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Monday, January 31, 2011

Morning



I've only been friends with "morning" in recent years. First there was my teens. Not much later was morning sickness. After that my morning or midnight alarm would have been a crying baby. That segued into mornings of finding socks and shoes and making school lunches and driving before I was really safely enough awake. On top of more morning sickness. I suppose I have a sensitive metabolism. Whenever I get up feeling "off", I still refer to it as "just my morning sickness."



When my youngest was five I went back to school. And then there was a job. More crazy mornings. But the summer I chose a language class at 7:00 am! and felt just fine and could also conjugate verbs, I realized that me and morning had come to terms.



But mornings are different now. Mostly because there is nothing "alarming" about them.



I'm often alone first thing in the morning for an hour or so. And like having language lessons at 7 am, my brain likes to wake up thinking. Not talking. It wants to look at pretty pictures, get new ideas, and take in the details cast by morning light.



This was my inspiration today, from Victoria Classics, Rooms of Bliss. It's such a beautiful space in peaceful white. And while it inspires me to beauty, it also grounds me and tells me that no matter what I choose to arrange on my table, I will never ever own a room like this one.



You mustn't take that to mean that I am unhappy about that. It just is what it is. I live where I live. I'm not in the building phase of life anymore.



So you see, morning is also the philosophical part of the day for me. I have the most creative ideas while I'm fixing my face, brushing my teeth, and messing with hair. I've learned to keep a calendar, paper, and pencil near my mascara.



I seem to know more in the morning. It's a good time for planning. For recommitting.



For a fresh month. The year ahead. Or years ahead.



The evening of our days is much like our morning. When we are young we know truth before we have experience enough to unlearn it. And when we grow old we know truth after it is too late to really do much about it. But like evening and morning light, these can be the times of the most clarity, of seeing the details most clearly.




At this end of January, beginning of February, I am reminded of how many framed pictures I own of twilight. Scenes where you can't tell if it is morning or evening. I guess I'm attracted to the mystery held in transitions. Is it the beginning of something or the end?




Morning is the time for contemplating such things. The time that my brain chirps to itself like birds do in the trees. It'll quiet down later just like the birds do. But I could still never say of myself that I am an early bird. Just a contented old bird.














 

Thanks so much for stopping by!
 It's probably still morning somewhere!
Ciao! for now!

Jacqueline

Please join me over at A Stroll Thru Life for Tabletop Tuesday
and A Delightsome Life for A Return to Loveliness
Faded Charm for White Wednesday






                                

31 comments:

  1. Beautiful post! I'm content, also. Sally

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  2. Beautiful post ~ I love mornings. I have never been one to sleep in. I get up every morning at 6:00 a.m. and have coffee and just be...I Love it ~ I love to plan my day ;-)

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  3. Wonderful post! It was like a photo book of images that evoke feelings. Even in a quiet house now, I love early mornings the best. Yes, the clarity. You delivered quite a message.

    Pat

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  4. What a beautiful post! I am not a great morning person but then it is quiet here now with the kids gone and my hubby at work. I could accomplishment so much more if I could get up early but then I would have to nap in the afternoon and miss out on the afternoon's activities. So I'll continue doing things the way I do them. This time of year when there is snow on the ground and icicles hangig from the roof, it is much more comfortable to stay in bed! Come Spring however, it's easier to get up early. Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I've enjoyed my visit.

    Blessings,
    Sandi

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  5. From your post you sound content, peaceful, rested, grounded and at one with yourself. It's a very good place to be.

    Anne xx

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  6. Lovely pics and thoughts! I've always been an early riser, love the solitude and beauty:@)

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  7. Another gorgeous post! I love your pretty tea setting and those lovely linens. I like mornings. I love to sleep in! :) But I don't, just so you won't think I'm lazy or something.
    be a sweetie,
    Shelia ;)

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  8. Jacqueline,
    I'm not sure how I happened upon your blog but I'm so happy I did. I read through your old posts and loved every one of them....I especially loved this one, as it sounds like I could have written it myself. You write so beautifully and your home is just lovely ~
    so glad to find you!
    Sarah

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  9. Such a great post to read and beautiful pictures.

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  10. I like mornings and I love love SLOW mornings. I like sitting with a cup of coffee and watching the outdoors and just giving thanks for the blessings of a new day.

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  11. Hi JQ,
    This is a gorgeous post! The words and photos are both so beautiful.
    Mike and I were talking about mornings... if I am alone and quiet I am very content... ask me to talk or interact... forget about it :-)) Boy would I have failed a 7am anything!
    hugs,
    Bella

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  12. Your photos are so beautiful, Jacqueline, and the message is lovely....Christine

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  13. Peaceful post. Thank you and good night.
    Mary Ann

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  14. What a serene and yet thought provoking post. Beautiful pictures and I especially love that gorgeous silver tray with it's delicate side trim. Just beautiful!
    Cindy

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  15. Hello Jacqueline
    What a beautiful and thought provoking post.
    I've always been a morning person and still enjoy rising at 6:30 am to exercise - this is my quiet time to think.
    And, I have pads of paper with a pen beside the bed and in my office for when an inspiration strikes to jot things down or just create lists of things to accomplish for the day.

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  16. Such a beautiful and moving post, I'll be remembering this one for some time I think.
    Merci.
    Maggie.

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  17. Goodmorning! It is very much morning here. I wish mine started in such a way as yours does - my mind and heart agreed with you - I have always loved mornings and feel if I don't get up and look, listen, feel and smell - I've missed something - what a gift to start each day afresh! I am visiting via my husband's computer - mine is still being worked on - so very glad you've joined A Return to Loveliness - you've made this morning all the more special,
    God Bless,
    Kathy

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  18. Beautiful post and your pictures are so pretty. Love that silver tray and the tea service. Lovely. Thanks so much for joining TTT. Hugs, Marty

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  19. Another beautiful post! There is something to be said for being a content with life as you find it.

    Take care,
    Carolyn

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  20. What a beautiful vignette!~ I could be a morning person easily, I prefer it, but everyone in my house are night owls and they often keep me up too late! I have that Victoria Rooms of Bliss too, it is wonderful. I need to go look it over for more ideas. Love your post. You could put this in Tracy's Trinkets and Treasures macro party. That is a lovely close-up or two of that silver tray.
    Sherry

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  21. Beautiful post! I am a morning person even on weekends and love to have a cup of coffee sitting in a sunbeam reading my favorite magazines. Take care..
    Wanda

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  22. Jacqueline,
    I agree! Now I love the solitude of an early morning. It's a gift and wonderful way to start the day.
    Your pictures are so lovely.

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  23. What a lovely post and a lovely blog! Glad I found you via White Wednesday.
    - Susan

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  24. Dear Jacqueline,
    I loved your writing so much, that I had to go back and scroll through to look at the pictures again, and really see them. I've always been a morning person, until, well, you know---years of the dark gloom of here! Just yesterday I was on the road at 6:50 am and it was pitch black, dark as midnight! So, mornings are much more sluggish than they ever used to be. Unless I have my grandkids. Then, it becomes a bit more "alarming". As for your looking at that picture in Victoria and knowing you'll never have that----I do that with your posts, only I'm not so ok with it!! Ha! I admit to envy! I am content with some things, but I just need more space and light. Well, sorry to be so long. Lovely, thought-provoking post!!
    Kay

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  25. Beautiful pictures. You make art out of your vignettes and photography.

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  26. Another very beautiful and poetic post, Jacqueline! I love how you write, how you think. I'm a morning person. My best ideas come upon awakening. And then I get down on the floor for yoga stretching, and that seems to be when my brain stretches and new ideas come flowing in. Love your blog!
    Brenda

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  27. Reading this beautiful post was like sitting on my front step, watching the day wake up. It conveyed "freshness", a new beginning coming about "gently". I love early morning, before the sunrise, the stillness but always the promise as the sky lightens, the flapping of hundreds of wings as the birds go and do whatever it is that motivates them at sunrise. For, me both in the wee hours after midnight and then (not on the same day, lol) before the sunrise is the time I am most sensititive to the urges of my creativity. This post inspired and delighted me in every line. Blessings.

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