“…at morning, I’m unruffled – I’ll sit with my tea and Muse Cat beside me and listen to the soft chime of the grandfather clock…”
The sun streaming through the front door is hot. Fern has taken possession of the rug in front of the door and is, as usual, sprawled in the sun. Maddie and Gracie are here on the couch with me. Gracie is having her morning nap. After all, she has been awake for a couple of hours and must be exhausted. Maddie just wants a few pats.
All of us have morning rituals. Fern and Gracie sleep on my bed so when I wake up, they jump up and wish me a good morning. Gracie wags her tiny Boxer tail so much I expect it to become a rotor and for her tail end to take flight the way a helicopter does. If my morning ever becomes a cartoon, that’s exactly what would happen. Fern rolls all over the bed and sometimes has to grab the sheet or she’d roll right off. I pat her and she bumps me with her head to let me know she expects more. After the morning greetings are done, I feed the cats and Gracie and I go downstairs. Maddie is usually on the table in the sun. She gets her morning pats after which I let Gracie out and put on the coffee then I go outside to get the papers, and most mornings I stop to admire the new flowers. This morning there were two yellow and white daffodils which had just bloomed. After admiring my garden for a while, I go back inside, fill Gracie’s dry food dish so she can munch during the day, leave two biscuits in her crate then grab my coffee and go into the den to read the papers. That is my morning just about every single day except Sunday when I go out to breakfast, the only break in my routine.
Soon enough it will be warm, and I’ll be on the deck with my coffee and papers. Gracie will take her morning nap spread out on the lounge, and I’ll stop and watch the birds at the feeders. Sometimes I bring my laptop outside where I’ll write Coffee.
I love my mornings.
Explore posts in the same categories: Musings
April 22, 2013 at 12:11 pm
Your musical choices are perfect for today, Kat. In fact, I’d mulled over posting the Marvin Gaye myself – but it will be fun scrounging around for an alternative.
It’s a beautiful day here, too – but, again, I don’t think I’ll be out enjoying it. Still, the sun’s streaming in the kitchen window and I’ve made a nice cuppa for myself.
Hope you received your invite.
Marie
April 22, 2013 at 1:18 pm
Marie,
Thank you! I chose Marvin because this song was used early on, maybe even the first Earth Day. I agree about scrounging around-I love hunting for songs to use.
I got my invite and have already been by to visit. I just hope I am not locked out like last time when I go back.
Cloudy here now and getting colder. All three animals are sleeping. Maddie is on my Mali blanket from when I was in Africa, Fern is on the afghan on the couch pillow top and Gracie is on the couch. They all know how to stay comfy.
I might just have another cup of coffee and read a bit.
April 22, 2013 at 1:10 pm
As soon as I wake up I have at least two dogs walking on my face so they know I’ll get up. Then they run downstairs and up again if I’m not fast enough 🙂 I open the door and let the dogs out (Yes it was I who let the dogs out 🙂 🙂 ) and then I’ll start filling their bowls with food. If my cats are indoors they’ll be screaming on the kitchen table until they get their food and at the same time I make my morning tea.
It’s not until everyone but me is fed that I finally can sit down, have my breakfast and read the newspaper 🙂 This happens every day, even on weekends 🙂
Have a great day!
Christer.
April 22, 2013 at 1:21 pm
Christer,
HaHa. Finally I get an answer to that question!!!!
You and I have such rituals and with each ritual the animals come first: cats fed, Gracie out and fed treats and dry food then me and my coffee. Gracie will get a can of food later. Both she and the cats have dry food just for a pick-me-up. The canned food is what they enjoy each day.
Have a wonderful evening!
April 22, 2013 at 1:15 pm
Christer, it sounds lovely to me!
Marie
April 22, 2013 at 5:06 pm
I remember when the world was new
And dangling from my every breath
Was the wonder of the summer fields
The life called forth from the very mud
Creation of the wind and sun
Our field was worked and the fresh earth turned
My dogs came down from their romp to see
The cool new life from the tillings called them
With musty sweetness on the breeze
I passed the way on the rippling blacktop
Immortal on my Huffy steed
Gazing off on the brimming life
Then from the tillings, the dogs, they called me
“Join us here and cool yourself”
“Roll with us in the fecund briskness”
“Soon the golden fire will quell”
“Then we will seek our solace elsewhere”
“In new mown grass or water spilled”
I laughed a good dog laugh to them
And set it down in the stream of life
Like a fallen leaf or blade of grass
Then on my way and the laugh adrift
The dogs will find it passing
And laugh as well
April 22, 2013 at 7:30 pm
Beto, this is so on the mark. 🙂 I love it.
April 22, 2013 at 9:25 pm
I am happy it brought something to you.
April 22, 2013 at 7:44 pm
Bteo,
This is wonderful!! You have perfectly described what I’d imagine to be the invitations of dogs. My favorite is, “Roll with us in the fecund briskness”
April 22, 2013 at 9:17 pm
I grew up where a half hour walk would take you into the heart of downtown Austin or into farmland depending on direction. There was this one field that I always admired because of the contour plowing and I would watch them plow in the Spring. The dogs would follow as they went. Investigating the fresh turned earth, as mice and rabbits would be turned out of their warrens, and rolling in the newly found smells. Like trophies these aromas were to them. The look of glee on their faces was unmistakeable.
April 22, 2013 at 10:01 pm
Beto,
It is so true that dogs smile, have the look of glee. I remember I was walking into the house carrying bags and holding Gracie’s leash. I dropped the leash trying to open the door, and when she noticed it, I swear she smiled then took off down the street.
April 22, 2013 at 7:34 pm
Hi Kat,
My morning routine is fairly calm. Rocky is not a morning dog. He sleeps in until 8 or 9 in the morning and then lounges about for an hour or so before he asks to go outside. I have time to linger over my breakfast and my morning ablutions before I have to attend to his wants. He’s an excellent retired person’s dog. 🙂
Today was brisk. I had a doctor’s appointment in the morning. After that I got breakfast at Starbucks and went home. We did nothing much after that. It was a lovely day.
Enjoy the evening.
April 22, 2013 at 7:47 pm
Hi Caryn,
Gracie will not choose to go out it the rain is heavy. She will go right back to sleep, after her biscuits of course. She can go in and out her dog door. On nice days she is out for the longest time and at night she’ll lie on the cool ground near the deck and just watch the night. She, like Rocky, will sleep in. She wakes up when I do.
I did nothing much all day. It was a delight. Tomorrow I have to fill the feeders and work on a presentation about my trip to Ghana last summer. As if I needed to think about anything to say!!
Have a great tomorrow!!
April 22, 2013 at 7:35 pm
PS: I just read that Richie Havens died of a heart attack. I remember him opening at Woodstock. I remember him from earlier than that as well.
April 22, 2013 at 7:48 pm
Caryn,
I heard it on the news. They showed part of his Woodstock performance, amazing!
April 22, 2013 at 8:26 pm
My heart just sank when I saw this. The man was just a genius. No one else sounded like Richie and he may have been the master of Beatles’ covers. I was surprised to learn he was only 72. Here’s a obit: http://www.cnn.com/2013/04/22/showbiz/richie-havens-obituary/index.html
April 22, 2013 at 9:49 pm
im6,
The man was definitely a genius. I loved to listen but loved just as much to watch hime play. Thank you for the obit link but it should have been pages and pages.
April 22, 2013 at 8:28 pm
When I was young I could easily sleep till noon. But, now I am up at six or six thirty on work days or weekends it’s all the same my circadian rhythms have changed over the years. As we age we need less sleep because as we get close to the end of our lives why waste so much time sleeping.
I used to subscribe to the news paper but the cost got so high that I canceled and now read USA Today and The Washington Post, which now are free on line as long as that lasts. The nice thing about reading on the iPad is I can make the text large enough to enjoy reading with or without glasses.
I heard of the passing of Richie Havens on the way home from work. I wonder if in a hundred years from now will Richie Havens, The Beatles, Santana and all the other rock stars be considered classical music like Beethoven and Stravinsky are considered today. Will our great, great grand children dress up to go to a concert of classical rock music played with electric instruments and drums?
April 22, 2013 at 9:55 pm
Bob,
When I worked, I was up at 5 or 5:15 and on weekends I was thrilled to make it until 8. I have found out that I function best on 8 hours despite my age. No matter what time I go to bed, I wake up 8 hours later. It makes me think of all those years when I slept 6 or 7 if i was lucky. I think I was always tired when I worked. Up at 5, to work at 6:30 and home by 4 if I was lucky.
I get two papers: the Boston Globe and the Cape Times. I read other papers on-line, but I still enjoy reading a real hold it in my hand paper.
The Beatles will be remembered because of the influence they had on music, and I’m sure there will be plenty more though I’m not thinking Santana. The Stones might still be playing then!
April 22, 2013 at 10:24 pm
Now that I counted up on one hand I sleep about seven and a half hours each night. I appreciate mornings more than I did when I was younger. In those days I appreciated the night life. Today there is no night life for me 🙂
The only issue I have with the newspaper, print version, is that you have to throw all that paper away. I know it gets recycled but the ink gets on my hands and I only really read certain sections. The photos look better on the iPad than on newsprint and It’s easier to read when the text is enlarged.
You may be right about the Stones. Considering all the abuse Keith Richards and the others put their bodies through I am amazed that they are still alive much less still going strong.
April 22, 2013 at 10:32 pm
Bob,
I don’t think ink comes off on hands any more as I never have any even after 2 papers. I do recycle every issue, and the newspaper is the best thing to use when washing windows, no streaks.
Not much night life for me any more either. A couple of nights out but home before 11. In the old days I’d get home around 1 or 2 and be at school by 7. Those days were a long while back!
April 22, 2013 at 10:40 pm
Hi Kat,
I’m sorry, but I’ve decided to pack it in as far as my blog goes. I guess a private music site just doesn’t cut it.
I’m glad you were able to visit, though, and thanks for your nice comments. If im6 sees this, I just want to be sure he knows that I did send him an invite and I’m sorry that he couldn’t make it before I closed.
All the best,
Marie
April 22, 2013 at 10:54 pm
Marie,
I am sorry you have decided to do that. You have all this great music in your collection, and really enjoyed the songs you posted. It was music I didn’t find anywhere else.
Maybe you go public again and promote yourself. That’s what I did when I first started. I remember the day I first got 100 people, and I wanted to throw a party with bottles of champagne! As I told you, I don’t get all that many comments compared to the number of visits. I enjoy doing the blog, and that’s enough.
I hope you reconsider!!
April 23, 2013 at 8:09 am
So happy to read a bit from everyone. Life is very busy these days and I am usually a few days behind. Mornings are magical this time of year and having a family of pets seems so quiet and relaxing. Soon I will experience this bliss, but for now I deal with whining a teenager who seems to be blind and deaf every morning. Having survived 2 before her, I know it will not last, but my patience is waning. Love to you all and keep on sharing your lives and thoughts, some days it is all the hope I need! XOXOXOX
April 23, 2013 at 12:10 pm
splendid,
I am always glad when you drop by to visit.
I remember hating to wake up when I was a teenager. I had to get a bus at 7:10 about 3 or 4 blocks from my house as I went to school two towns away. I always groused. I’m thinking my mother had a party when we all left for school each day.
Hang in there!