Six a.m.

I've been getting up before six in the morning lately. My usual routine is to rise at 7:30 or so, make coffee and slowly get the day started. By nine I'm ready for all the busy things that a retired woman with nowhere to go must fit into a day.

But six a.m. is my new normal because I am trying to get my Shrubbler irrigation system working on timers. I set the watering schedule for six in the morning to get everything watered before the sun is too high. And I get up to monitor things -- the timers were obtuse to program and needed re-setting often at first. I have them figured out now.

Also the Shrubbler system is dinky and when the water comes on sometimes one or two emitter caps blow off. Oof. The system pressure then fails and the blown emitter shoots water onto the driveway and down the street. I have to shut things off, find the tiny little cap wherever it landed and reattach it . . . I have to calibrate this better.

In spite of early morning irrigation problems, I have to say I love getting up this early. The sun isn't yet over the housetops to the east, but everything is brightening. As the sun does peek up over rooflines, it selectively lights up spots in my garden and highlights what I don't notice in full sun.

The air is always cool and fresh. Deep shade makes the patio a pleasant place to sit and have my coffee once I've fixed the watering issues. It's so quiet.

If I can get the irrigation system reliably working and the timers to turn on when they say they will, I won't need to get up and monitor things so early in the morning. But I might get up at six anyway. It's just so beautiful and serene and refreshing then and I love being alone in my gardens as they drink.