Early morning

[Father Bill]

It's fun to wake up early in the morning by yourself. For some reason I'd just had enough sleep and wasn't tired... so I got up. Later this morning I'll probably have a nap and fill in the rest of my night, but for now I'm not very sleepy.

I've petted the pup, who was incredibly excited to see me (fortunately, being a lab, her excitement is silent) fed her and had a breakfast of left over Chinese food from last evening. It's hardly traditional, but I love it, and then I settled in to re-read for the umpteenth time one of my favourite books of all time. The house and the world are still dark and Liesel is still snoozing upstairs.

Earlier, I walked out onto the deck with Tally (Talisker - the puppy-dog) and stood in the cold semi-dark for a moment. It was fine out because there isn't even a breath of a breeze, and the deck had both melted and dried yesterday so I didn't even need to put on shoes - my slippers were fine and I didn't need a jacket at all. I could watch the pup re-explore her domain out there before we both came back in.

It's supposed to snow again today, but frankly the melt yesterday took out not only the many inches that had fallen the day before, but the snowbanks had dropped so significantly that when I pull the car out of the lane I can once again see that the road is clear for most of a block in either direction without having to peer around the snowpiles.

It's nice to be here on my own for a short time. I normally need people all around me, and it's hard working out of the house on my own, but every once in a while I like a night-time look about.

Right now, despite any challenges, life is good.