What is your first morning routine?

Mine is to get up... walk into the front room in a slowly dissipating coma... open the porch door that overlooks a covered patio and the street beyond... open the patio door that looks out on the shade tree beds under the Silver Maple... grab a cup of coffee... sit down in the computer/desk chair that affords a view of both doors... and slowly wake to the point of awareness. At some point I start reciting to myself the first part of William Cullen Bryant's Forest Hymn... a poem that means a great deal to me.

Most mornings I'm sitting in the chair before I am awake enough to look out the screen doors and actually see what portion of the garden can be seen.

Yesterday morning I turned away from the porch door... glanced at the patio door... did a double-take... and just sat there staring at 11 blooms on two Peonies ['Raspberry Sundae' and 'Edulis Superba'].

I have, in my lifetime, been fortunate enough to have experienced a few mornings that began as good as or better than the one I experienced yesterday morning. But this one rates right up there with a few that really start the day in a special way.

Peonies absolutely ROCK !!!

"Ah, why
Should we, in the world's riper years, neglect
God's ancient sanctuaries, and adore
Only among the crowd, and under roofs
That our frail hands have raised? Let me, at
least,
Here, in the shadow of this ancient wood,
Offer one hymn -- thrice happy, if it find
Acceptance in his ear."