Come walkies with me

Nary a leaf is stirring as I greet the dawn

I have a new routine, that I have practiced for two weeks now.

Full disclosure: I have not actually done this since last Thursday. But I plan to resume tomorrow so I think I am safe in saying that it is my new routine.

It is getting up at five thirty in the morning to walk for forty-five minutes.

I climbed a bit up into their yard to photograph these

Let's get one thing out of the way immediately: your pirate is no stripe of an early riser. She is a night owl of the first water.

I did rise early for many years, when my children were small and when I worked outside my home.

But left to my own devices, I will stay up until midnight or later, and sleep until nine o'clock in the morning.

Mind your toesies

Even then, I start out slow: Coffee and reading, and relaxing, for at least an hour after I wake up, become ambulatory, and feed my pets.

So why, you may be wondering, would I opt to get up at the exact crack of dawn and take a walk?

Because once the sun comes up, it is approximately six and a half million degrees here, with ten thousand percent humidity.

The 'hood seems full but then there's this vacant lot

I don't do the hot summer sun. With the exception of, say, walking to and from my car at a store, which cannot be avoided, or the occasional foray outside, of necessity, without hewing to the shade, I stay under cover during the hot months.

Many of you, being morning people, know the pure beauty of first light, and that lovely true morning hour.

When I open my garage door at about five forty each morning, AirPods in place, listening to a book on Audible, it is still dark out although the sky is that particular purplish-blue that presages both full day and full night.

This one is marked Do Not Disturb

As I walk, it lightens by the minute until it's three-quarters full daylight by the time I get back home -- but still no sun shining down on me.

By then it's almost six thirty. TG is still asleep, his normal rising hour being around eight o'clock.

And don't judge but after walking five thousand or so steps and taking a quick shower, I go right back to my pillow, to snooze for another hour or so.

This way Soylent Green?

Sometimes I even go all the way back to sleep, then get up at my usual nine-ish.

It's working out fine which is why you may be wondering why I was too lazy to get up before proper daylight and walk for the past four days.

Well for one, I don't walk on Sundays, so that's only three days.

It's a sleepy time of day

And two, we have had three parties since last Thursday.

I've done the preparation and cooking for all three, with the exception of Chad grilling the meat course for Dagny's birthday party on Friday night.

I'm beginning to feel as though I cannot leave my house without a cooler full of food and four dozen roses.

The sky is beginning to enchant

So the one-word answer to your query is: exhaustion.

But I'll tell you all about those parties later this week.

Now I want to talk about my walk.

Street lamps still shine up into trees

We live in a large neighborhood, the houses of which were beginning to be built fifty-odd years ago.

Ours was one of the first to go up. We have lived here since August of 2005.

The first owners of our house built it to live in, but sold it after three years.

This is the home of a United States Veteran

The Marshalls, from whom we bought it, were a young family when they purchased the house and moved in, reared their children, and lived here for thirty years.

We met the Marshalls only once, when we came to the house on the day of closing. They were senior citizens and empty-nesters by then.

Several weeks ago Erica had come to visit me and I was outside with her at her car, helping her bring the children in, when an unfamiliar pickup truck pulled into our driveway.

This landscaping though

The tall, handsome, middle-aged man wearing dress clothes, very sharp, looked vaguely familiar to me but he had to speak before I realized who he was.

He was one of the Marshall children who grew up in our house, being about eight years old when his parents moved the family there.

TG and I met him last summer when we attended a block party to chat and eat watermelon at a neighbor's house about a hundred yards from us, and he came by and was reminiscing with folks he knew.

The pirate calls this poetic planting

On this day he was accompanied by his wife, and they were coming from his mother's funeral which had taken place that morning.

I offered my condolences and urged them to come in and see the ways we'd changed the house over the years, and so they did, and he told us about the way it was back in the day.

Like most people when going back to a place they knew well as a child, he said it looked so small to him.

Crape Myrtles on parade

I assured him that it's not small when you start cleaning twenty-three hundred-plus square feet of floors.

He saw where the deck had served its purpose and was all torn up, in the throes of reconstruction, and recalled when his dad, who he described as a jackleg carpenter, originally built it.

(I don't think he meant any disrespect; it was a perfectly good deck and served us for a long time. He just meant that his dad was not trained or particularly skilled as a carpenter, but despite that, he was a hard worker and did what was necessary.)

A most charming suburban domicile

He said that his three siblings would be jealous to learn that he'd been in the old house, and been welcome there, and walked around the place that was their childhood home.

I said they could come by any time, as long as they let me know first.

Our subdivision (if you want to call it that) is full of mature trees, mostly pines but many other varieties too.

What exactly are they getting at

It has the normal assortment of floor plans and house types for a neighborhood of its age.

The thing that has always impressed me about where we live is how quiet it is. You can walk in the middle of the day and it's still quiet, but at daybreak it is still as tombs.

As I walk I'm listening to a book and progressing at a steady pace and there are several long hills to get the heart rate up, and no cars pass, and no dogs bark.

Time to turn a corner

The birds are going crazy in the trees but that's not noise; it's sweet music. I can hear them even through the narrator reading my book.

Many of the folks who live around here have those meticulously kept houses and front yards and flower beds that are a joy to behold at any time of day, but which are so calm and serene at this hour, they're like a dream.

I marvel at what some people accomplish in the way of landscaping. I lack that skill -- not to mention ambition -- in spades. See what I did there?

A fine example of creative brickwork

Lights are still shining -- safety beacons on the houses, porch lights, street lamps -- and they give such an in-between look to the hushed streets.

Fifteen minutes into my walk I come to the place where, in the near distance, a rooster is crowing his heart out into the new day. He sounds positively frantic and he is LOUD and repetitive. What a noodle.

But there's barely a hint of the sweltering heat and screaming cicadas and suburban car traffic that will rule the atmosphere just a few hours later.

These are ravings

Some utility company or other has been spray-painting on our streets for some time now.

Cryptic symbols and words and arrows and circles and triangles and dotted lines show up every few feet. Different colors are used: yellow, white, green, blue, neon orange.

I would never actually do it but part of me wants to buy a few cans of spray paint -- I think I'd use pink and purple, maybe gold -- and draw hearts and flowers all around their designs.

Perhaps the most stunning flowerbeds in the vicinity

Just to make it look a little nicer.

But do you enjoy your walk? You may be thinking now. It sounds like a pleasant enough interlude.

The answer is both yes and no.

And a second, even nicer one

My feelings land somewhere in the middle of delight and dread.

Sometimes when my alarm sounds in my pitch-dark bedroom and I come to consciousness from deep sleep, I think, I must be crazy to even think about getting up and walking down the street right now.

What about stranger danger?

When I see this, I know I'm nearly home

The early bird may get the worm like honey catches flies, but I am interested in neither worms nor flies.

I just want to sleep. So I remind myself that in a mere hour, I will be reunited with my pillow and that while getting dressed and going out to walk may be a tad bit uncomfortable, it's doubtful that I'll die.

Does it do me any good? I don't know. Does anyone know? I guess I must think it does, or I wouldn't do it. What do you think?

My own dusk-to-dawn lights are still gleaming when I get home

At any rate, over the course of a few days last week I took these pictures for you as I paraded around in the dawn light, and I hope you have enjoyed going walkies with me at break of day.

I'll be back out there tomorrow -- that is a promise -- and if you are awake at five thirty in the Eastern time zone, I hope you'll think of me.

Later in the week I promise to tell you all about our latest spate of parties.

And that is all for now.

=0=0=0=

Happy Monday

Comments

[Ginny Hartzler]

You have a lovely and impressive home! It looks like what used to be called split level back in the day. What a wonderful neighborhood! Large lovely homes, neat as a pin, and plenty of nature around. The doctors have told me about walking and other types of activity that every little bit helps. But oh my, you have such resolve! We are total night owls and I could never do this. But of course I am much older than you. But still...We are having a probable record breaking heat wave here. Now I wonder why the city has marked the road all up. There must be a reason, maybe they are putting up curbs. But then why the marks on the existing curbs...

[hena]

That is early. I know people do it but I can not. Right now I get up at 6:20. Both kids are out of the house by 8:10 and I have finished breakfast. Then I head out. Agreed it is too too hot so I find a shaded area and very borningly just walk back and forth while I listen 2 a chapter or two or talk to my mom. It doesn't always add up to 45 mins but it all I can manage. I will head out again maybe after 6 if I have the time to do a more proper walk.. but sometimes it is too hot even then.

[Mari]

Jenny! I am so impressed!
I get up just a little after that to make my way to work, but like you, I'm really a night owl. And on my days off, I like to stay up late and sleep till about 8:30. So setting an alarm to get up and walk impresses me greatly.
I loved seeing your walk and some familiar sights. It's quiet here in the morning too, other than the occasional rooster. Bob heard something new the other day while sitting on the porch. The farm down the road got a donkey, so there was some braying going on, but that's rare.
I like your idea of hearts and flowers around the spray painting. But I don't want to visit you in jail after you are arrested for vandalizing!
It's sweet that the Marshall son was able to see his childhood home on the day of his father's funeral. I'm sure it meant a lot to him. It's funny how things seem small to us when we haven't seen them since we were kids.
Soon I need to hear about the parties you've been making food for!

[Jennifer]

@Ginny ... thank you and yes, a definitive split level! If you walk into my front door, you're in a small hall-like foyer with a front room to your right. A few steps forward, and there is a short-ish flight of stairs to your left that leads to three bedrooms and a bath. Straight ahead and you're in the kitchen (its main expanse is to your right, just like the front room. Turn left from the kitchen, go down five stairs, and there is the TV room, sun room, and master suite/bath. It's interesting, haha! My dream is a 3,000 sq ft ranch-style, all on one level, about 60 years old, completely renovated, on a large wooded lot, with a pool and guest house, but I don't ask for much, do I? Haahaaaa!!! I feel like I don't have all that much resolve since I go right back to bed after I walk. If I stayed up and faced the day, THAT would be resolve, hahaha! xoxo

@Hena ... I hear you my friend, and girl it is like firecrackers here, no way can I walk once the sun is up. And yes, evening is just as bad if not worse! Because then, the mosquitoes are biting! Up at 6:20 really is early but surely your boys aren't gone by 8:10 now that it's summer? How will your routine change when they're out of school for a few months? At any rate, whatever you can do is fine and just do what you can! xoxo

@Mari .. YES I showed you some of the beautiful flower beds when you were here last year! And with all the crime that goes on, I'm sure I WOULD be the one to get arrested at six o'clock in the morning for spraying a flower on the street, hahahaha! Now THAT would be a blog post! Book her, Dano!!! Yes I was glad that Mr. Marshall felt free to come by on his way home from his mom's funeral. I'm glad I was home. A braying donkey down the street from your idyllic someplace? You'll have to seek him out and make the introductions, hahahaha! xoxo

[Skunk (aka Mike Bay)]

I currently work nights (retired a year ago only to go back to nights full time...go figger) but an early morning walk is frequently the ticket to a better day.

[Dianna]

Jenny, it is so good to be back in the world of blog again after our trip to Maine and I have thoroughly enjoyed doing your walkie with you! And I loved heaqring about the young man who grew up in the house that you call home. What a generous and gracious person you were to invite he and his wife in to see the inside of the house now. YOU, my friend, are a blessing! I am looking forward to hearing about all of these parties you've been providing food for! xx

[Jennifer]

@Mike ... your schedule is baffling but you are right that an early-morning walk is just a good start. I'm lucky that I can rest afterwards, hahaha xoxo

@Dianna ... Thanks friend and it is so good to have you back! I missed you! I hope I can be a blessing to someone, sometime! Mr. Marshall is such a good man and I was happy that he came by. I asked him which room was his upstairs and he said all of them were at one time or another, hahaha! xoxo

[Maryellen]

One of the best gifts in life is to love the place where we live and to experience its beauty in quiet hours. You captured those sentiments beautifully,

Keep on walking!

[Lori]

Good for you getting up and going out for a long walk. I get up at 430 to get to work by 530 and there is no way I could get up any earlier to walk. It's HOT and humid here too so no outside walking for me for awhile. We actually went to the mall last week to walk which is much cooler. lol Your neighborhood is so pretty. I love all of the different landscapes. We live in a similar neighborhood but our street was the last one built up so our house was built in 1985. I was told it used to be an apple orchard before they sold and turned it into a subdivision. We had fiber optic installed in our area last summer. The different colored markings were for different underground utilities. Maybe it is something like that? How awesome of you to let the man come in and see his childhood home. It is true that we remember all of our homes and family homes as being so much bigger than they actually were. It's funny how that works. I can't wait to hear about all of your parties. Stay cool!!

[Jennifer]

@Maryellen ... YES I believe that and I do so love where I live! Thank you for summing it up so beautifully, my friend. xoxo

@Lori ... GIRL I was not suggesting that anyone else do what I do, hahahaha! Getting up at 4:30 to do anything, much less go to work, sounds draconian to me but then I am inherently lazy, hahaha! So I feel for you and I hope that in exchange, you get home early in the day to be with TBG. Yes I enjoyed seeing Mr. Marshall again and showing him around. He was so delighted to see his growing-up house again, and I enjoyed hearing him describe how different some things were back then! Amazing. It's hot here and so humid too, but walking first thing this morning was really nice. I could not possibly go out once the sun is up. I will sure deliver the posts about the parties! Stay tuned! xoxo

[AC]

We were home form our little plod by 7:45 this morning. We were up earlier but had the need to have coffee and then let it run through us a bit.

I was once an owl but now am more of a lark if anything. I guess I have become more of the latter bc I don't sleep so long anymore.

I didn't follow which gardens and flowerbeds were yours or others in your neighbourhood, but they all looked impressive.

[Jennifer]

@John ... oh my friend, none of those gardens or flowerbeds were mine, hahaha! I don't have any. I just admire those of my neighbors, and some of them are REALLY impressive. The work! I can only imagine. I have seen you larking around on your blog! That's an apt comparison. Hope you're sleeping better, at any rate. xoxo

[Jim and Barb]

Isn't it like there is a whole other world out there before everyone else gets up and moving? So many things to see, hear, smell and just sense. It's a great way to start the day even if you take a nap afterwards!

[Jennifer]

@Jim and Barb ... Yes, that's exactly it! It is like a whole other world. I like it! It was wonderful to be out there this morning. I think I could get used to this. And the good news is, after the first day of summer, the sun rises a minute later every few days. So by the end of August I may be sleeping until six, hahaha! xoxo

[Carla TePaske]

I enjoyed your post Jenny. I do love all the photos, as you know I love flowers and landscaping.
And I loved hearing about the young man and his memories of your home.

And I will help you spray paint the flowers.. hee hee.. I like that idea, just as long as we don't end up in the clink. ;-)

[Jennifer]

@Carla ... oh my word girl, wouldn't that be a blast? You and me spray painting flowers on the street at dawn, and going to jail together? Hahhahahaha talk about a blog post! xoxo

[Jeanette]

Well I commend you for getting up so early for your walk! I agree it is the very best time to walk but I can't seem to get my fanny out the door before 8:00! Such a pretty neighborhood too!

[Jennifer]

@Jeanette ... It absolutely is the best time to walk, but still it can feel slightly nutty, hahaha! This morning I was actively thinking, I must be out of my mind, out of my bed and out here walking down the street while it's still dark! Out out out, hahaha! But after my shower and taking care of my pets, I did go back to bed for a while. I don't have to go to work so I'm fortunate ... but then those who get to work with you are most fortunate too! xoxo

[Barb]

Good for you, Jenny! Keep it up. It must be hard in the summer with the heat and humidity even though you do escape the heat of the midday sun. I'm an early riser, but retire to the bedroom to read by about 8 PM. I enjoyed walking with you and seeing all the pretty landscaping.

[Jennifer]

@Barb ... it takes a bit of character to get out there but I really do enjoy my dawn walk. It was gorgeous out there today. I love the thought of you retiring to your bedroom by 8 pm to read. My mother used to do that. xoxo