It is Sunday morning I am sitting in bed, one mug of tea down and one still in the flask - saves having to get up - three dogs snoring away happily, I occasionally look at the beautiful sunny day outside and feel content with my lot.
On a normal summer morning, I get up, take the dogs out and put their breakfasts down - they all have to have different foods, in different parts of the downstairs, just to make my life more interesting. I then make my mug of tea, go and sit in the front room, put BBC Breakfast on the TV & start writing my usual rubbish. Suddenly I look up and I'm late for whatever I am supposed to be doing. Time seems to silently sprint away when I am writing.
There is a lot to unpack in that last short paragraph The start of my day is the same all year round just in different places. If you have animals you soon realise they can tell the time. How? I have absolutely no idea. They just know. Humphrey in particular. On the dot of 7 am I open my eyes to a big black face with soft grown eyes staring me out, I turn over, he jumps on the bed, settles down or so I think. 7.05 the wet nose pushes my hand. I move my hand. 7.10 gentle lick, I turnover again. He starts stretching, pushing me nearer the end of the bed. If that doesn't work he jumps on me. 7.15 I'm up. Mildred grumbles, but if I'm up she can get up too - cruel woman, I don't provide canine breakfast in bed.
Different Places - Back to the point in hand. As the days start drawing in I take my tea plus a flask for refills back to bed with me, putBBC Breakfast on the bedroom TV & I write. Same routine, different room. In Autumn, Winter and part of Spring I am not lazier, I love being cosy, safe, warm and all those snuggling feelings of being wrapped up by a security blanket, away from the cold and wet. In Summer, I love the feeling of brightness, freedom, hearing the birds sing, the TV is on quietly, looking outside into the garden with all the different colours. Yet being contrary Autumn is my favourite season. I look out my bedroom window at the woods on the other side of the valley changing colour - don't think major dramatic valley, think small Hertfordshire one, but still beautiful.
Tea - I cannot get going without my tea, I feel discombobulated for the rest of the day without it. I cannot drink coffee as my first cup.
BBC Breakfast - its just noise in the background, although necessary for some reason. No way could I tell you what items had been on, what actors, celebritirs or entrepreneurs were selling their wares, occasionally I notice I have seen the same item 100 times. However, I couldn't tell you what its about.
Writing - I do find writing in the morning a fantastic way to start my day. I kept an early morning daily diary from January 2018, until 19th May 2025. Unfortunately my broken arm paused this activity and as I am still struggling to write it is sadly empty. I loved my daily writing with fountain pen but the mojo has returned or has it evolved, something I need to ponder.
Time - I have finished my post and without noticing it is an hour and half later, doesn't time fly when you're having fun.
Change of subject this summer most parts of the UK have been very dry with 4 heat waves, the last finished on Saturday. The leaves are now turning, many are wilting and falling before they change, the yew berries, elderberries and many other berries in our garden and around are fully ripe and dropping. Its August not September or even October. What will all the autumn & winter migratory birds, such as red wings and fieldfares, have to greet them when they return - bare trees devoid of their regular food - what will they eat?
All the fields harvested, the majority ploughed and the fertilizer spread. You may not be able to see the fertilizer on the fields but as soon as you open your front door in the morning you are hit by the waft of who knows what. It is one of those seasonal smells indicating a change in season. Some people complain, why? If you live in the country its a fact of life, my attitude is put up or shut up. Like I do with the church bells, l moved next to a church I can't complain, unless the ring nonstop for 6 hours, another story. People may be thinking early harvests are great. No the yields are likely to be poor, as farmers on this BBC website article ‘its the driest harvest of my lifetime of farming’ confirm.
I haven't disturbed Ralph the Head Rabbit 🐇 this morning. It was tempting to dive down their hole to investigate the warmer weather, heat waves and what it may mean this year. However, that is a serious subject deserving of a real trip through rabbit 🐇 warrens, fox 🦊 dens, badger 🦡 sets and otter 🦦 holts. Something for a later post.
Although I am writing this during my Sunday lay-in hopefully you will receive it on Monday if my Substack skills work. On Monday morning I am off to do another life drawing course to try to get my drawing hand and muscles working again. Some hope, maybe abstract from now on. I do really miss my drawing, more mindful than editing.
Prompts
What is your favourite time of the day? Why and describe how it makes you feel?
Can you bottle that feeling to uncork when you are feeling below par, tired or glum?
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Your seasonal change, with all the leaves shrivelling and dropping off sounds like Australia for the last few years. It’s so dry where I live (Tasmania) whereas further north on the eastern seaboard, it’s flooding rains.
I do like your routine and am envious. With a new pup, our lie-ins are now a thing of the past and we’re up and dressed, bed made, laundry chuntering away in the machine and breakfast half eaten by 8 AM!!! Maybe we’ll get it all back one day…
And in passing, I think the only way to bottle the best feelings for the glum days is to put them in a journal and read it back when there is a need. Cheers and take care.
Hey Jo, what a peaceful start to the morning. I love the start of a new day in bed cuddled up with the dogs, a good cup of tea, my laptop or journal, and of course Vegemite toast. The dogs and the toast vary depending on where we are housesitting. We are currently in northern Italy, where until the weekend we were in a heatwave with continuos temps over 35 degrees celsius. A storm on the weekend broke the trend and it is now sitting more comfortably around 30 degrees. We are back in the UK early September and I am looking forward to slightly cooler weather and perhaps the autumn colours shining through. Thanks for sharing your day. All the best.