On the sofa with the cat, a cup of tea and Born to Run, a book by Christopher McDougall. Perfect start of the day. There are four perfect ways to start the day for me. This is one of them and I’m going to combine it with number two in a few minutes. I hope.
Reading and writing
So yes, reading is for me the perfect start of the day. Sometimes combined with writing. And with a cup of tea of course. And the cat. She makes it more cozy.
Today is Saturday. We don’t have any work to do, which means Sara is sleeping in. She’s good at that. I’m not. 6.30 am in winter is when my natural alarm clock goes off. I’ve tried, but I’m not able to stay in bed. My body hurts by then, and my mind is awake and wants some input.
Which doesn’t mean I want to run around like crazy. I’ve told you before, I’m a slow starter. So going downstairs, making a cup of tea and settling down on the sofa is the perfect start. With the cat. Maus loves sofa time.
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Running at sunrise
Sara will be awake in an hour, I guess. That gives us enough time to go trail running, before sunrise. Starting the day with a run is the second perfect way to start the day for me. I like to see the world slowly wake-up.
And as I’ve told you, before sunrise all the animals are still out. It’s easy to spot them. Seeing deer, squirrels, rabbits always makes me happy.
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Starting the day with yoga
Running isn’t the only thing that makes me happy, first thing in the morning. Yoga works as well. With yoga I miss being outside. It’s possible, but doing yoga with flies or – even worse – mosquitoes zooming around me, is not my thing. So I prefer to practice inside.
Luckily we have our own yoga shala and it looks out over the garden. So far, mostly over a big field with grass, but that part of the garden is going to be the Italian garden, with lots of lavender, thyme and rosemary. Soon, I will feel in nature, doing yoga there.
Baking bread
Last of the four perfect ways to start the day, is baking bread. I finally did this again yesterday. I don’t know what it is with bread, but it’s so satisfying to make it yourself. It’s a long process, as I bake sourdough.
Long means, I’m starting almost 36 hours before the bread goes in the oven. First I have to make my starter, as that has to stand overnight. The next morning I prepare the dough and add the starter a couple of hours later. In the evening I form the bread and put it in the fridge for the cold fermentation.
Only the day after I bake. Which is nothing more than transferring the bread from the fridge to the hot pan and putting it in the oven. But the great thing about that, is that I can finally eat fresh bread. And that’s what makes the morning perfect.
