One of the joys of getting up early in the morning (besides being a good time for certain forms of entertainment … nudge, nudge, knowwhatImean, knowwhatImean) is that it’s the only time where I have almost complete quiet in the house. I have a screwy work schedule; at least two or three days out of the week I work from 3am to 3pm, so my sleep schedule usually doesn’t let me sleep any later that 4:00 am anyway. Most days I’m up at 3, though. It’s a good time to check out the board since traffic is low and any pruning I have to do affects the board a lot less.
But the real joy of being up early, besides being able to watch the sunrise, is the quietness, and actually being able to watch a movie or listen to music without constant interruption from the kids. This morning I rediscovered Keith Jarrett. I’m listening to the ‘Saporro’ disc from “The Sun Bear Concerts” now and had forgotten what a wonderful, creative artist he is.
For those who have never heard him, besides playing with a “traditional” jazz group, he’s also widely known for his solo work where he goes on stage with just him and a piano and not a thought in his head and just begins improvising. It’s truly music you can get lost in, bliss out to, and let it take you to a completely other place.
I am a college student who is also on the crew. Practices are always at 6am (except Sundays, we have Sundays off).
IMO, there is nothing better than rowing on the Potomac and watching the sun come up over the Washington Monument. It is also extremely quiet, except for the sound of your oars clacking against the oarlocks. Very peaceful, I am going to miss it when I graduate.
I’ve also found getting up that early valuable, as I am able to get a lot done in the mornings that I wouldn’t do otherwise.
I love to get up before the sun rises: it’s MY time. Kids are asleep, dogs are asleep, Mr kiffa has rolled over and gone back to sleep. I used to like late at night but now the kids are older and stay up later and Mr kiffa likes to check out the old movies on tv; the house was no longer mine so I would swim laps alone just to be by myself to think.
But its been too cold for that…so I have come to appreciate early mornings for the quiet and freedom to have mental rifts…
This morning, over coffee, I thought about how jazz is so much like perfume. I was listening to a new CD I have [St Germaine Tourist] and reading about how perfumes are artfully constucted/put together with a topnote, heart and base. For example: The topnote for Mirage is bergamot, freesia and cassis buds, the heart is ylang ylang, clove, jasmine, rose and the base is sandlewood, vetiver and amber.
Excuse me, musicians, for I play nothing, don’t read a chord or sing a note.
So “Rose Rouge” comes on the CD player. base: drums, bass
heart: piano and singer topnote: trumpets, sax and alto sax
AHuummmm, it’s perfume to me.
I am so much more alive early in the morning. I live in the countryside just outside of Charlottesville Virginia. In the early morning there is a peace out here you just don’t find any other time of day. There’s often mist on the mountains and early AM deer are a common sight.
Years ago in college I was a night owl, but that has changed with age. Staying up late can be occasionally fun, but for experiencing the deeper joys of life, nothing beats the morning. Good day to everyone.
you row?? that’s so cool. I rowed all during highschool [sculling] and one year here at college [but only as a coxswain :(]. The water is soooo perfect right before sunrise and sunset, all the wind goes away, the water stops being choppy… damn… i need to get in a shell and soon… In HS we rowed in the afternoon, so getting nice water halfway through practice was cool, but then it would be too dark to row The only thing about early morning rowing I don’t like is being cold. Coxswains don’t move around much and therefore aren’t genereating energy and bodyheat like the rowers. The small upside to that: they gave me all their fleeces once they got hot, and I looked like a giant multicolored grape wearing a microphone
Yeah, our coxswains are always whining about it. For instance, the crew dresses in layers and gradually strips down as we warm up and the morning starts warming up, but they are always begging for us to pass up the articles of clothing we have shed because they are freezing
I’m usually more of a night owl, but last semester I worked the 7am-10am shift in the campus computer labs. I would get up around 5:30 and start the trek across campus to work around 6:30.
One morning in December, I found myself in the middle of one of the most beautiful scenes I’ve ever come across. About 3 inches of snow had fallen overnight, and the white stuff was still coming down fast and furious. The world was lit by a gray predawn light. As I left the only set of footprints down Ninth St. between the dome of Jesse Hall and the tower of Memorial Union, Badly Drawn Boy’s “The Shining” came on my MP3 player. I realized then that, although it wasn’t even 7 am, the day would never be any more beautful than it was at that moment.
I don’t get up early in the normal course of things (in fact, I refuse to teach before 11 a.m.), but I do when I’m traveling.
One of the most amazing experiences I’ve ever had was walking through the cathedral at Santiago de Compostela at six-thirty in the morning. No tourists, just a handful of people praying silently and one priest walking back and forth.
It’s a haunting place. The effigies on the tombs and the statues of martyred saints seem alive.
I’ve been rising between 5:15 and 5:30 a.m. for more than 18 years. I get up at the same time on the weekens.I’m also divorced.
When I have my son for the weekend, I dread him sleeping in. I just watch hour after hour go down the drain. I know he needs his sleep, but I still want those hours!
I try to get as much “Daddy” stuff done during that time as possible – laundry, uniforms, bills, etc. That way, when he does get up, he’s all mine!
After the Saturday morning cartoons are done with him, I mean…
I hate the morning because I dread facing the next 10 hours of work. I’m up at 5:45 a.m. and start work at 6:30. Sure, the quiet clamness and zero traffic are great. But those moments of peaceful introspection slam to a halt when I get to the office.
I look forward to the night. It lasts longer than I can.
I have always been a night person. Always. I even work third shift because that’s when I’m up. I always hated mornings.
However, recently I have come to appreciate the sheer magnificence and amazing beauty that the early morning hours can hold. Things are quiet and still–even here in the hospital. There is a calm peacefulness that doesn’t exist at any other time.
The early hours of the morning are a time when anything is possible. The whole day is ahead of you to make what you will. Anything can still happen at that point. The beauty and the hope that those hours bring makes my day bearable no matter what. Because in those few precious hours in the morning, nothing is impossible and everything seems just right.
I rowed all during highschool [sculling] and one year here at college [but only as a coxswain :(]. The water is soooo perfect right before sunrise and sunset, all the wind goes away, the water stops being choppy… damn… i need to get in a shell and soon… In HS we rowed in the afternoon, so getting nice water halfway through practice was cool, but then it would be too dark to row 
The only thing about early morning rowing I don’t like is being cold. Coxswains don’t move around much and therefore aren’t genereating energy and bodyheat like the rowers. The small upside to that: they gave me all their fleeces once they got hot, and I looked like a giant multicolored grape wearing a microphone 