Early morning is one of the Celery Farm's most inviting times of day, even in bundled-up December.

Aside from the rattle of a over-caffeinated Belted Kingfisher zipping around a semi-frozen Lake Appert, you are alone with your thoughts on the Warden's Watch.  

Far overhead, starlings by the dozen start to trickle from their night roost.

A distant rumble of commuter traffic is the only reminder of a universe to which you will all too soon return.

To the south, the metallic-gray clouds start to glow. Then, in a few blinks, the sun awakens and the Aurora Jerseyalis fills your slice of sky.

Not a bad start to a Tuesday, to any day.