I planted morning glory seeds a few months back. In this neck of the woods, we don’t see any blooms until sometime in August. There are about 6 or 7 leafy stems throughout the chicken wire fence garden. The one stem that seemed to be the most spindly, that probably wouldn’t amount to anything, surprised me this morning.

Behold: the first morning glory of the summer. A thing of beauty. It rained a bit last night, so there’s an added bonus of water droplets. And, as you can see, there are more buds on this stem. Yay!

I love my morning glories.

It’s been fairly quiet around here. I read a lot yesterday. In the days before personal computers, I used to get up every morning, make some coffee, and read. Usually the reading matter was a novel of some sort, sometimes I thumbed through a magazine in the days when magazines were chock-full of information we had yet to be able to see online. Remember those days? Seems like ancient history now.

I’ve started reading with my first cup of coffee. Not blogs, not the latest headlines online, not my email – no, I’m reading a book. I’ve gone back to my life before my laptop. It’s so lovely. Simply lovely.

It’s quiet, the aroma of coffee is in the air, my book is in my hands. In the early morning, my sleepy brain is not distracted by a long list of things that must be done. Scout, who needs a lot of hands-on care, is usually sleeping. My mind is completely receptive to the words on the page; open, ready to soak up all the images and descriptions, ready to enter into the world of the imagination.

It’s so simple. I did it for years. But when I started blogging, I developed the habit of cracking open the laptop first thing in the morning. Had to go through my email. Had to check out other blogs. Had to immediately start in thinking about what I was going to blog about that day, and what photos I was going to use in the post. Had to edit the photos.

There’s nothing at all wrong with any of that.

But reading is one of my lifelong passions. I read a lot. I also review books and am committed to sharing my discoveries with you. Grabbing a half-hour to read before I go to sleep just doesn’t cut it. I have to carve out more time in the day to read. And that, really, is no sacrifice at all.

I’ve found it’s all too easy to let the online world take over. Though it’s wonderful and valuable and the source of a lot of information, and I, of course, use that world to write my blogs, it doesn’t hold a candle to being transported into a world made real by the words on a page.

So, I’m going back to my morning ritual pre-blogging, pre-convenient and nearby laptop. Coffee. A book. It’s a wonderful and peaceful way to start the day. I’m currently reading Murder in the Bastille  by Cara Black, number 4 in the Aimée Leduc series – ordered though my local library. A great series by the way, with rich, vivid descriptions of Paris, both old and beautiful and gritty and urban Paris.

And see? I’m even finding time to write my daily blog post. Yesterday, even after taking an hour or so to read my book, I found the time to write two  posts. Nothing lost, everything gained.

Happy Tuesday.