Living in the place where my 2 worlds collide…

Since moving to the city, I miss the country life but on weekends, I go home.  The day begins when Darby feels nature’s call.  We have no close neighbors so I can go outside in my nightgown and sit on the porch step while he sniffs every blade of grass. 

There is something so special about a Sabbath sunrise in the country.  In the piney hills of east Texas, the horizon is unseen.  Morning rays of sunshine in all their fiery splendor make their way through the thick branches of cedar, pine, and oak, waking the birds and the neighbor’s rooster.  A donkey down the way brays good morning standing in his pasture where dew drops sparkle in the early light.  Cicadas answer with a final good night.   

On the 30 plus acres, all is serene as nature and wildlife wakes to face a new day.  The only foreign sound to the pastoral scene is traffic on the highway a quarter mile away.  It’s a nice place to sit and dream for a short time.

It is a far different world during the week in my city apartment bordered by a 6 lane street, a subdivision, a shopping district, and a busy golf course, where golfers are out buzzing around with the first light.  Because there are people everywhere, Darby has to wait while I get dressed and can go out on the tiny patio with its enclosed back yard.   The heat is not so great as it will be by 10 in the morning so a cup of joe on the patio is nice. 

The sun creeps up over housing developments and apartment buildings, beaming down on the smaller trees of the plains.  It wakes grackles in the city.  Their raucous cries are unnerving when several are pecking around together.  Squirrels begin their daily rituals of hiding bounty for winter on the edge of the fairway.  Their squabbles with the grackles are amusing. 

Other pet owners are out with their dogs and their coffee.  They pass by in their morning potty parade.  Some call a cheery good morning, others nod, while still others just wipe the sleep from their eyes and plod on silently planning their day.  In the apartment just overhead, 3 little boys run around frantically getting ready for school and across the hall toddlers are being readied for their day in daycare.  Cars arrive and depart as residents come home to sleep after a night’s work and others leave to begin their workday.  Soon the apartment complex will take on it’s morning calm and the quiet will be conducive to my work at my desk.  For now, I take in the morning sounds still so new to me as a novice city dweller and I plan out the agenda for my day while the hummers flit overhead in the feeder.  I can’t stay out for long. 

The country and the city have their own individual charms and the early morning is fascinating in both places.  The house in the country and the apartment in the city have one thing in common.  They are both located near a creek.  I have to go inside now.  I hate mosquitos.  Let the day begin.