“Morning is when the wick is lit. A flame ignited, the day delighted with heat and light, we start the fight for something more than before.” Jeb Dickerson
One of the two northern flickers that visited me just as the sun was coming up this morning. -- Photo by Pat Bean
Travels With Maggie
My morning began at 5 a.m. with a phone call when I was still deep asleep, By the time I stumbled out of bed and figured out where my phone was – in the cab beneath my RV’s upper bunk – it had stopped ringing.
After crawling back into bed and snuggling back beneath the covers because it was quite a chilly morning here in Pendleton, Oregon, where I’m parked in the farmyard of a friend’s mother, I hit the redial button.
It was my daughter-in-law, Cindi, in Texas who rang to tell me the books I had ordered from Amazon had arrived. They included Susan Albert’s “Bleeding Heart,” the next in the China Bayles’ books I’m reading and one that hadn’t been available on Kindle.
A much better look at a northern flicker, this one a male. -- Photo by Joanne Kamo
I said, perhaps a bit snippy: “It’s o-dark-hundred here. I’m in the Pacific time zone and two hours earlier than where you are.”
“Oh,” she responded. But then of course we chatted for a while. I couldn’t be too angry because she’s my traveling guardian angel and has handled all my mail for the past seven years. .
After we hung up, I tried to go back to sleep, but unlike my dog, Maggie, who never even lifted her head at the phone call, sleep had vanished for the day. So I got up, fixed coffee and sat down in front of my computer, alternating between answering e-mails and watching the day arrive out my window.
I was rewarded with a pair of northern flickers messing around a tree near my RV. I tried to get a picture, but it was dark and my photo turned out poorly. I thought you might want to see it anyway, but I added a photo taken by Joanne Kamo http://www.pbase.com/jitams to give you a better look.
Meanwhile, I did enjoy watching the pair of large woodpeckers – that’s the family to which northern flickers belong. They stayed around for quite a while poking around the tree, and sticking their heads into a couple of holes it contained. If Cindi hadn’t called I would have missed them all together.
Life’s like that. It throws you a curve ball, then apologizes with a slow pitch you can’t miss.
Pat Bean's blog 
How funny–I woke up to that tree in the yard for 25 years, and I never saw a flicker. Not once. I think I was a work by the time they got up.
The beauty of living in my RV is the big window beside my small bench table. It’s amazing what you see when you have such a good quiet view from inside what is essentially a bird blind. It doesn’t matter whether you are parked beside a lake or in someone’s backyard. Stepping outside the RV, however, usually means everything runs or flies away. Rabbits particularly like to come up to my RV and investigate.
I never was a morning person, But when working night shifts in other lives I love to see and hear the world wake up. With no other eyes but mine to see.
Jim
Mornings are my favorite time of day, especially that still, gray magical moment before sunrise. It’s sort of like that green flash out over the ocean at sunset, which by the way I’ve never seen. I imagine you Jim as a person who knows how to catch the magic in a day whatever time it is. It’s all good. Well at least mostly. I wish you many sleep-in mornings.
since you enjoy mornings i shall try to call again hahahahahahahahah just a little later xxx
I’ve noticed early mornings are good at blessing those who get up (willingly or not) to enjoy them. Flickers are wonderful gift. 🙂