random musings from a former morning person/John Edwards

I'm up earlier than usual today. I lay in bed at 6:30, listening to the first morning rush (lasting 5 minutes) as the construction workers all head out to the job sites. I soon realized I was awake awake, with no chance of drifting back for another hour before the alarm blares at 7:30. Other than birdsong and the clicking of my keyboard, my little corner of the world is quiet. The neighbors mostly are still in bed. Antonio former policeman, as he's called to distinguish him from Antonio, Iluminada's husband, is up tending to his grapes. He's now a winemaker and a pretty good one at that. He spends most of his day in his bodega, which he has outfitted with a sofa, radio, small oven, and the requisite girly calendar. I've never been invited inside because that would be improper here, but Big Jim has been asked in to sample Antonio's craft. The rest of the neighbors will get up in another hour or so, and the women will make their first of several daily trips to the markets to pick up bread for breakfast. The smell of burnt toast will creep from the open windows just before 10. I wonder if most Spanish people prefer their toast overdone because it's a smell I remember from my morning walks to school when I was a student in Seville. I used to be a real morning person when I lived in Philadelphia. I would typically rise at 5:30 to take the Precious Boo out for a run. There were only a few people up in my neighborhood at that hour....a couple young guys stumbling to the gym, the Daily News man setting up his cart at 4th and Race (a good spot because he could sell newspapers to the commuters coming off the B. Franklin Bridge), the workalcoholics juggling their travel coffee mugs and cell phones on the way to their 7 am meetings, the occasional other dogwalker. Since I've been living in Spain, though, I find my internal clock following the patterns of the sun and moon. During the winter months, it's damn near impossible to get me out of bed before 9, which is when the first rays of light peak over the mountain. In the summer months, though, it makes perfect sense to rise earlier before the weighty heat becomes overwhelming, making even blinking an effort. Siesta was not created simply because the Spanish like a long lunch---it evolved from absolute practicality. Onto a different topic, I quickly wanted to say how pleased I am Kerry has chosen John Edwards as his running mate. Edwards has been my favorite all along, although I wish he wasn't pro-death penalty. I truly don't understand why the US remains in the Dark Ages in regard to this. That said, I believe he's a good complement to Kerry, and I like their chances to beat the "Shrub". The thought of another four years of the simian-featured "intellectually incurious" (quote is Howard Dean) Bush (I'll spare you my feelings about Cheney for now) is just scary. A caller to Air America Radio (www.airamericaradio.com) last week suggested we begin to recite the following mantra: "Kerry. Landslide. Kerry. Landslide." Yes, I like the sound of that. Hasta manana. mylifeinspain