The morning was sunny. Now the sun is hit or miss as there are clouds. Rain is coming later.

The world is catching up with me. I prefer cocooning, but sometimes I have no choice but to go out. Today I have errands, those mundane little chores which I generally eschew. Actually, I have several days worth of errands. Little stickies are all over the House reminding me what I need, and the stickies have no room to grow. I’d much rather rummage through the cabinets and the freezer than go shopping, but Maddie hates the new food I bought. For her, I shop.

For some reason, I have been a night owl of late. I don’t really mind as I can sleep in or set my alarm if I have to be somewhere. Most nights I keep busy by puttering around the house, playing on the computer, reading or watching TV. Last night it was mostly the computer and TV. I make most of my appointments for the afternoons. I am not a fan of alarm clocks. They ruled my life for far too long.

When I first moved into my house, I had a desk, a TV and a studio couch, all in one room. In the kitchen I had two pots, a frying pan and a toaster oven. I didn’t even have a fridge for the first few days. Though the mortgage was half my month’s salary, I remember sitting in the sun on the small farmer’s deck in a hand-me down blue lawn chair thinking I owned the world.

The house has come far since those early days. Each year the mortgage became a smaller percentage of my salary until it was finally paid off. Back then, in the beginning, with almost no extra money to spend, I bought furniture a piece at a time, and family and friends gave me some wonderful castoffs, including a bedroom set I still use and a rocking chair I love. The guest room beds were $10.00 each from a friend of a friend, and I have them still. An old kitchen table I bought at an auction was the first piece in the living room. It’s still there. The desk too remains. It is big and awkward and only used for storage. I no longer have the pots and pans, but they had a long and useful life.

My house is decorated with mementoes from my travels, most from Ghana. There are baskets, paintings, gourds, wooden and brass figures and Pottery. From Ghana I also have a pottery bowl with a wooden masher which is used for grinding foods like hot peppers and ginger. From Morocco I have a tagine. I have a pottery coffee set from England and a few more pieces from here and there. When I use any of these, I feel the connections between the places and me. They are far more than souvenirs, more than memories. They are vibrant and alive.