Happy Friday, which is also National Vitamin C Day (I take a supplement) and National Jeep 4×4 Day, helpfully brought into existence by Jeep. We are a two-Jeep household and while they are very fun vehicles, they are prone to strange problems. Some days I’d rather trade the fun for reliable.

Here’s the Friday 5! This week’s theme is the pulse of morning and I can’t suss out the connection between the theme and the questions. But this week they’re bulleted instead of numbered.
- After your alarm, what is the first thing you hear, most mornings upon waking?
I wear earplugs when I sleep so I don’t hear the alarm. What I do hear Murphy leaping onto the bed after WM brings him back upstairs. He snuffles my face like he hasn’t seen me in days, when it’s really been 15 minutes. The first non-Murphy sound I hear these days are the birds outside who are slowly returning to my yard. There aren’t as many as last spring. - What’s the greatest rock and roll love song?
Total Eclipse of the Heart, which is on the verge of being ruined for me because of the “did you know it’s about vampires?” story. - What is the most impressive river you have seen?
Impressive river. Impressive river. I guess the Mississippi river, which I’ve seen from Louisiana and Tennessee. It’s okay, I guess? - What are some notable trees in your area or in your life?
There is a lovely magnolia tree in the front yard of the house I grew up in. When it blooms, that means spring to me. I timed my (first) wedding to occur when the tree was in bloom and it made for some gorgeous photos that no longer see the light of day. My 28th anniversary would have been tomorrow. Happy anniversary, BvP, wherever you are. No regerts.
I still miss the tree we had taken down in February. It was janky and dying but it was ours. - What are you feeling optimistic about, this very moment?
Let’s check my lil’ Robinhood stock portfolio (nb: I am not a rich person, but I invested some of our Covid stimulus check money and bough a few more shares of Disney over the years)

Ok, not feeling optimistic about that but if I was smart I’d buy some stocks today. (nb: I’m not smart.) What else? Cory Booker’s speech had me very optimistic that maybe, possibly, the Democrats can act like an opposition party. Let’s see if the rest of them keep up the same energy.
And this weekend I have nothing planned, except to pick up the chores that I let go because I was busy almost every day in March. The bottom is falling out of one of my drawers and I have an idea on how to fix it. I’ve had this bedroom furniture since 2004. It’s from IKEA and has made three moves, which is three more than IKEA furniture should make. But it’s good quality and I think it’s fixable.
I hope you have an amazing weekend! <3
The Pulse of Morning is the title of the poem Maya Angelou wrote for (and read at) Bill Clinton’s inauguration. The questions are inspired by the poem. 🙂 I thought we could all use a Good Morning from Maya, whose birthday (coincidentally, I swear!) was Friday.
April is National Poetry Month, which is how I came up with the idea. I didn’t know until later it was Maya’s birthday.
Ahhhhhh! That’s fantastic! I should have just looked it up online but nope.