Posted tagged ‘sunny’
July 6, 2017
The last couple of days have been beautiful: sunny, clear and free of humidity. The nights have been wonderfully cool for sleeping. The weatherman is predicting rain for tomorrow. I’m fine with that as we haven’t had rain in a while.
The tourists have descended. The weekend started Thursday night and lasted until yesterday when the line of traffic wanting to cross the bridge reached back 6 miles. Local traffic too has been horrific. Trying to get out of a parking lot and cross a line of traffic is nearly impossible. Yesterday I sat so long that I finally went right when I really wanted to go left. I pulled into a street on the left and turned around so I could converge with the single lane of traffic. It does seem silly this roundabout route but waiting is futile and even sillier. My patience will be constantly tried until after Labor Day. My vocabulary will be reduced to four letter words.
I’m back to watching MSNBC. My short hiatus made me hungry for news especially with Mr. Trump in Germany meeting with Merkel and Putin with no script, just off the cuff. I find that scary. He has little command of English vocabulary and reverts to simplistic words when specific words would carry so much more weight. My favorite Trump quote today is that the US will confront North Korea’s, “Very, very bad behavior.” Is a time-out an appropriate response for bad behavior? Sometimes, but I’m not sure it is enough for, “Very, very bad behavior.” That sounds like cause enough for being grounded.
Gracie has an appointment today off-Cape with an internist, a specialist. Other than the weakness in her back legs and the head tilt, everything else is back to normal. Her vet said there are brain lesions probably causing the two issues.
I have a few things on my to-do list. I finally bought replacement flowers for the dead ones in the pots. I’ll plant them when I get back from the vets. The deck still has a bit of caterpillar poop that needs cleaning so I’ll water the pots then spray the deck.
The premier for 2017’s movie night will be this Saturday. For opening night, we always have dinner first so I have to figure out what to serve. Also, the red carpet has to go down, the corn needs popping and I have to choose the movie candy. I have three or four new movies and will let my guests decide. I’ll let you know.
Categories: Musings
Tags: bad behavior, beautiful day, four letter words, grounded, long weekend, movie night, MSNBC, patience, Red carpet, simplistic language, sunny, time-out, tourists, traffic, Trump, very bad, weather
Comments: 10 Comments
June 16, 2017
The weather is wonky. When I woke up, it was sunny. A little while later it got cloudy then it got sunny again. Now it is back to cloudy and is chilly and windy. It is 64˚ and the intermittent clouds foreshadow the rain predicted for later in the day.
The black and white science fiction movie I just finished watching was awful, which, as you know, is one of my favorite sorts to watch as I find the awfulness of the movie wonderfully entertaining. From Hell It Came was released in 1957. Doctors are on an island which is suffering from plague and is the site of fallout from a nearby nuclear blast. One native, the prince, Kimo, is accused of murdering his father the chief by Tano, the witch doctor, the real murderer; however, the real reason for the accusation is because Kimo befriended American doctors. Kimo is found guilty and is executed by having a knife driven into his heart. He is boxed and buried where there is radiation which transforms him into Tabanga, the walking tree stump with the perpetual scowl. He even develops legs. Tabanga seeks vengeance. He throws his unfaithful wife into quicksand. Tano decides to kill Tabanga and lures him, or it, into a pit which is set on fire; of course, Tabanga doesn’t die. His bark just takes on a charcoal complexion. I’m going to stop here as I don’t want to be a spoiler, but I will say the rest is perfectly awful.
I brought Gracie outside at 1 this morning. The darkness was almost impenetrable. The only sound was the jingle of Gracie’s tags as she walked. She stopped for a bit in the middle of the driveway and just listened. Hearing nothing, she moved to the gate, and I opened it to let her in the yard. I sat on the steps to the deck. She triggered the lights off the deck, and the yard was lit. I could hear her as she walked through the dead leaves on the ground. Finally, she was ready to go back inside the house. We went out again at 5:30. There was daylight, and there were birds singing. When we got back inside, we both slept until nine. She is sleeping again, and I’m thinking that’s one smart dog.
My mother and father were wonderful actors. They always acted surprised and thrilled by the gifts and cards we’d make for them. I remember popsicle stick creations like a coaster for under a drink, and I remember making a popsicle stick plaque and using macaroni letters on it to express my love. The letters were crooked and you could see all the glue holding them to the sticks, but it never mattered to my parents. They called it a work of art.
My dance card has been fairly empty, but I haven’t minded. I’m enjoying doing nothing. I’ve become quite good at it.
Categories: Musings
Tags: 1 AM, black and white, breezy, chilly, cloudy, darkness, From Hell It Came, homemade gifts, popsicle stick creations, quiet, rain, Science fiction, sunny, weather
Comments: 8 Comments
June 10, 2017
Summer has arrived. Today is already a lovely day with lots of sun giving lots of heat. It will be in the low 70’s here. This room is still dark and cool as the sun hasn’t yet worked its way around the house. I went out earlier and needed to turn on the car’s AC as Gracie was with me. I left it on when I stopped. She threw up all of yesterday’s food so I was hoping to find something to entice her. I bought a frozen dog treat but she didn’t want it. I gave it to the dog in the next car, and he licked every bit of it. I know she is hungry as she keeps checking her dish, but I can’t find anything she wants. The lady whose dog ate the frozen treat suggested tuna dog treats. I came home and checked the recipe on-line. I just have to go and buy the tuna. I’ll try anything.
It is a noisy Saturday. I can hear lawn mowers from all over the neighborhood, no kids though. I wonder where they are. I’m guessing baseball and t-ball.
A warm, summer Saturday is about the best of all days. It invites us outside to enjoy the weather. It is a day meant for sitting on the deck to enjoy the warmth tempered by a slight breeze. Inside the house can stay dusty, and the laundry can wait a day or two or even more. I know that from experience.
My deck is still closed. The furniture covers got soaked the other night so yesterday I emptied the water caught in the folds. The deck floor is covered with leaves and debris from that last storm. My factotum, Skip, is coming Monday. I have a long list for him to do. He has to clean out the shower as it is filled with the gnawed pieces of pinecones. I still see the spawn of Satan around that shower. He is in for a rude awakening.
The exterminator came back yesterday to plug the mouse holes around the foundation. He figured by now the mice would have moved to a more exalted place, and the cellar does have a peculiar odor. I’m thinking dead mice or decomp as they call it on TV.
I still have flowers to buy before Skip comes, at least the deck flowers. I always think flower shopping is about the best of all shopping sprees. I just can’t help myself and always load the cart. Flowers are intoxicating.
Categories: Musings
Tags: clean house, deck weather, dog treats, dog tuna brownies, lawnmowers, lovely day, no kids, pine cones, Saturday, spawn of satan, summer, sunny, to do list, warm
Comments: 6 Comments
June 4, 2017
The morning has been quite exciting. Last week I put a mouse trap (a non-killing one) on the kitchen floor. Inside was a blob of peanut butter. I was hoping to catch the mouse which lives in the cabinet. Every day I’d check and find an empty trap. After a week, I left the trap on the floor but stopped checking. This morning I noticed mouse poop on the floor around the outside of the trap. Yup, I had caught a mouse, a small gray very upset field mouse. I took the trap for a ride and let the mouse go. I’m going to put the trap back just in case, but I do have a question. How is it a week after the exterminator came that a healthy mouse still sublets my kitchen?
I’m watching Reasonable Doubt on ID and chuckling. The two main investigators are front and center and the camera loves them. It pans to each face over and over as the two give knowing looks to each other as they listen to the father of the murderer describe the events. We get to watch them write in notebooks. They seem to use cursive. The father speaks English without an accent yet he is subtitled. The female lead, a former defense lawyer, uses her middle finger to make a point when tapping the table. We get to watch her finger. She taps quite well. The male lead, a former police officer, says axed instead of asked. He needs subtitles. “I have no dog in this fight,” is another comment of his. That’s a new one for me. Why am I still watching you wonder? I am hooked at how horrible this program is.
It did rain last night but not for long. Today is lovely. We’re back to sunny and warm. This weather has become a pattern. The sunny warm days give way to chilly nights. The house is colder than outside in the early morning. Sunny days and rainy nights come every couple of days. According to the weatherman, it could even rain tonight.
It’s game night. I’m bringing dessert, a tiramisu dip with lady fingers for dunking.
Categories: Musings
Tags: dessert, field mouse, ID TV, investigators, kitchen, mouse trap, peanut butter, rain, Reasonable Doubt, subtitles, sunny, tiramisu dip, warm
Comments: 15 Comments
June 2, 2017
Yesterday stayed warm and beautiful. It didn’t even rain. I was outside reading for a while in the sun, and before I came inside, I emptied the water from the deck furniture covers so they’d dry and be ready to store for the summer. Today is just as lovely as yesterday, sunny and warm. The tiniest of breezes barely stirs the leaves. I have only one item on my to-do list: buy my garden and deck plants.
Gracie slept well last night. I didn’t. First off, she was snoring while I watched TV so I kept nudging her. She got annoyed and went to her crate where she fell asleep. I could hear her snoring from all the way down the hall. At 11:30, I turned off the TV and fell asleep. Around midnight, Gracie woke me up so we went outside. Other than my house, every other house on the street was lost in the darkness. The star on my fence was still lit and illuminated the way to the gate. After we came inside, Gracie got on the couch and fell asleep. I couldn’t get comfortable so I kept moving my feet hoping for a comfy spot. I didn’t find one: not on the floor, the table or the couch under the dog bed. Gracie slept while I tossed and turned. I’m tired. She’s sleeping again.
I wish I could make things, build stuff. I’d make some sort of ride for Gracie to go down the outside deck steps. It would be similar to those people chairs that go upstairs. Gracie would enjoy going and coming whenever the mood strikes her.
Today is national donut day. Dunkin’ Donuts will give out a free donut with each drink. My favorite is a butternut donut, but it goes fast. I sometimes have to make do with a Boston Cream. Make do and Boston cream seem incongruous.
Categories: Musings
Tags: couch, darkness, dog crate, lights, lovely day, national donut day, nighttime, outside, Sleep, Snoring, sunny, tossed and turned, uncomfortable, warm
Comments: 10 Comments
May 28, 2017
The morning is lovely; the sun so very bright. The air is sweet. When Gracie and I went to the backyard, I felt the early morning chill as I was awake and stirring before the arrival of my newspapers. My neighbors across the street were also awake. Their shades were up. The dogs from the corner house were barking.
I’ve had coffee but nothing else yet. I’m thinking maybe an English muffin. I eat a piece and Gracie eats a piece, but what she doesn’t know is pills are hidden in the nooks and crannies. When it comes to food, Gracie is easily duped.
Okay, my weather prognostication skills are faulty. It is still chilly, and it has gotten cloudy. The sun is on and off. It is 61˚ and won’t get much warmer. At least it isn’t raining.
I watch far too many Forensic Files. Yesterday I cut my finger, but it didn’t hurt so I didn’t notice. A while later I saw the blood, cleaned my hand, and put a band-aid on the cut. I found blood smears on the door and bathroom faucets. Immediately I thought DNA evidence.
TCM is my viewing choice of the day. I just watched 36 Hours which I had never seen. The theme today seems to be Nazis and spies of all sorts out to thwart them. James Garner was this movie’s hero as was Rod Taylor, a Nazi who helps James Garner and Eva Marie Saint escape a fake hospital run by Nazis pretending to be Americans to get information about D-Day from Garner. Taylor convinces Garner it is 1950 and the war is long over. If you want to know more and wonder about Eva Marie Saint, you’ll have to watch the movie. Next up is 1942’s Journey into Fear starring Orson Wells.
My town has a parade tomorrow. I’m hoping it isn’t raining as I really do enjoy these little hometown parades. The Memorial Day parade is the shortest. The middle school band provides the music, and every other year the high school band joins them. On the off year, the band goes to Yarmouth, the other half of the school district. Veterans, girl scouts, and boy scouts march. The boy scouts lug the same float they lug every year. There is always one jeep, the same one every year with the same driver. The end of the parade has fire trucks with their sirens blaring. It doesn’t matter that the parade is always the same. I think that’s my favorite part.
It’s game night Sunday!
Categories: Musings
Tags: 36 Hours, 61˚, barking dogs, blood, chilly, English muffin, fire engines, Forensic Files, Journey into Fear, morning, newspapers, nooks and crannies, Orson Wells, parade, pills, sunny, TCM
Comments: 16 Comments
May 21, 2017
Today is glorious. It is sunny and squint your eyes bright. There is barely a breeze. The high today will be 65˚. I’m thinking a perfect early spring day.
I woke up at some time during the night as I was cold. When I checked the thermostat, it said 63˚. I turned the heat on and it started right away. I went back to bed and fell asleep snuggled under a second afghan and warmed by the dog next to my legs.
This morning I had English muffins. I used them to hide Gracie’s pills. She was suckered by the butter. Sometimes I am too. It melts into those nooks and crannies. Coffee was the rest of my breakfast, a blend from Uganda. I had three cups.
I love bread. When I buy a loaf, I try all differents sorts of bread. I really have no favorite though Scali bread is right up there. When I was a kid, I thought bread came only in squishy white except for Saturday night’s brown bread which really didn’t seem to me to be bread at all. I like cornbread which always comes in squares. In Ghana, the bread was sold as an uncut loaf. At stops on the road, women ran to the windows to sell fruit and those loaves of bread. They cost 20 pesewas, about 20 cents. We used to pull pieces off the loaf and eat it plain. My last bread purchase was naan. It makes a good toast and an interesting sandwich. When I’m out, the choices are limited. I usually end up with rye.
Crackers are another favorite of mine. When I was a kid, my mother always bought Saltines and Ritz crackers. I’d put saltines in soup and wait to eat them when they were mushy. They also made a great snack, a peanut butter and jelly or a peanut butter and Fluff sort of cracker sandwich. Now I buy all sorts of crackers mostly to go with cheese. I really haven’t any favorites.
My favorite pie is lemon meringue, and I always have some lemon curd around the house. I also love pineapple. When I was a kid, we only had canned pineapple, and I don’t remember eating it all that much. I don’t even remember seeing a fresh pineapple in the supermarket. We always had apples and oranges and sometimes tangerines and strawberries, always as strawberry shortcake. I first tasted a variety of fruits in Ghana. I was amazed at how good mango and pawpaw (papaya) are.
It was Africa which introduced me to different foods. It gave me a willingness to try new things, some of which I still can’t pronounce, but that doesn’t matter as long as whatever it is I’m eating tastes good.
Categories: Musings
Tags: afghan, Bread, bright, brown bread, canned pineapple, coffee, cold night, English muffins, lemon, lemon curd, naan, pineapple, Scali, sunny, Ugandan blend, uncut loaf, warm dog
Comments: 6 Comments
April 8, 2017
Today is another beautiful spring day with lots of sunshine. It is cooler than yesterday but not by much. I was out with Gracie for a while. She had a tough morning. The inside stairs were too slippery so I grabbed and held on until she got her footing on a mat I had moved from one step to another. That worked so I’m hoping the other mats arrive so she can feel safe going down all the steps.
My street is quiet. Earlier I could hear machine noises. When I went to get the papers, I noticed the trucks. My neighbors are having their yards cleared. That screams spring to me.
When I was a kid, I loved the woods and the field below my house. The field was a square surrounded by woods on three sides. One wooded side led to the swamp. We’d follow a path which started where the field ended, and the swamp was just a short way. Another path led to the right and the water tower. The third side was just woods. In winter the field was brown. No grasshoppers jumped when we walked through the dead grass. That was summer. In winter the field was just a route to the swamp.
That field, those woods and the swamp are gone. Brick buildings with apartments for the elderly have taken their place. My grandmother lived in one building where the woods with no path once stood. We buried our turtle in those woods, under two trees we knew we’d remember. We never thought all of it would be gone. I used to think about that turtle when I’d go with my father to visit my grandmother. The entrance to my grandmother’s street was about where I’d buried my turtle expecting it would rest under those two trees for eternity. Even the trees are gone.
Categories: Musings
Tags: elderly housing, fields, grasshoppers, memories, spring cleaning, sunny, Swamp, turtle, warm, wood path, woods
Comments: 8 Comments
March 26, 2017
Okay, I am confessing that I watched shark movies yesterday. The worst, by far, was Avalanche Sharks. Supernatural sharks materialized in the snow after an avalanche. Their fins skimmed the snow as if they were in water. The victims knew what was coming. The sharks were drawn, I suppose, to the Bikini Snow Day contest. Even sharks couldn’t resist those bikini-clad coeds. The sharks, from under the snow, fed on the skiers. Many shots were of skiers screaming as the shark munched on the lower parts of their bodies. I was rooting for the sharks. One line was so horrific I wrote it down. The speaker was describing the death of his former girlfriend, “There wasn’t enough of her to make a sloppy Joe.”
The morning was sunny and warmish at 44˚, but since then clouds have covered the sky. Rain is predicted for tomorrow; of course, it is. Tomorrow looks to be the warmest day in a while.
I’m so eager for baseball to start, I’ve been watching Red Sox spring training games. Yesterday I was thrilled to hear Jerry Remy back in the booth. He and Don Orsillo, the former play by play announcer, were amazing together. They called a great game though they did tend to go off topic if the Sox were winning in a rout or losing by the same. The pizza slice video was my favorite. I don’t remember why the two men in the stands started at each other, but it culminated in a pizza slice being thrown. Don and Jerry were laughing so hard they could barely talk. They showed that video several times. They always laughed. Don left the Red Sox as his contract wasn’t renewed. He went to San Diego. I still miss him.
Tonight is game night. We always have something easy to hold for dinner as we play through. This week I am the dessert bringer or rather the dessert buyer.
The first fly of the season is in the house. It is probably enjoying the heat. I usually chase flies with a rolled-up magazine, hoping to swat them to oblivion. This fly looks little, a small target. I’ll have to hope my skills didn’t rust over the winter. That fly is mine!!
Categories: Musings
Tags: 44˚, Avalanche Shark, bad movie, Baseball, Bikini snow day, dessert, eaten by sharks, Ecuator, fins and snow, fly, Pizza slice video, rain, Red Sox, spring training, sunny, warm
Comments: 8 Comments
March 25, 2017
It rained last night leaving today cloudy and dark. It’s warmer than it has been. All my chores and errands got finished, scratched out. Today is a stay at home day. Right now Boris Karloff as The Mummy is on TV. I have seen this movie several times, but that doesn’t ever matter. A propeller plane circles the world, the eerie music starts, and we see Egypt and the desert. We’re at a dig: it’s 1931, and the mummified remains of Imhotep, who had been buried alive, have just been found. A warning on the top of the chest buried with the mummy warns that whoever opens the chest will die. Despite the warning the chest is opened, the sacred words are said and the mummy comes back to life. There’s more but not here.
In winter, cloudy days sometimes make me feel subdued, and, after several in a row, even melancholic while other cloudy days, like today, make me feel cozy in my warm house. Life doesn’t get much better than being in my comfy clothes and watching one of my favorites, a black and white science fiction movie from the 30’s. I’m even having Chinese for lunch. It’s one of those perfect days.
When I was in Ghana, I lived alone for the first time. My house, one side of a duplex, was brand new and on school grounds right by the back gate, which I had to climb a few times as the watchman chose not to hear me yelling for the gate to be opened. (Sorry for the digression. Back to the story.) I was really lonely the first few months. I hated the quiet of my house. I played music especially at night to ward off the silence, but, by Christmas, I relished the night-time quiet because every day was busy and filled with sounds. In the morning it was the swishing of the hand- held brooms as the students cleaned the compound. After that, I could hear buckets being filled with water for bathing and the conversations of my students in a variety of languages. From that morning time on, the day was only quiet after the students had lights out.
It is always a marvel to me that life in Ghana took on a routine, became every day. Here I was living on a school compound in Bolgatanga. It was eggs and toast and coffee, horrible coffee, for breakfast, fruit for lunch and chicken or beef with a sauce and yams on the side, sometimes fried but mostly mashed, for dinner. I went to the market every third day and filled my basket with vegetables and fruit. The amazement of living in Africa was replaced by familiarity. It was home.
I think the memory of living in Ghana surfaces on days like today. I recognize the comfort in the quiet I felt then and I’m feeling now. It is contentment!
Categories: Musings
Tags: 1930's science fiction, Bors Karloff, chinese food, clothes, cloudy dark, cloudy day, comfy, Egypt, living alone, melancholic, noisy, Peace Corps Ghana, perfect day, school compound, silence, sunny, The Mummy, winter
Comments: 4 Comments
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