The Sounds of Early Morning

Given the choice, I would not be a "dark of the morning" riser. I don't enjoy getting up before the sun, for the most part.

But, hey, stuff happens.

Right now, as it happens, I AM rising before the sun. Sitting in my kitchen this morning, in the still quiet of my house, I listened to the world around me....

In the not-so-distant distance, I could hear traffic on the turnpike. Not an unpleasant noise, just the hum of tires on asphalt as commuters and truckers start their day too early, too.

In my neighborhood, an occasional car crept past, well within the 25 mph speed limit.

Right outside my kitchen window, my neighbor's garage door went up. Then, the scrape of garbage cans being pulled to the curb- a reminder that this is Tuesday. Soon after, his truck started up and pulled out. No garage going down.... wonder if he forgot, or if the Wife is leaving soon, too?

Then, the call of the plovers as they begin their pre-dawn hunt for food. Do they have sonar? How do they not crash in the morning darkness?

I know, as the sun begins to rise the sounds will increase. More traffic, near and far; more birds as they visit the feeders just outside my window; construction noise from across the way.... the day will begin in earnest.

But for those moments in the dark of morning, the sounds seem somehow more intimate, more gentle, more exclusive. It's just me, and the plovers, and the dark.