These wonderfully sunny, warm days are a welcome surprise this early in the season, but I am still leery of New England spring weather, especially here on the Cape. The paper claims it will be 69° today. I’d like to believe it, but the skeptic in me has the upper hand. After all, I have lived in New England most of my life and never take the weather for granted.

The sky is the most remarkable blue, deep and dark, and the color spans from one side of my world to the other, from horizon to horizon. Not a cloud can be seen.

My house is redolent with the aroma of chili. Today is Cinco de Mayo, and I have company coming for dinner. I made the chili yesterday, cooked it for a while, put it in the fridge then started it in the crock pot earlier this morning. The other dishes are timed on my flow chart, and I’ll begin when I finish here. The Mexican crockery is washed and ready. I have even started decorating the house. I love that I can entertain on school nights now.

Mammy wagons or mammy lorries were for traveling between towns in Ghana. Most had slogans across the front and back. God was prominent and Trust in God was common. I always thought it was because mammy lorries were barely safe. The passenger part was open on three sides and you sat on a bleacher like seat. There was little to hold on to when the wagon traveled curvy, bumpy laterite roads. I always sat in the middle figuring the people on each side were buffers. No time to die was another common slogan, and that was easily my mantra when traveling on mammy lorries.

Store signs were also amazing in Ghana. The colors were wonderful with lots of bright reds, greens and yellows in imitation of the flag. In Bolga, I could shop at the Praise the Lord or God Will Provide small open stores. Their signs were hand drawn and painted by the owners. My favorites of all the signs were in front of barber shops. Crudely drawn heads showed a variety of hair cut choices mostly from the side or backs views. All the faces were smiling.

The sign I most remember in my town was posted on the sides of buildings. Don’t spit, it spreads tuberculous was its message. Most people spit anyway. It was no big deal.