Good morning…with a short video for my Google+ friends,

I’m a ritual lover most any time of day, but my morning rituals are my favorite (next to the evening rituals, of course.  And then there are the weekend rituals. But I digress!).  I always have to get the beginning of the day right in order for everything that follows to fall into place.  So, yes, there is the requisite brushing of  teeth, but only after a trip downstairs to the kitchen to flip on the cappuccino machine.  Then back upstairs for said teeth brushing and the making of the bed, without the accomplishment of which nearly everything else I do in the day turns out, well, rather like an unmade bed.  

And if I don’t do these two simple things (sometimes I break my rule when we have houseguests) because of fear of being entirely consumed by a certain slothlike guilt, it’s virtually impossible for me to enjoy the morning’s four-shot latte, of which I usually have two (I’m Italian, what do you expect?).  

Oh, I’m aware that people far more disciplined than I am can get away with having their morning coffee without making their bed or polishing their pearly whites.  But then, that would be their morning ritual, now wouldn’t it?  As for my Front Stoop, it is where the gentle awakening of the brain begins, the cells turning over in their beds to hear doves coo, and bumblebees buzz, and to watch rabbits dig in the grass early…before the hawks begin to soar and look for breakfast.

But this morning began on the Back Terrace off the Kitchen, a small space flooded with light just as it comes up in the East. The Front Stoop was far too noisy this morning, and so I sat in back and, since I think I’ve posted a photo of nearly every flower pot I’ve created, what’s a woman left to do…except shoot a little video to share with the Googleverse on this perfect morning in mid-June, 2012.

Have a lovely day.

Cheerio.

Giselle