. . . woke too early

One of my bad habits is waking up at 5:00 a.m. This habit arose years ago, when the kids were little and I was working fulltime and going to school part-time. If I got up early, I had an hour or so before the shit hit the fan and the husband and kids got up and moving. I could drink my coffee, read the paper, check out the garden, take my shower and fix something for the kids to eat for breakfast, all in relative peace. Years later, with really no reason to do so, I still wake up at 5:00 a.m., and although I try to go back to sleep, I rarely do. Usually I just give in and get up, like I did this morning.

So here it is, only 7:30. . . the only sounds that break the peace are the infernal golf course vehicles that travel by on the other side of no-man's-land between our property and the golf course. They start pretty early, too, I guess to mow the course or whatever it is they do to keep it looking unnaturally green and manicured. There's an uneasy truce between the property owners and the golf course. . . we can't cut down any trees or make any improvements on 25 feet of land that we supposedly own, and we can't get caught walking on the paved path that follows the tree line. In return, we have no backyard neighbors and the club members aren't supposed to come onto our property to rescue their slices or hooks or whatever shots make balls fly through our yard. But you would be amazed at how many grown men climb through the brush, risking poison ivy and snake scares, to pick up those little white balls. Since I don't know the first thing about golf, I have to assume there's a penalty for losing your ball. And we have bucketsful of penalties in the garage. Most people that live in my neighborhood on the golf course can't afford to belong to the club. The buy-in fee is exhorbitant and the monthly tab is a house payment.

I would like to tell you that the leaf pictured above is a sign of autumn; however, it is just a bug-infested leaf fallen from the redbud tree, laying on the ground in the garden. But interesting, don't you think?