Isn't This a Peaceful Scene?

I believe that Alissa took the picture from which this painting comes early in the morning, when she takes a lot of her pictures. I am sure glad that she gets up and takes these beautiful dawn scenes because I am not an early riser and would probably never see dawn if it weren't for her. I used to have a Garfield poster in my classroom that said, "I don't do mornings!" That sums me up perfectly. Unfortunately, my body clock is off with the rest of the world. School started too early to suit me, but I had to adapt for the majority of my life. Retirement is a blessing to me because I can now stay up later and sleep later than I ever did. I still set my alarm during the week to get up, just not until 9:30. I would probably easily sleep another hour or so if I didn't set the alarm. I have established a habit of staying up until about 1:00 A.M. with Terry and then going to bed to read for a half-hour or so before he comes to bed. So you see, I don't really sleep any more than is recommended. My schedule is just a little skewed. Most people look at me as if I am lazy when I say that I sleep that late in the morning, but I like it and I'm glad that I have reached a point in life where I can get away with it. Terry, who always was a morning person, adapted to a later schedule when he retired ten years ago. He can still wake up fresh and alert early in the morning when he needs to, but there is not a need to at the moment. When we bought our new house, we had shades made, and the one in the bedroom is a blackout one. The room stays dark even on the sunniest mornings! :) They say when you get older, you tend to wake up earlier, but that hasn't happened for me, and I don't care if it never does. Keep taking pictures, Alissa--I'll enjoy morning through you. Life is good, and so is sleep!