Sunday Morning

My Sunday morning radio

Plays songs both sweet and sad

Sending my thoughts strolling

Through the youth that I once had

The world "back when" was different

And yet it was the same

We laughed and loved and dreamed.

It all circles 'round again.

Weekend mornings are my favorite times. I usually wake up early, out of habit I guess. The predawn hour is quiet, I turn on a soft, low light and have the local radio station playing just loud enough to hear from the couch nearby. It's this time of day more than any other that, armed with a mug of tea and a blanket, I let my thoughts run free. I write poetry, mostly in my head and write down only one and not every time. Some are simply thought, maybe wistful wishes that form and then dissipate as smoke in the wind.  Sometimes I get an hour or more for myself, without anything pressing to do. As long as Hillary remains asleep I have this treasured quiet time to myself.

Winter Joy

Many people say they don't like the winter; it makes them sad, they have to stay indoors or wear a bulky coat just to go to the car, and of course there's the snow and ice to deal with. I admit to feeling all those things about the cold season occasionally but other times I find good things about the season. Here are a few:

The first few sips of my morning brew taste and feel so much more comforting on a very cold morning before the heat comes up.

The night sky is clearer and the stars seem so much brighter on a crisp cold night.

The sounds of nature are different when all is dormant and frozen. Tree branches creak as they rub together, the wind whistles through the leafless trees, less birds twitter and chirp, and there is a special kind of hush over all when a storm is imminent.

The daylight begins to last longer after the winter solstice and by mid January it is quite noticeable.

Bare tree branches silhouetted against the moon's milky light remind me of lamp light glowing through black lace.

I can see the bones of the landscape and am surprised by things like old house foundations in the woods that are hidden by underbrush in the warmer growing season.

Finally, the smell of cooking food is very comforting when I come in the house from the cold, especially homemade soup which I have simmering on the stove.

I hope you have your own list of joys  to help you through the cold months.

Here's Dot!

Recently I was shopping in Kohl's with my older daughter and a lady walked up to me and told me I look like her friend Dot. But I don't have a cane & Dot uses a cane so she knew it wasn't her, but I have a twin! I have a friendly face. And she walked away. Good to know....

And that is how my alternate persona “Dot” was born.  Dot has many adventures, usually with my daughter.  Odd things seem to happen to us when we go out together. Shortly after the above episode we went to a concert my niece was in.  As we stood talking to my brother in the lobby after the concert the son of my high school band director rushed over, and smiling, introduced himself saying, “Do you remember me?  I’m Dave.” Giving me no time to answer, he shook my hand and turned to my brother, extending his hand.  My brother took the offered hand and said, “I’m Dave,” (because he is).  With that, the man walked away as quickly as he had approached and disappeared into the crowd.  It was a curious encounter which my daughter and I decided was a Dot thing.

A few weeks later we were again out shopping on a Saturday morning and decided to stop into the pizzeria next to Home Goods and order subs to bring home for lunch.  We walked in and ordered and took a seat in a booth near the register.  We watched as they worked and it appeared they were getting ready for an offsite catering job as well as making food for customers who came in.  After about 15 minutes all the employees began loading their catering van, carrying trays of food out the front door, passing us each time.  It seemed as if they forgot about our subs.  We watched with amusement for a few minutes and then I caught the owner’s eye as he hurried back inside for more of the food to load.  Realizing why we were still there, he asked one of the employees to give us our sandwiches and ring us up. We laughed once we were in the car chalking the experience up to another Dot adventure.

Just this past weekend I ventured out to our local Shop Rite along with most of the town it seems to replace the leftover holiday food with so called normal food since it was the end of the holiday break and life would be returning to normal on Monday. As I traversed the very crowded aisles and tried to look for the items I wanted I first did laps around the produce department because it seemed as if there was an odd traffic pattern of shoppers and carts happening and I kept missing my turn at the items I wanted so had to keep looping around. It was dizzying going in circles and trying to stop in front of the lettuce, peppers, and bananas. Once out of the traffic flow there I was able to make my way through the store.  Until I got to the aisle with coffee on one side and canned fruit on the other with several of those cardboard displays of featured items in the aisle.  As I inched my way along trying to find canned peaches while avoiding the other shoppers and go around the displays the wheel of my cart caught the corner of one and down it went, canisters of coffee skittering across the floor.  A very kind woman helped me right the display and pick up the canisters, several of which were lodged under my cart, and place them on the cardboard tower.  We then each continued our perusal of the goods and another shopper, new to our aisle, said as she walked by, “they have too many of these displays in the way,” I agreed and caught the eye of my helper and we both chuckled.  Another Dot adventure for the record!

Now whenever I have an offbeat encounter while I’m out, whether alone or with my daughter it becomes another chapter in the “Adventures of Dot”, a fictitious book.  Hmmm, maybe I should think about taking that from fictitious to real……