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“Snow flurries began to fall and they swirled around people’s legs like house cats. It was magical, this snow globe world.”

January 30, 2018

When I woke up early, I saw the snow falling outside my window so I got up and checked it out. I figured there were about 2 or 3 inches already on the ground. I decided it was a great day to go back to bed day so I did. I managed over two more hours. Maddie was impatient. She heard me moving around and started meowing trying to guilt me into getting up. She was unsuccessful.

It is still snowing. The weatherman says the cape will have snowfall the longest. When I want to get the papers, I surprised by how deep it was and how cold the air felt. It is a good day to stay home.

When I was a kid, we didn’t have all that many snow days. We’d walk to school mostly on the street because they didn’t plow sidewalks. The road always had a hard packed layer of snow, and we’d run and slide in a snow race of sorts. We’d also fall down. I remember wearing pink longish thermal underwear which came to my knees under my skirt. From the knees down, I wore knee socks. I had boots, the sort you put over your shoes. I wore my winter coat, knitted hat and mittens. I wouldn’t have looked out of place on the back of a dog sled in the Arctic.

The cloak room outside the classroom was never build to hold all of our winter clothes. There were rows of hooks on two sides but the hooks just weren’t long enough. The only hope was that the jackets on either side would hold mine on the hook and off the floor. The cloak room floor was wet and dirty from all our boots. I remember standing in my stocking feet after pulling off my boots. I then had to pull my shoes out of the boots. While I was doing that, my socks got wet and dirty. I didn’t care. My mittens and my hat went up the sleeves for safe keeping. I remember once not finding my hat until I got home. I never felt it in the sleeve. I thought I lost it.

The house is warm, cozy and inviting so I’m going nowhere. Should I get bored, there are a few things I can do including that laundry still leaning against the cellar door. The only problem is I have a bag of books I got from the library. I’ll just have to be strong.

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“Do not be angry with the rain; it simply does not know how to fall upwards.”

January 26, 2017

“Rain, rain go away come again another day.” When I was young, I thought this nursery rhyme had a bit of magic about it. If I sang it enough times, the sun would reappear, and I could go out to play. I’m singing it now with the same hope. It has been raining since Monday. The sky alternates between angry clouds and greyish white clouds. The rain is sometimes heavy and other times just a fine mist, spitting rain my mother use to call it. I saw the sun for an hour or so the other day. It gave me a bit of hope.

I do a couple of house chores every day. Yesterday I watered plants, changed my bed and paid my bills. I haven’t gone anywhere, haven’t wanted or needed to. Tomorrow, though, I have a list of errands so Gracie and I will hit the road. Maybe if I cross my fingers and wish for sun, it might work.

When I was young, I had snow boots but not rain boots. Nobody I knew had them either. I also didn’t have a raincoat or an umbrella. I always got wet. It was the usual thing.

During the rainy season in Ghana, I got wet. Sometimes I had to run from my house to the classroom block when the rain was heavy, but I didn’t mind. The rain was always welcome. I’d even shop in the market while it was raining, but if the rain got really heavy, I’d stand in the doorway of a building or inside a small kiosk until it lightened or stopped. The rain was a gift to make crops grow.

I love the sound of rain. Even when I was kid, I loved the rain beating on my bedroom window. In Ghana the rain on the tin roof of my classroom was sometimes so loud that I couldn’t teach, but I could fall asleep listening to the rain. Its steady beat was comforting in a way, amost like music, maybe even a lullaby.

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“There’s no such thing as a vote that doesn’t matter.”

November 7, 2016

Last night wasn’t restful for me or for Maddie and Gracie. Miss Maddie howled several times or many only a few. I lost track. I called her and make the lip sound cats seem to like so she’d stop for a while before the next howl. Gracie rolled out of bed to the floor, and I have an old, high bed. I heard her fall so I jumped off the bed toward her. She was scrambling and couldn’t seem to stand on her back legs. I thought she had injured them or her spine. I tried to lift her onto the bed but she was too heavy. I then put her front legs on the bed and lifted her back legs onto the bed. She looked dazed. I was already wondering how I’d get her to the car to go the vet’s when she turned in a circle and laid down. This morning she was fine. I figure she was slipping on the floor as she tried to get up and was a bit panicked by the fall. This morning all is well except they are sleeping, and I’m tired.

Yesterday afternoon there was a strong wind and last night it rained. More and more branches are empty. Wet leaves cover the ground, the deck and the lawn. Today is cold. The high will be 50˚. It is mostly cloudy with a bit of blue here and there. The sun comes and goes, but even when it is shining, it does little. The wind is strong. Today is the backside of fall.

With the election tomorrow, I am back to watching MSNBC and every now and then CNN. I am curious about the projections in the swing states. Trump has laid claim to the Hispanic vote in Florida. He has also criticized the language Beyoncé and Jay-Z used at a Clinton rally. He said maybe they were singing or maybe they were just talking. He didn’t know.

Trump is choosing his cabinet. I like oak or pine.

What to do today? I could buy some dog food at Agway, but that just isn’t enough to get me up and out. Maybe it is a good day to sort Christmas presents or maybe not. I have a couple of new books, but if I start one, that’s it for the day. They’d be nothing else. Nothing trumps the joy of a good book.

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“I wonder what ants do on rainy days?”

April 26, 2016

We had rain earlier, but I don’t think it was much as I never heard it. The day is cool and dark. Grace and Fern are here with me but Maddie is hiding. I managed to give her some medicine last night and haven’t seen her since. I checked her usual places, but she has found someplace new. She’ll turn up just in time to get medicine again. After that, I expect her to pack her bags and leave without even saying goodbye.

In the dampness of the morning, I walked around the front garden. All sorts of flowers are peeking out of the ground. I haven’t an idea of what any of them are. Some have spread and my burning bush which was cut to the ground last fall has several small branches. I was worried but was reassured by Sebastien, my landscaper and my neighbor. He was right.

It never entered my head that I would care about a garden or flowers. Even when I first moved in, I didn’t care so much. The garden was behind the front fence so nobody could see my neglect. When Sebastien planted the lawn, he suggested I move the fence behind the garden. That’s when I started to buy plants. I bought perennials and a few annuals but the garden was still sparse looking. I still didn’t care all that much until I saw a garden filled with color and flowers, and it was beautiful. I started buying flowers. I think I have an addiction as I buy some every year. This year, I already have a list, but I need to do some refining. I want flowers which bloom at different times during the summer and fall so the garden will always have color. I’m still taken aback by my flower enthusiasm.

It has started raining again. Maddie just showed up from wherever she has been hiding. She is allowing me to pat her. That will last only for a while as soon enough it will be time for her medicine.

I have always found the rain subduing. Even when I was little I wanted to hear the rain and nothing else. School seemed quiet when it rained. I remember the sounds of papers being moved and pages being turned but no conversations. I don’t even remember the nun teaching us. She too must have listened to the rain. I remember seeing her sitting at her desk looking at papers, but I always thought she was really listening to the rain.

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“In actual life I am a grumpy old bag.”

January 27, 2012

The wind is blowing, and it’s pouring rain. My computer decided it wanted to ignore me so it froze several times. I cursed each time and screamed in frustration once. I must scream a lot as Gracie never stirred from her nap. She just kept on snoring. Today I am grouchy and tired. My guess is the lack of sun is finally taking its toll. It’s warm at 52° but what good is warm when it’s so wet? I do love the rain, but I’ve had enough of it the last week. It rains the whole night or the whole day or both.

I have no ambition today. Looking at the world through my window makes me want to stay right here. I will not get dressed and I will not make my bed. I might even watch television, something I never do during the day.

Walking home from school on a rainy day meant getting soaked. We didn’t have rain coats or rain boots or even an umbrella. They would have been extravagances. We had snow gear and warm winter boots but nothing for rain. I remember my hair was plastered to my head and bubbles rose from my shoes by the time I walked home. Once we were inside the door, my mother would quickly hustle us down to the cellar to hang up our coats and leave our wet shoes. I remember walking upstairs to my room to change and seeing footprints on the wood floor from my wet socks. I thought it was kind of cool. My mother was less appreciative. She’d follow us upstairs and grab our uniforms to put them on hangers to dry over the radiators as we’d have to wear them the next day. While we were sleeping, my mother would iron them so they’d look fresh for the morning.

I loved the feeling of being warm and dry in my pajamas and slippers. It seemed strange to be wearing them in the afternoon, but play clothes made no sense on a rainy day. Sometimes I’d fall asleep snuggled under the covers. Other times I’d read my book the whole of the afternoon, my favorite way to spend time.

Today I will stay in my pajamas and feel cozy and warm. I might also take a nap and probably read. Maybe my grumpiness will disappear.

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