far too easily. They also gave me a Sharknado t-shirt I’ll wear with pride. When I got home, I took a nap. It was 6 o’clock. I woke up at 8. Tonight another friend is taking me to dinner. I expect it will be an early bedtime.
Every morning I am thankful for the new day and for whatever surprises it will bring.
Categories: Musings
Tags: adventures, Birthday, drinks, family, friends, fun day, Ghana, laughing, life, Ocean House, Peace Corps, traditions
Comments: 32 Comments
August 17, 2014
My dad used to tell me the story of my birth. The hospital was in the same town where my mother’s family lived so my father kept driving back and forth with updates. My aunt was getting married that very day and was not happy her beauty sleep was being interrupted by my dad. My grandmother told her to deal with it. After all, this would be the birth of her first grandchild. Later, back at the hospital, my dad was sitting in the waiting room, the only one there. Finally a nurse came in and asked for Mr. Ryan. My father, after a hectic, exhausting night, said, “Who in the hell do you think I am?” She had him follow her, and they were just wheeling my mother out when he saw her and me. That never usually happened. Most times the father first saw his wife when she was in bed and the new baby in a bassinet in the nursery. My mother always complained she looked awful and should have had time to clean up. “What is it? was his first question. The it was girl. The it was me. It was around 3 AM when I arrived. I still like a good entrance.
I have been most fortunate. My life is filled with loving family, the best of friends and countless adventures. I have lived in Africa. Who could have predicted that? In Ecuador, I stood with one foot in each hemisphere. That is just so cool. I have the best aim when it comes to holes in the ground making me an overachiever in such an important skill. My friends make me laugh and give my life joy. My two sisters are amazing. They love making fun of me, but they’d be here in a heartbeat if I needed them. My friends and I have traditions like celebrating the first day of spring by watching the sunrise over the ocean, playing Sunday night games before The Amazing Race, Saturday night movies on the deck, Easter at the Ocean House and impromptu nights with munchies and games. My Peace Corps friends are back in my life and I am so much the better for knowing them. My former Ghanaian students too are back in my life. Two called and wished me a Happy Birthday today. KTCC has given me close friends for whom I am always thankful.
Okay, there have been ups and downs and bruises, but they never soured me on life. They made more grateful for what I have and taught me resilience and how best to land with the least amount of injury.
This morning my friend Clare left a mum on my front walkway. She does this every year, and it is one of favorite birthday traditions. Yesterday afternoon my friends took me to the Ocean House for a late lunch by the water. The food was scrumptious, the view spectacular and the drinks mighty tasty. They went down far too easily. They also gave me a Sharknado t-shirt I’ll wear with pride. When I got home, I took a nap. It was 6 o’clock. I woke up at 8. Tonight another friend is taking me to dinner. I expect it will be an early bedtime.
Every morning I am thankful for the new day and for whatever surprises it will bring.
Categories: Musings
Tags: adventures, Birthday, drinks, family, friends, fun day, Ghana, laughing, life, Ocean House, Peace Corps, traditions
Comments: 32 Comments
May 20, 2013
Last night it rained, not a furious rain falling in sheets but a steady drop by drop rain. I had my bedroom window opened, and I fell asleep to the sound of the drops. This morning when I woke up, the day was cloudy and damp. Since then the sun has taken over the sky and brightened the day. It’s a pretty morning.
The window view from here in the den is one of my favorites. The branches of the tall oak tree fill the window, and I get to watch the tree change every season. The leaves now are young and a bright green. Hanging off a couple of the branches are bird feeders, and I get to watch the birds zoom in and out or stay for a while at the suet feeder. The winter view through that window is bleak. I can see only bare branches and dead leaves fluttering in the wind. When the first buds appear, it’s time for a celebration as I know the tree will soon be full and beautiful. It’s almost there now.
Sometimes I ponder my life and every time I do, I realize how lucky I have been. First of all I had great parents though I didn’t always appreciate them, especially when I got sent to my room or yelled at or had a slipper thrown at me by my mother who had absolutely no aim. She never once got any of us. We always ducked if it came close. I got to wander my town and go to the zoo or the swamp or play in the woods. I had a bike which took me even as far as East Boston to see my grandparents which scared the bejesus out of my mother as we had to travel on Route 1A, a busy highway which didn’t always have sidewalks. That bike was one of my childhood joys. My parents took us to museums which developed in us all a love of museums. They let us dream our dreams. I went to college and had no debt when I graduated because my father thought it was is responsibility to pay for school. My parents once told me they never thought any of their kids would go to college as no one in our whole family had ever gone. They were thrilled one of us did and so was I as I had chosen well. I loved Merrimack. The Peace Corps was the defining moment in my life which gave me a love of teaching, two years living in Africa of all places and friends for life.
I have traveled many places in the world and have filled my memory drawers with those adventures, those vistas, the bumpy roads and crowded busses, the tastes of unknown foods and the joy of seeing all those pictures from my geography books come to life. Every year I went somewhere foreign, somewhere to satisfy my wanderlust. I got to retire early and since then have been to Africa three times: once to Morocco and twice to Ghana. My retirement has been so much fun: greeting the sun on the first of spring, sloth days, game nights with my friends, sitting on the deck doing absolutely nothing, movie nights and on and on and on.
Every now and then, like today, I give thanks for the life I have been privileged to lead. I don’t ever want to forget that.
Categories: Musings
Tags: Africa, bike, college, Dreams, games, Ghana, life, love of life, Luck, Morocco, museums, pondering, retirement, thanks, travel
Comments: 4 Comments
September 22, 2012
Yesterday the rain left the day humid and damp. Late last night it rained again. This morning is dark and gray. I have absolutely no inclination to go out and about. I might not even get dressed. My iPad has a few new books, perfect ones to while away a day, books with good guys and bad guys, buried treasure and a few murders. I might even watch a bit of TV. Today is deadly bug day on Syfy with wasps, alien insects set on world domination and monstrous spiders. The bugs are the opening act for tonight’s new movie about spiders from the Middle East called camel spiders who have a taste for humans.
I think the young me would approve of the much older me. Back then I had huge dreams and all sorts of ideas about who I wanted to be and where I wanted to go. I saw myself as a lawyer, maybe even the first female Perry Mason, or a teacher, an inspirer, and I knew I’d travel the world to visit places from the pages of my geography books. Even though I was growing up in the 50’s I never thought of being female as limiting, never even realized that a dress and pearls were de rigueur. I always knew I’d go to college even though no one in my family ever had. My best friends in high school were two guys, and we did all sorts of neat things and pushed the boundaries as far as we dared. My friends and I roamed Cambridge, Harvard Square, when it was the neatest place. We were comfortable just about anywhere. Once we celebrated Mardi Tuesday with a picnic at the library where we sat hidden between the stacks on the third floor. We thought of ourselves as rebels. We saw foreign movies with subtitles and felt worldly. We were daredevils sledding with our toboggan on hills everyone avoided. The bumps sent us airborne.
I learned long ago that life is an adventure to be savored, and in all these years, I have seldom been disappointed.
Categories: Musings
Tags: adventure, Cambridge, Harvard Square, life, pearls, Perry Mason, rain, Spider, spiders, Syfy
Comments: 11 Comments
May 8, 2012
We’re back to a chilly, damp day. Gracie is already sleeping on the couch, on the lower berth, the cushions, while Fern has the upper berth, the top of the couch, for her nap. Yesterday I managed to buy a new tire for the car and new speakers for the computer. After I got the tire, I decided to meander and go down cape on Route 28 and sight-see a bit on my way to buy the speakers. During my wanderings, I happened to find a store I’d never seen before so I stopped to do a bit of shopping. Not a thing I bought is useful, but I figured I deserved everything. The last few days haven’t been memorable.
My peas are beginning to show a bit of greenery above the ground. I noticed them when I watered the new raised bed in the backyard yesterday. My herb garden has been around a long time, and I’ve always had tomatoes in pots on the deck, but the peas are my very first from seed vegetables. I felt like a real farmer of sorts when I saw the shoots yesterday.
I had an early morning meeting today, but that completes my entire schedule for the day though I really do need some groceries. I figure I’ll read, take a little nap then drag myself to Stop and Shop. Tomorrow is dump day. We couldn’t go Saturday or Sunday as I forgot to get the new sticker, and the dump is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays. Ah well, such is life.
I’m not complaining mind you, but every now and then I need to grouse. It keeps me on an even keel.
Categories: Musings
Tags: Adulthood, dump, garden, Gracie, life, peas
Comments: 9 Comments
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