A New Kind of Morning

I'm wondering if the way to a zen-like state isn't to get up so early your eyes are stuck shut,  pull on a swimsuit, drive five minutes to a pool, and get into it.  Churn up and down the lanes for an hour, not necessarily swimming but bicycling, marching, running.  Get out and feel the day has started over again (this because you'd glanced at your e-mail pre-pool, big mistake).

That was my morning today, and now I'm tempted to torture myself with the alarm clock every morning so I can get up early, exercise in a relatively unpopulated pool,  and induce that sense of calm.  I'm beginning to understand exercise addiction, although not to the level of our multi-tasking daughter-in-law, who runs twelve miles with no break and listens to talk radio while she does it. 

My usual morning routine is to get up later, read the newspaper over breakfast, repair to my studio, and read e-mail while waking up with caffeine.  Then NPR, more news.  How much noise and distraction I introduce into my life!  But today I have no idea what's going on in Syria, or with the election or the European debt crisis.  Really feels good.

Also: Thanks to everyone who responded to yesterday's post! One recipe has already arrived, and I'm on track to set up my first recipe-gathering visit. I'm hoping for 3 ingredients/3 steps, but I'll take anything close.