Christmas morning, 2023

Another foggy morning in Escanaba, this December 25.  I slept decently and in sufficient amount, happily, but I was still up a good hour and a half before Conrad was.  Once he was up, we headed to Starbucks, which we knew would be open today (and thank you to the staff working today for being there - I tipped well!).  Alas, we were early, so we did something long overdue:  a simple walk.  In the morning fog, damp everywhere, looking to see the trees and more in the houses in the neighbourhood down by the lake. 

Not a long walk, but nice to finally get one in.

And then it was Starbucks.  A venti oat milk decaf latte?  Yay for Christmas miracles!  😉

at around 5:50 in the AM, campus

Ahhh... the sounds of the city. I'm sitting out on the balcony for the first time this year, catching up on blogging, and below my is a cacophony of fire engines rolling east toward the lake. Hardly tranquil.

Here's tranquility: campus at about 5:50 in the morning. As usual, the bus dropped me off about ten minutes before the doors to the rec centre opened. The sky was fading from its earlier bruised complexion, and the day promised to be fine. I strolled to the side street alongside the centre and took some photos.










I've always been curious what the blooms are. I think someone once told me they were cat mint, but I don't know. Handsome bed of them, though.

It's a quiet part of town at that hour, unsurprisingly. That's what I like so much - the calm, the peace, the feeling for fleeting moments only that I'm the only one there and it's all mine. It's not a bad feeling.

And then they open the doors, and I have to go on in and work out. Spell ended. Morning well underway.

this is what 5:55 AM looks like

Frankly, I will not be unhappy when it looks a whole lot lighter. And leafier. I don't mind the getting up around 4:40 in the morning to be down at the rec centre on campus for its 6:00 opening, but I will embrace it all the more when it's daylight out and I can see green leaves and flowers around.

Still, for those of you for whom times before 8:00 AM are abstract concepts, here's what it actually looks like...