Six a.m.

Six a.m. is just a magical time of day for me. I love getting up and being out and about early. I've always been that way and life just does not go quite a smoothly for me if I sleep in. Watching the sunrise is a special event every time I get to do it. When I was in jr. high and high school, my brother and I got to watch the sunrise nearly every morning because we'd be out at the end of the driveway waiting for the school bus, rain or shine. If we weren't at the end of the driveway, the bus driver didn't even bother to stop, so we saw a lot of sunrises in those six years.

Then I grew up and began gardening and wouldn't you know it, I find six in the morning the best time of day to water and weed and dig and all those things. The only drawback is that I work three evenings a week. Being up and out in the garden by six and not getting home until after 10:30 make for a long day, so I tend to sleep till seven or eight and wake up groggy and disgruntled and don't get a damn thing done. So, last week I started having my dear husband get me up when he leaves for work at 5:30.

It has been so worth it. The past week, the mosquitos have been dreadful, but I put on long sleeves and watered and weeded regardless. And I've seen some marvelous sunrises, seen the birds divebombing and teasing my poor dogs, heard the traffic out on the highway three miles away in the still morning air and just generally enjoyed the mornings. For the most part I haven't even missed the extra sleep. And if I do get tired, I take a nap around noon. You wanna know something? There's not a thing that goes on at mid-day that's important enough to stay awake for.