Five Days in September, 9/2/10

Breakfast @ Nonna's, Penn. Furnace, PA

I was up from 3:30 a.m. until around 10:00 p.m. yesterday. It was really hot, and only cooled down a bit by nightfall. When my head hit the pillow, I almost immediately fell asleep. I tried to read the Centre Daily Times, but did not get far....woke up @ 6:30 a.m. and went out for a walk.

I love the early morning; I think it is the best time of day. It is fairly hushed here, except for enormous trucks rushing down Route 45 with loads of who-knows-what inside. There are crows, cicadas and crickets out. The fog is lying just above the top of the corn, and the sun is creeping over the tops of the mountains. Everything is damp and cut grass is sticking to my shoes. As I come around the back of Nonna's house and look down the long valley which is her back yard, there are two hot air balloons in the distance on an early morning flight. They move in a dreamy, floaty way....like nothing could touch them or disturb them. The horses in the field stare @ me but won't come over to the fence.  The phlox, chicory, and mullein line the edges of the road....standing in their late summer finery, waiting for what comes next.

I get back home and make the coffee. As the sticky buns warm up in the oven, their cinnamon aroma fills the kitchen. I make a fruit salad with some local peaches, and other fruit and yogurt. In the cupboard, I find the perfect bowl to eat my fruit salad in. It is thick and heavy and white and has been around for a long time. This bowl was made by Jackson China and likely had a life in a restaurant or on a train car diner long before it landed in Nonna's kitchen. It is white with a green stripe around the top and an insignia with what looks like a dove and two horses and the words "Virtue, Liberty and Independence." The fruit salad, with Jerry's homemade granola on top tastes better in this bowl. I am very aware of how much pleasure I get from a little thing like eating my breakfast in a dish that I really love. I highly recommend paying attention to small details like this.....it makes life very pleasurable.

Expect good things.....