Early morning

In recent months, wake-up time here has been between 5am and 6am, as I reach a point where it is clear that no more sleep will come even if fatigue still lingers.  It's either stay in bed awake and deal with anxieties that need not be considered, or get up.  I get up.

The morning ritual then means putting on my sweats and coming downstairs to await the newspaper, and finding whatever ongoing book is being read to pass the time.  I make coffee, sit in a comfortable chair in the front of the living room, pull back the curtains on the large front window, and like the Dutch have no problem with the fact that those outside in the dark can see in.  The room is somewhat elevated and 20 feet away from the street, and seeing the morning light as it begins coming in directly from the east is something that brings out energy here.

The newspaper deliverer drives by on our narrow street at about 35 miles an hour and tosses the paper somewhere on the driveway or yard.  The driveway is much preferred as the lawn slopes down and is uneven.  It takes great care to pick it up there, as I would hate to tumble over in such a open area.  That is not impossible these days.  Whatever my problems with the Times are from time to time, I relish reading the paper in those early hours.

At around 8am breakfast is made for K and myself.  As eggs and butter have been somewhat rehabilitated by the non-vegan food vigilantes, a good morning meal is less difficult to make.  Then there is cereal, a mix of Uncle Sam, Post Great Grains, and the wonderful sugar laden traditional Kellogg's Corn Flakes, topped with walnuts and low fat milk.

All of the above is the launch of the day.  Why I am compelled to share this, I don't know.  It felt like a good idea when starting the post at 7:30am, but it seems to have fizzled, after a break, as it was completed at midday.  Now it's out of my mind and whatever thoughts of greater interest that occur here are free to be released.