An Early Morning Walk

"Seven.  Seven AM?  Like… ‘in the morning?" Linda really must have been wondering what kind of lazy sod I was, when that was my response to her invitation to come walking through the Dolan area with them today.  She sensed my hesitation and offered that we could consider it another time. “Nope – I can do it.” I assured her. “I WILL do it!”

And I did.

I was up at the crack of dawn, drove to their place and was bright eyed and bushy tailed for our 7 AM rendezvous.  What a wonderful time of day. What a wonderful start to the day. I was thinking, ‘why don’t I do this more often? Why don’t I do this every day.’  The walking part AND the getting up part.

I am up around 7 each day, but I am cozied up in my chair with a coffee and some sort of reading material. I have not reached my destination by that time. I am just in the consideration part of the day. Considering whether I should have a second coffee.

Today I was in the woods with my adventurous friends by that time.  Being committed naturalists, plant experts and bird watchers, I had much to learn from them.  The first being, you gotta get up early in the morning to catch the best time of the day – to hear the birds, to enjoy the tranquility.  It was absolutely worth leaving my blanket and cup of coffee for.

A virtual United Nations of feathered fowl surrounded us. Cat birds and finches; indigo blue buntings and red winged blackbirds; chickadees, robins and even a Great Blue Heron.  Joan recognizes all their calls. I would like to have her with me all the time to identify the legion of voices that I hear in my yard. I would love to have a face to go with their song.  Like the Cat Bird. More than once I have been in search of a lost kitten or cat in distress, only to finally figure out that it’s some trickster in the trees.  I have never been able to identify the culprit who was responsible for my concern.

Linda and Nick are masters at plant identification.  Things that I have seen all my life but couldn’t put a name to.  I was honoured to be the student and glean all kinds of information that I likely won’t remember by nightfall. They had their binoculars and I had my camera and we spied all kinds of marvelous sights.  I find the weeds in the woods as appealing in their simplicity as any flower in a botanical garden.

The walk ended with the most wonderful gourmet meal; a feast for the eyes and the palate.  An uplifting walk through nature, a delightful breakfast and stimulating conversation with good friends; that sure beats sitting groggy and bleary eyed, all by myself with my cup of coffee.

A Seven AM date is a pretty awesome thing.