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“Spring has returned. The Earth is like a child that knows poems.”

March 20, 2012

Happy First Day of Spring!

We welcomed spring this morning by watching the sunrise on the beach. We arrived about 6:15, and when we got out of the car, the smell of the ocean filled the air the way it does on some mornings. A bank of fog covered the houses behind us on the bay, but the ocean was clear. It was the warmest first day of spring I can remember. At first, we were the only ones on the beach. There we were, the  three of us, sitting in our beach chairs as if it were a summer day. The sea was so calm you could barely see the waves touch the sand. Behind us were squawking ducks while over the water were seagulls making all sorts of noises. I watched the birds dive into the water hunting breakfast. The sky was pink, and the pink was reflected in the water. Clare hunted shells so we could have a memento. A woman and her dog went by us down to the jetty at the end of the beach. She was throwing a tennis ball, and he was running with such joy I swear the dog was smiling.

We saw the sun start to rise when the tip first appeared, and it was glorious, all red and so bright it made us see dots before our eyes. As the sun got bigger, it seemed to get brighter and brighter. The water was so calm it reflected every bit of the light, and on it we could see the red as if a broad road led from the sun. Canada geese floated by us and several others flew right over the water toward the rising sun. We sang our welcome spring songs and took pictures of each other. It was a glorious morning which ended with our traditional first spring breakfast.

On the way home from breakfast, we couldn’t see Scargo Lake because the fog was so dense. I love foggy mornings, and I loved this morning with all its beauty, color and tradition.

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“Don’t let schooling interfere with your education.”

March 12, 2012

The day is glorious. I have been outside sitting and reading the paper in the sun. Begrudgingly I came inside to write Coffee and hope for a quick inspiration so I can go back outside. Gracie has been in the yard all morning. This is her lie in the sun on the grass and take a nap sort of weather. Ah, the life of a pampered pet!

I know exactly why it is called a spring in your step, and I think it’s a metaphor having nothing to do with the verb spring. Today I feel more alive than I have. Today is warm and sunny and the sort of day which makes the heart sing. It is a hopeful day as spring always bring hope and a new beginning.

My garden is filled with shoots, and the first crocus is in bloom. It’s yellow. I can also see the knobs on the top of the hyacinth and two daffodils are tall and heavy with buds. The air smells sweet.

I used to love to walk to school on days like today. I’d shed my winter coat and mittens and wear only a sweater under my spring jacket. My friends and I always took our time walking when the weather was this beautiful as we knew we’d spend most of the day locked in and sitting at our desks. I used to look longingly out the windows and wish I were outside in the  sun. It seemed such a waste to be learning fractions when I could be running in the field with the warm sun on my face. Recess made it even nore difficult to go back into the building.

When I was in the 8th grade, I used to hide my lunch bag, no more lunch boxes at the sophisticated age of  thirteen, and I’d leave as if I were going home for lunch. My friend Jimmy, always a co-conspirator, came with me. We’d find a bench in the sun up the street near the town hall and eat lunch then we’d go back to school. Sometimes we were really late returning, long after the bell, and we’d tell Sister Hildergarde we were at the library or talking to some priest or other. She always nodded, and we’d take our seats. On a few really beautiful spring days we’d leave early telling some story about where we were going which Sister Hildergarde always bought. We were a clever pair, Jimmy and I, and maybe even a bit devious.

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“For in spite of the snapdragons and the duty millers and the cherry blossoms, it was always winter.”

March 11, 2012

The sky is a deep blue with only a few small clouds to give the blue a bit of contrast. Cars had frost on their windshields when I left for breakfast this morning. It was darn cold last night. The animals huddled beside me in bed keeping themselves and me warm. Now is their morning nap time, and the house is warm and cozy.

Gracie and I will go to the dump later. I haven’t told her yet. It’ll be a surprise. After that I need to buy dog food at Agway. It used to be that on weekends I’d shop at all these neat little stores and buy clothes or linens or stuff I really didn’t need but liked and knew I’d find the perfect place for somewhere in the house. My friend and I would go to the antique stores and never leave empty-handed. I can’t remember the last time I shopped without pushing a grocery cart of some sort. I think I’m becoming boring.

Last week I barely left the house. I did go grocery shopping, but that doesn’t count. Inside the house I did only menial tasks: I changed the bed and the cat litter and did a wash or two. I’m thinking I was doing a great imitation of a shut-in. This week I vow to get out more often. I had good intentions last week, but I was lazy and enjoyed doing nothing. Mind you, I’m not feeling guilty, but I do think some air and sun are probably good ideas.

It is with longing that I look out my window at the deck. The chairs and tables are still covered. I want to be out there enjoying the warmth of the morning sun with my coffee and papers. Now, only Gracie runs across it from the yard, and the birds drop by to eat. This morning I saw the red spawn of Satan running along the rail. The beast hasn’t been around a while, and I thought it had moved. It didn’t stay long, but its very presence is more than an annoyance. I want a rock.

This is the time of year when Mother Nature plays her tricks on us. Some days will be close your eyes and let the sun warm you days while other are scrape the car window days. I can barely wait until every day is warm in the sun. I’ve enough of winter even as warm as it was.

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“Faith is a passionate intuition.”

October 20, 2011

For the last two days it rained. Sometimes it poured so much I wished for a tin roof. At night, with my bedroom window open, I could hear the rain flowing off the roof and pelting the deck. My house has no gutters so I was surrounded by rain. It was a delight.

Today is summer. It’s already 71°. The sun is streaming through windows, and Fern and Gracie have a short truce so they can share the warm mat by the front door. I was out on the deck earlier just looking at the world. I always feel lucky to be alive on days like today.

Today I am the featured speaker at the South Dennis Library’s Thursday at 2 series. I am talking about my return to Ghana. I hope the people brought dinner!

One of my students is coming to visit. She has been in Cincinnati with her daughter so she wasn’t there when I was in Bolga. We called her while my students and I were at our last dinner together, and she said she had been looking for me, and now she is missing me (which is Ghanaian English for she didn’t get to see me ). How strange, she said, that I am there and she is in the US. When we spoke last week about her coming to visit and our reconnecting, Franciska said it was God’s work. She said I went to Bolga with faith knowing I would find some students, and I did. It was God’s work that Shetu went to have a beer at my hotel for the first time in one or two years, and that I would speak to them in Hausa and that she would recognize me. Franciska decided it was God’s will that we reunite, and who am I to contradict God’s will.

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“Nothing is worth reading that does not require an alert mind.”

October 16, 2011

Somehow I lost my checkbook. I wrote a check this morning, took out the ATM card from that very checkbook at the bank, withdrew money and then went on my merry way. When I tried to put the ATM card back into the checkbook, it had disappeared. I drove back to the bank thinking somehow it fell out of the car. That was, at best, remote as I only opened the window. Just as I suspected, no checkbook . I went through my car. I found old mail I had dropped on the floor which must have slid under the seat, a quarter filled bottle of Gatorade my nephew left sometime in May, a check for valet parking and lots of dog hair but no checkbook. When I got home, I checked the drive and walkways, came inside and went through the table area where I had written the check and found nothing. I called the bank, and they put a hold on all checks. I am totally astonished at its having gone missing. I fear the check gremlins had been hiding in my car just waiting for this moment. It’s like the movie Gaslight. I am slowly being driven crazy. I can think of no way I dropped that checkbook, but I suppose I must have. Are those voices I hear?

Today is again a beautiful fall day with lots of sun. The temperature is in the 60’s. Even the house felt warm when I woke up. Last night we had high winds, and the ground is filled with leaves and clumps of pine, victims of that wind. It is still here but is much less ferocious and only periodic. I can see the backyard oak tree bending and swaying when the wind blows. The bird feeders are swaying.

I have been really lazy. Yesterday I did the casual wash up and brushed my teeth but didn’t bother to get dressed. A couple of things cut cuff dusted, but that was the extent of my industry. I finished my book, one with a plot so simple it did not in any way challenge my mind. Here is the plot in as few a number of words as possible: the government secretly tested a bio-weapon on Americans in an area in Detroit frequented by bad cops, drug dealers and prostitutes. The 1000 deaths were no great loss according to its inventor. It was, after all, Detroit. The disease had a built-in timer so it disappeared after 3 days and never traveled outside that infected area which had been sealed off by the bad guys, the US government.

Last night the Tigers lost. Detroit has been hard hit.

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“A little nonsense now and then is relished by the wisest men.”

October 10, 2011

This has been the most leisurely of all mornings. I woke up late, read every bit of both papers, had three cups of coffee perfectly brewed to my taste (I’m a does the amount look right coffee grounds sort when loading) and spent some time outside in the sun. When I came back inside so did Gracie, and right now all the animals are napping in here as I write. The dog gets the couch; Fern is on the new chair while Maddie has the cushion at the back of the couch near the window. It is a remarkable day, a beautiful day, a bit of magic pulled out of her hat by Mother Nature.

My sister in Colorado had her first snow of the season last week. She had to clear off her car before she could go to work. I tried but couldn’t conjure an image of the snow and her car. My mind is still filled with sun and flowers. My garden now has its fall bloomers adding color and beauty to my little world. I love to stand there and look and marvel.

The wedding was wonderful. I knew there would be some quirky surprises because Bethany and Brian love fun and laughter. It started with the place card settings which were odd as they were oblong plastic frames, but there was an explanation. The frames were to hold a picture. Bethany and Brian had a photo booth placed in the hall next to where we had dinner. It was similar to the kind you used to find at bus or train stations where you put in a quarter and got a strip of  black and white pictures. My friends and I always crammed ourselves into a booth and made funny faces at the camera. Outside this booth were boxes holding props like sombreros and clown hats. I chose a plastic fireman’s hat and the sombrero. When I went inside the booth, I wore hat after hat until all the shots were taken. When I got outside the booth, I was handed a strip of four color shots of me which fit perfectly in the place card frame. The last shot was me making a funny face, sort of a homage to the old days. The booth man explained that Bethany and Brian would get a copy of every strip as momentos of their wedding and the strangeness of their guests. When the reception was over and the couple was leaving, we all stood outside with sparklers lighting the night giving Bethany and Brian a bit of magic to take with them. It was a wonderful evening filled with fun, laughter and good friends.

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It is strange, but I have never camped anywhere in Africa where I have not felt, as I left it, that we all have left something of ourselves behind.”

October 9, 2011

The day is simply gorgeous with the bluest of skies and a summer warmth. It has been a different sort of Sunday as I didn’t go out for breakfast, but I did sit outside to drink my coffee. I closed my eyes and let the sun warm me, and I listened to the birds greeting the day and to Gracie wandering through the backyard grasses. Every now and then a car went by, but it only disturbed my reverie for a moment. Around eleven, I dragged myself back inside to call my sister in Colorado, a call I make every Sunday, and now I’m still inside to write Coffee. It will be a quick post. The day is calling me.

Gracie is on the bad list. Last night I heard a rustling sound, the sort a package makes, and looked from here in the den down the hall to the crate on which Gracie’s food and treats are kept but saw nothing. Later I went to give Gracie one of her Happy Hips treats and the package, the newly opened package, was gone. This morning I found the empty package in the yard. That noise I had heard was Gracie stealing the package. She then sneaked outside with it. No question she knew she was doing something wrong.

I have a wedding to go to today at four. Receiving the invitation meant I needed to buy a fall dress to join my summer dress, the dress which came with me to Ghana. I told my sister my new dress is in the pink family and has a jacket with a scalloped edge. I also told her I bought new black shoes. The dress came Wednesday. It is green. The shoes are brown. Now I’m thinking I’ll look like a tree.

I never should have gone to Ghana. Now all I can think about is getting back there for another visit. When I first came home from the Peace Corps, the feeling was even more intense. It took months before I stopped longing for Ghana, but I never stopped thinking about it. I have it all figured out. I need to replenish my savings to the pre-Ghana level then I can start saving for the next trip. I’m guessing two years max before I get back there.

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“Autumn, the year’s last, loveliest smile.”

October 4, 2011

I’m tired today. I do have a few errands, but I’m not moving until later this afternoon. If I didn’t need animal food, I probably wouldn’t move at all.

We have sun, a real sunny day with no clouds for the sun to hide behind. Though it’s only in the low 60’s, the sun more than makes up for the temperature, and, without the dampness, I can feel real warmth in the air. Yesterday was a sad day. It was close up the deck day. Most of the furniture was covered and the candles taken off the trees. Only the two big wooden chairs stay uncovered all winter, and I’m hoping for a stray deck day to appear so I can sit on one of them with my eyes closed and my face to the sun.

When I was little, nobody I knew had a deck. I don’t even think I ever saw a deck. People just put their lawn chairs in the backyard on the grass. My grandparents had wooden Adirondack chairs. I think the color of the chairs matched the green trim of their house, but I’m not so sure. Other yards had those metal chairs which came in all different colors. I remember burning the backs of my legs when I sat down on one that had been in the sun too long. That was their painful drawback. My parents had ones which folded and seldom lasted more than a single season. The legs or the arms would bend, and the chairs wouldn’t open or sometimes they wouldn’t close. I had a few of those chairs after I first moved in here. I think there is still a lounge in the cellar. It won’t open and I can’t imagine why I’ve kept it.

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“Great American sport. Horseshoes is a very great game. I love it.”

June 16, 2011

Today is perfectly lovely with a bright, warm sun and a breeze to keep the heat at bay. It will be in the 70’s today and during the rest of the week. The inside back of the house, though, is still rather chilly. The cool nights hold sway until the sun hits the windows in the afternoon. It was coffee and papers on the deck today. Gracie slept in the shade while I enjoyed the morning. The birds sang and the leaves rustled when the breeze blew. My fountain is a quiet one which gives me a feeling of contentment. I sat, closed my eyes and let my ears hear the morning.

I slept in today and was surprised at the lateness of the hour when I woke up.  It was after 9, but I didn’t really care. I cleaned off the deck table and chairs, made coffee, grabbed the papers and got myself comfy outside. A bird would catch my eye, and I’d stop and watch. I heard the spawns of Satan running across from tree limb to tree limb, and I even gave them a quick look. It is a morning for dawdling.

I used to play horseshoes, and I was pretty good. At the end of our street was a playground, Pomeworth Park, where we spend our summer days. We were still kids then, still in elementary school. Two college students ran each playground in town, and we’d compete in softball or baseball games and at a huge game day which ended the summer. We did crafts, and I’d sit at the picnic table in the shade painting and using beads or gimp to create my artistic treasures. We played checkers, horseshoes and softball. In the early morning, before the rest of the playground opened, I took tennis lessons. I always grabbed the same racket from the box. It was red. We were never bored at our playground, and I always hated to leave, but the playground closed for an hour, and we’d go home for lunch. That was about the only time of the day my mother saw us. I think she liked the playground even more than we did.

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“Nothing burns like the cold.”

March 27, 2011

I am very late today and have nothing but sloth as an excuse. I went out to breakfast as usual, came home and read a bit of the paper and then decided to go back to bed. My little nap was for 2 and 1/2 hours. Gracie and Fern joined me. It was delightful and both warm and cozy.

The sun is shining for all it’s worth and is producing light but no heat. It is still in the 30’s, and I’m getting darn tired of winter. I want to put away my sweatshirts for the season and nap on the deck with the sun on my face. I’m tired of bare trees and empty gardens. I want fresh herbs I grew myself and a small vegetable garden. Nothing better than movies on the deck.

I imagine by August I’ll be complaining about the heat. I figure grousing is part of the human condition unless you’re somebody like Mother Teresa or Gandhi. If truth be told, I find grousing cleansing in its own way. Once all the complaints are out there, there’s nothing left but abiding.

I saw two walkers this morning, actually I could have called them trotters give their paces. They were bundled in winter coats, hats and gloves. I was not all all enticed to join them. Besides, they really didn’t seem to be enjoying their walk. One was far ahead of the other who was trying to catch up. I figured they were so cold they were hurrying to a warm home and hot cups of coffee.

My mother used to keep her house so hot the rest of us wore t-shirts all winter when we visited. She wore long sleeves in all that heat. Now I understand. I used to keep my house really cool, in the mid-60’s, and wear a long sleeve shirt. It was more than enough to be comfortable. At night I’d put the temperature down to 58° not because of the cost but because I was under the covers and have always had a dog to keep me warm. I’d turn the heat up to 65° when I woke up. That, I now realize, was a long time ago.

I wear a sweatshirt all day and the temperature is 68° in here. At night 62° is where the thermostat stays. Age is the reason, and now I know it was also my mother’s reason. Back then, I didn’t understand that. I imagine that if I reach 100, the house will be as warm as the dog days of summer.

It never occurred to me that growing older takes so much energy.

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