I’m not exactly sure when I first started sharing my Sunday morning walks and sights, but I think 2012 could have been close to the start if not the start. That was back when Facebook had a limit on how many words per post and I had to work hard to tell what I wanted in few words. I can be a little wordy at time. As if I need to tell you that if you read my posts here. 🙂
I took the name from a Kris Kristofferson song “Sunday Morning Coming Down” that was sung by Johnny Cash as well as others. It’s not a particularly happy song, but has a lot of feeling in it. I try to make my Sunday mornings happier than the song’s Sundays and enjoy the sights I see out here on the farm. My first walking companion on those Sunday mornings coming down was my best dog ever, Oscar. Now I have my rascal Frankie who keeps me moving and sometimes guessing and sweet Marley who doesn’t always feel like walking at his age but soldiers along with me and howls in anguish if I consider leaving him in the yard.
So for fun on this first day of Daylight Saving Time, I pulled up some other first Sundays of DST to share with you. Hope you’ll enjoy “walking” along with us again.
03-11-2012
Sunday morning coming down. In the night, an hour was stolen from us by the twist of a clock dial. So, the morning’s coming down a little earlier than usual. The birds note no difference as they come find breakfast and begin the spring chirping. Frost heavy on the field this a.m., but sun’s up and bright and temps are gonna explode until the kids will want to be running outside in their short pants. But all the little winters are waiting to poke us. Redbud, dogwood, sheep shearing, linen britches, blackberry – to name a few. But no need dwelling on the “winters” to come. Time to enjoy the sunshine of now. Happy Sunday!
03-10-2013
Sunday morning coming down. A little earlier than last week with the daylight we’re saving. I wasn’t seeing any of that savings when I rolled out in the dark morning hours a while ago. But the day has come now with the sun pushing up in the east behind a screen of clouds, but the glow is filtering through. The birds are chirping as they fly in and out to the feeder where a red-bellied ladder-back woodpecker (what a name!) is wishing for more sunflower seeds. Somebody needs to go to the birdseed store. Black birds are showing up – a sure sign of spring. Last Sunday snow was coming down. Today spring will be whispering in our ears as we look at 60+ on our thermometers.
Time to get moving toward church and then to my book party where I’ll be talking about a different kind of 60’s. The 1960’s and how I turned my hometown memories into the background for my Hollyhill books. Wish me entertaining words while I wish all of you could be here to listen with kind ears. Happy Sunday. The sun has broken through the clouds here. Enjoy your extra hour of sunshine!
03-09-2014
Sunday morning coming down. Yikes, it was dark when I rolled out this a.m. Daylight savings time stole an hour during the night, but before Oscar and I got out the door, the daylight we were saving had shown up. Clouds rule this morning and the air is stepping back toward chilly, but the snow is gone and the bird songs coming from every direction shout spring on the way. The goldfinches at their feeder are still dressed in their winter green but soon they’ll be putting on their golden feathers. The brown grass in the pastures, well watered by the snow, is ready to go green with the first warming of the sun. The jonquils next to the south side of the house that last Monday were covered with ice and snow are bravely pushing out yellow blooms. And so, while the world outside is still clinging to the gray of winter, spring is right there under the surface waiting to explode in colors of green and yellow, pink and white. Soon. Very soon now.
Hope you have a great Sunday coming your way and can stay awake after we lost that hour in the deep of the night.
March 8, 2015
Sunday morning coming down. Way too early! Daylight Savings Time has me up well before the sun but while I’m not seeing any daylight outside, the moonlight is bright on the snow. A few stars shine through a scattering of wispy clouds. The temperature plunged back below freezing overnight and the snow that was melting in yesterday’s sun now crunches underfoot. I step over the icy tractor tracks. Better to crunch down in the snow. When I stand still waiting for Oscar to come back from his walk in the field, the silence of early morning wraps around me. All the little songbirds are still napping in the cedar trees, but off in the distance I pick up the whooing of an owl. The trees trace moonlit shadows on the snow. A softer, gentler light but in a while the sun will be up doing its spring is coming melting again. Hope you have a beautiful Sunday.
(Frankie makes an appearance in November 2017. So, this is his first March in 2018)
03-11-2018
Sunday morning coming down. Out later this day but earlier too. That sounds difficult but it’s easy when you lose an hour in the middle of the night. Mother Nature keeps her same old schedule no matter what we do with the clocks. Frankie was wondering a little though. Sun not up when we go out but it’s coming. Still clouds across the sky but breaks in them that give hope for a sunshine filled Sunday. The wind chimes make soft background music as we head through the yard to the hay field. The wind is cool and the cold air has slowed down the green but spring will come. The blackbirds are up in their same treetop having their morning confab. The crows are cawing to gather for a meeting of their own. In the distance a dog barks, but Frankie pays no attention. He has his nose to the ground sniffing for something. He’s so absorbed he doesn’t even look up to see the cows gathered around the mineral tub to get their morning vitamins or see the six deer down in the field with their heads up wondering when the black streak will be after them to make them jump the fence. Since Frankie is on leash because he won’t listen when I call him back, I turn us the other direction so he won’t know what he’s missing. When Frankie runs over to the neighbor’s field, he does always come back but I worry about him streaking in front of a car on our little lane. So the leash this morning. He does see a crow on the ground and wishes for freedom to make it fly. But he understands the leash holder won’t let go. We head back to the house to get the day underway. Hope you’re not yawning too much after getting that hour stolen away from you last night. Happy Sunday.
03-10-2019
Sunday morning coming down. Out the door earlier this morning by nature but later by clock after DST stole an hour from us in the middle of the night. Frankie looked a little puzzled when I was up before he used his whining alarm clock to wake me. But he’s ready to hit the trail when the door opens. The heavy rains in the night have moved off to pour down on somebody else, leaving our sky rain-washed with only a light skiff of clouds going rosy red along the eastern horizon. The black birds chatter in the treetops and a mourning dove coos in the distance. The neighbor rooster does his morning wake-up duty, but only once or twice. They must have a new rooster or the old one has learned to conserve his crow instead of going off every three minutes. Could be all the hens ganged up on him and told him to chill. Whatever, the rooster announces morning and then hushes, but the blackbirds chatter on. Frankie smells something in the bushes and I have to strongly insist he come out before the leash tangles so badly in the bushes I’d have to cut him loose. He’s not happy, but then he’s off on a new trail. No deer this morning. All is quiet. The sun comes a little nearer and throws pink into the sky to reveal more traces of clouds. A jet climbs across the sky leaving a pink trail and even the jet looks pink as though it’s taking part in a breast cancer awareness pink-out day. A pink glow falls across the field and I wonder if those in the plane could see me would I be glowing pink to them the way the plane is to me. Then the glow is gone. The eastern sky goes from rosy red to golden, and the pink cloud skiffs and the jet trail go back to white. Time to head back to the house and get ready for church. Hope a good day is headed your way with some sunny warmth in your heart whether you actually get to the see the sun’s face today or not.
(I didn’t get Marley until September 2019. I dog-sat him some before that but he didn’t come to stay until 2019. But here’s this morning’s walk with both Frankie and Marley.)
03-09-2025
Sunday morning coming down. The dogs and I go out earlier before the sunrise but later according to the clock. Daylight Saving Time has hit to disrupt the usual schedule. But it is daylight and spring cool with the hint of frost on the grass. Early or late, Frankie doesn’t care as he’s eager to get down to the pasture field to see what he can smell. One early bird is tweeting, and then I hear the soft whos of an owl off in the distance. That proves we’re out early. I let Frankie off leash and he’s a good dog today and doesn’t run off to places he’s not supposed to go but stays in sight as he zips from one scent trail to another. Marley comes along and finds a few good sniffs too. Some crows caw at one another, and a few more birds sing a morning song. Other than the birds, it seems the only critters on the move this early are the dogs and me. The deer I usually see each morning must not have heard about the time change. We make our rounds and head back to the house. As we get back to the front hayfield, the neighbor’s rooster starts crowing. And so the day begins – earlier in one way, later in another. Hope you have a great day coming your way and enjoy the extra daylight by the clock at the end of the day. Happy Sunday.
What’s a favorite sight or sound for you on a Sunday morning?