EARLY MORNING RITUAL


I start my days with a walk with the dog. We always go to the park next to the house, a huge green area in the heart of Madrid.

We go early to have the park to ourselves. Sometimes in the winter months the trees are just beginning to shake off the darkness. It is a beautiful park with tall trees, flowers, fountains, and statues of purposeful men on horses. There is also a huge pond with boats, straight out of a Seurat painting

According to the law, dogs don’t have to be on the leash before 10 a.m. So Maxi is happy, running circles around me, and I am happy walking “unleashed”. We pass our favorite nymph, carried on water by mythological fish. As I stop to admire her flowing hair, my daydreaming is interrupted by a gaggle of emerging children on their way to school.


We proceed toward the “Crystal Palace,” a lovely 19th century glass building where sculpture shows, or installations, are sometimes held. It is a magical building, an apparition, an enchanted palace made of air and light. When I go inside and it is completely empty, I just want to dance madly, dervish like, twirling like a Sufi dancer.





We continue on towards the rose garden. On the way I get startled again, this time by birds loving in a flurry of feathers. We pass a group of people making sketches of a fountain. I am greeted with “buenos dias” and happy smiles. As they resume their sketching I ask if I can photograph them.




On to the Chinese garden with ducks happily grooming themselves. Maxi wants to chase them but I stop him. Here is where I used to practice tai-chi. I vow to do it again when I return from Portugal in September.




And then I smell the roses as we approach the “rosaleda”, or rose garden. There are hundreds of roses, blooming from May until July or so. Roses of every name and origin. Some with a lovely tea scent, others just gorgeous to looks at, spread neatly around water spouting cherubs.


Time to turn around and start my new day.

15 comments:

  1. As I mentioned when I first saw your blog, this is how life should be.

    Although in pockets here in the usa, it's nothing like most other countries, where people make the time to enjoy the here and now.

    Cheers!

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  2. Thank you for sharing your walk in the park with your readers. Oh how I would love to take that walk with you. Everything so fresh and clear and beautiful in the morning light. And that nymph ~~ I have fallen in love with her. Beautiful. Everything!

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  3. What a beautiful way to start the day. I love seeing what you see there. As I bird lover, I am struck by seeing a female mallard and am glad to consider that lucky duck growing up in such a beautiful park in Spain.

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  4. Belo passeio :)) Belo dia para você :) Talvez tenhamos todos necessidade de sair da vida real e passar para o plano da "outra vida", mais fantasiosa e divertida para podermos dar a volta a este absurdo... :) Abraço grande.

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  5. I like the line about "purposeful men on horses", which is very funny. It's true of getting into cars on a more mundane level - I am going somewhere therefore I have a goal.

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  6. Mmmm, what a beautiful morning ritual~

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  7. What a heavenly way to start the day. You make me want to go and see for myself. So many places I wish I could go. What beautiful pictures!

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  8. And all this before 8 am???!!!
    Beauty and magic, a crystal palace, roses and their perfume, ponds and weeping willows, ducks and birds, fountains and creative people! What a Park! Maxi running circles, the joy of Being. I loved being there with you today! Magic pervades all quand on voit bien avec le coeur!

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  9. Quase que consigo, pelas imagens e palavras,andar no "seu" parque também.
    Muito obrigado pela visita e generosas palavras acerca das minhas fotografias.
    Gostei da sua observação sobre a intemporalidade das duas figuras.

    um beijinho

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  10. It's all so lovely.......thank you. Perhaps those roses can be juxtaposed with something jarring.......for they are unbarably juicy.

    Yes, mam......thanks so for the note. I'm working hard on adjusting my attitude.

    Will you be continuing to write while you are in Portugal?

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  11. I would certainly be out walking very early........IF I hd such beautiful sights to see like these in your park!

    Thanks you for sharing with us - lovely place.

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  12. thank you for visiting my blog ... a little bird (pat) told me of you and so am very happy to meet you finally! i will be looking in again on your lovely blog - filled with such lovely photos!

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  13. Isn't it nice when nature and culture blend so beautifully together? The scene of your morning walk must really awaken ALL of your senses.

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  14. Hi Celeste, I'm Robyn from South Africa. Madrid is one of my favourite cities though I only spent a week there. I can remember seeing artists sketching and painting wherever we went and around every corner we found art, beautiful sculptures, hand painted tiles and mosaics.

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