I know I probably shouldn’t be complaining about this. I mean, just look at the temperatures in other parts of the country. Still, I can’t remember ever being this cranky hot. We’re in Maine for God sakes! It’s not supposed to be this hot for this long. We’re not equipped to handle it. It’s like when some place down south gets an inch of snow, and it puts a monkey wrench in everything. That’s what it feels like here in Mahoosuc Mills. Everybody’s discombobulated. Charlie and me have air-conditioning in our bedroom, of course, but the rest of the house never really cools down. And humid! My makeup seems to slide around on my face. …

They’re back! Yes, I’m pleased to announce that black fly season is officially underway here in Maine. If you’re from away and unfamiliar with our black flies, oh, you are missing something! Have you ever laid on your back looking up at the clouds, and you start seeing shapes in them? Well, that’s what we do with the black flies here in Mahoosuc Mills. One day last summer, I’m out planting my window boxes and, swear to God, I see this shadow moving across our double-wide. I look up, and sure as shooting, it’s this whole swarm of them, looking one minute like the silhouette of a rabbit, the next like King Kong. Or maybe …

Folks, I’m feeling a little out of sorts this morning. Yeah, yeah, I know what you’re thinking: Hurricane Ida, right? Like I haven’t heard jokes like that all week. You just wait until you have a hurricane named after you! The last time this happened to me was in 2009, and it seems too soon for it to happen again. Speaking of too soon, and the reason I’m a little down right now, one of the saddest days of summer happened last Monday. You know what I’m talking about: the arrival of our hardy mums down to the A&P. (Sigh.) Sure, they have tight little buds at the moment, but that means we’re only a …

Last Wednesday (I remember the day because it was so traumatic), I’m tidying up in the morning before work, when I suddenly look down and see my arm in the sunlight. What the heck? I’m thinking. The skin was all strange and bumpy, like an alien creature. My other arm was fine, but my left one was looking really weird. I stared at it for a minute or so, trying to make sense of it. Have I come down with some strange disease in the night? That’s the arm I got my Covid shot in (two months ago). Is this some kind of side effect? Should I google it? Then, the penny drops. It’s just …

Charlie and me have two different speeds. He’s usually the slow steady one. Methodical, I’d call it. He ticks chores off his list, one by one. I know he’ll get things done in his own time. I’m a multi-tasker and more of a sprinter. I race around doing this and that until I’m worn out, then I collapse. If we have company coming for dinner, for example, and Charlie asks if he can help, most likely I’ll say, “Just stay out of my way.”  I’m not good at delegating because I lose too much time explaining. I tend to be doing something all the while thinking about the next one or two items on my …

It’s that time of year again where squirrels and drivers do si do. You have to keep an eagle eye out because an excited squirrel and a distracted driver is not a good combo. Not for the squirrel, certainly, but not you, either. Remember back in 2018 (I looked it up) where it was crazy how many dead squirrels were on the road? I guess there was a bumper crop of acorns the year before, so there were more little squirrels that year. All the young squirrels were leaving the nest about the same time, and apparently they weren’t taught to look both ways before crossing the road. This year’s squirrel population seems about normal, …

The summer holidays are here, and you know what that means, don’t you? Men down to Mikey’s Meat Market buying meat. I was in there on Saturday getting some pork chops for supper, and it was a friggin’ mad house. Now, you don’t get this for your winter holidays. Thanksgiving, Christmas, even Easter, I go into the meat market and it’s mostly exhausted women trying to do higher math. You know, if we’ve got 14 people coming for dinner, how big’s the turkey got to be? Or if the rump roast weighs such and such, how long should I cook it and at what temperature? Man, they don’t ask questions like that on the SAT’s! Your …

Just because we’re in the midst of a global pandemic, that don’t mean we have to let personal hygiene fly out the window. Come on, people! I have seen some sights down to the A&P, let me tell you! In March and April, maybe into May, it was kinda okay, because salons and barber shops weren’t open and we were making the best of the situation. Many of us got to experience the joy of finding out just how much gray hair we actually have. God knows, I hadn’t seen the true color of my hair in years. Ooh, wee! That was an eye-opener. Men let there hair grow too, of course. On a few, …

Where has summer gone? I mean, we’re a third of the way through August! I’m already dreading the arrival of hearty mums down to the A&P which should be in a week or so. Mums in September are a nice burst of color. In August, they make me feel the same way I do when I see Christmas decorations in October: it’s unnatural and unsettling. Anyhoo, be here now, right? Enjoy summer to the fullest. Drink in the smell of summer sweet and fresh mown grass. Feast on the color all ‘round: rose mallow, black-eyed Susans, rose of Sharon. Enjoy time outside with friends. Grill meat, eat corn on the cob and watermelon, figure out …

Well, we made it through our heat wave here in Mahoosuc Mills. Gosh, what a scorcher! There’s always at least one of those per summer. The temps are back to normal, now, which is a relief! Like I said last week, I don’t mind a hot day now and then, but four in a row? That can really wear you down. I mean, when the top of my favorite lipstick breaks off because it’s melted, that’s where I draw the line! I admit, I got kind of cranky, which isn’t like me. But if I heard one more sweaty person down to the A&P say, “Hot enough for ya?,” the top of my head was …