Saturday, January 31, 2015

Happy Night Owl

One of the many things that have made me happy about living here is the fact that I sleep really well--and I did even through the summer, which I had not done in over a decade.

I am naturally a night owl. If I am asleep before 2 a.m. it's because I don't feel well. It doesn't matter how tired I am, I get a second wind at around 11. This used to be a problem in the summer when the sun would come up early and I would be awake at 5 or 6, unable to get back to sleep. It's no surprise that one of the summer seasonal affective disorder symptoms I had was feeling tired from the time we moved the clocks forward in the spring to the time we moved them back again in the fall. I wonder whether it was the location of the windows or something, because here, even though the sun was up quite early in the summer, I did not wake up until 7:30 or 8--and that works well for me. I did not drag myself through the summer wishing for days of sleep! This winter has been even better--I don't wake up until 8 or 9. It has been very pleasant to be able to live according to my own natural body clock and not have to force myself into a different schedule! Bill has been pretty much on the same timetable.

This morning when we got up, he put the coffee on and I got breakfast ready.
I'd made some peach bread in my bread machine yesterday and we had that with clementines and coffee. The coffeemaker makes just enough to fill the regular mugs and our double-walled, insulated stainless steel mugs (you can see Bill's in the top left hand corner). They keep the coffee hot for hours, so we don't have to keep the machine on, thus saving some energy :-) We brew the coffee, turn the machine off, and pour it.

Those mugs are great--they are called Joe Mo and were one of the best investments we ever made--we take them everywhere because they keep stuff hot or cold for a long time, they don't leak so can be tossed in backpacks, and are quite useful. When we were flying here, we had empty ones in our backpacks and once we got through security, we could fill them at the water fountains around the terminal. This allowed us to avoid "disposable" plastic water bottles.

The bread was good, but could have used more peaches. I will know this next time I make it! Still it's nice to start the day with a warm slice of yummy bread and some fruit

Last night before heading off to bed, I finished a tatting project I'd been working on using thread scraps. I had two more motifs to tat and then I crocheted a border around it all, listening to some podcasts of RTE Arts Tonight from earlier in the month.
I do a lot of my stitching late at night while listening to podcasts. It's a nice way to end the day.

I feel quite lucky to be able to meander happily through my days, enjoying a peaceful life in the slow lane, being creative, living simply, learning new stuff, and being in sync with my own natural rhythm.

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