The dogs woke me up at seven so I let them out, and I waited until Henry wanted in so I could open the door. After I did, I went back to bed. Nala joined us and her fur was wet so I knew it was raining by then. I woke at 10, and it was windy and pouring. The rain stopped for a bit then came back with a vengeance. The wind is even stronger than earlier. The pine trees are swaying. The dogs went out but are now chasing each other up and down the hall. All I hear is panting and growling, nice growls, fun growls.

My plans for the day are to hunker down at home, clean the dining room and living room and try to ignore the dogs' paw prints in the kitchen and down the hall. My cleaning music will be Joni. The Reprise album came yesterday. A sing-a-long is definitely in order.

When I was a kid, my whole world was my house and my small town. I was usually alone when I biked except for that trip to East Boston. When I walked, my brother was sometimes with me. We walked the tracks or to the pool or the zoo. One part of the tracks ended at the depot, a brick building which had a variety of lives once the trains stopped running. The other part kept going. We never walked to the end. I still wonder where the tracks led.

I love trains. My dream when I was young was to take the train across the country. I wanted to fall asleep to the chugging of the train on the tracks. I never made it, but I have taken some spectacular rides.

Ghana used to have passenger trains. I took them whenever they fitted into my itinerary. The one to Kumasi, the second largest city in Ghana, was the train I took the most. I always went first class which wasn't expensive but was always comfortable. Each first class compartment had four leather seats. Most of the time I was by myself. Looking out the window was my favorite way to pass the time. I could see the backs of compounds and small houses. When the train stopped, women and small girls were at the window selling fruit, bread and bush meat on a stick. The only way to eat the heavily peppered brush meat was to wrap it in bread.

I once went down coast from Accra to Takoradi which is the oldest port in Ghana. From there I had to switch to tro-tros or lorries as the train went no further down the coast. That was the infamous train ride when the cars jumped the tracks. I almost fell out of bed, my comfortable fist class bed. I remember walking from one side of a trestle bridge to the other. That was one crazy experience.

The last train I took was the Cape Cod Railway from Hyannis to Buzzards Bay. The scenery is amazing. My mother and I took the train together a couple of times. W'd get off in Sandwich, shop and have lunch then reboard the train to go home. I love those memories.