It is dark outside and I am awake ... too early. This is happening more and more and I have decided to relax into it rather than wishing it were different. There is a sacred hush at 4:30 in the morn, the only sound the shuddery breath of our old chocolate lab, Stella. I re-heat […]

"Best of any song is bird song in the quiet, but first you must have the quiet." (Wendell Berry)

Down near the bottom of the crossed-out list of things you have to do today, between "green thread" and "broccoli," you find that you have penciled "sunlight." Resting on the page, the word is beautiful. It touches you as if you had a friend and sunlight were a present sent from someplace distant as this […]

I was trained to wake up early most days. Up before dawn, usually to head to a morning swim practice before school or before the start of a summer day. Waking early is now part of the normal rhythm of my life. There is something about the early morning that feels spacious, open and unencumbered. […]

I am curious about your morning routine. The past year or so has really messed with my mornings and I am in a process of discerning how to start my day with equanimity and calm. I have decided I need a few things. Here are the simple components for what I would call a good […]