Mornings are better in retirement.   I like a slow start so much that I try to avoid scheduling anything before 11 am.

While I usually get up between 7 and 8,  there’s no pressure to do so.  Sometimes I set an alarm, but if I don’t want to get up, I just shut it off.  Sheer bliss!

I like my slow morning routine:

Check out the sunrise and drink some water.

Turn on the outdoor microphone for 5-10 minutes to listen to the birds while sweeping the main floor.

Do a 22 minute “Classical Stretch” video.  Glance out the windows while working out to watch birds at the feeders.

Eat my breakfast while watching birds eat theirs.  Lately my morning meal is often hot green tea and cold overnight grains with yogurt and berries.  Typically it has been 14 to 16 hours since I have had anything other than water to eat or drink.

After breakfast I do something active.  Today it was warm enough to go for a walk in the woods after breakfast.  (I wait until after lunch when it is cold.)

In the woods behind our house many of the red oaks are dead or dying.   I shifted from sad to thrilled once I realized that a large family of red-headed woodpeckers has moved in to take advantage of the standing dead trees.  Almost every walk I see and/or hear several species of woodpeckers.

Bird list from a recent walk:  https://ebird.org/checklist/S285446873

Many of the photos above are from our cold March drive to Alaska in 2023, tagged winter road trip https://roaming-nature.com/tag/winter-road-trip/