Still Life on Scotts Creek

With all the chaos and uncertainty in the world, this was my peace this morning:

Walking beside waters so still that the trees were perfectly reflected in the water.

No fancy marinas along Scotts Creek, but well loved family boats of West Park View residents.

I love this stately Queen of the neighborhood.

Egrets and green herons feed in this marshy area of the Creek.  I feel grateful to be around this much nature, with foxes, rabbits, and raptors like Cooper's Hawks abounding...right in the middle of a city.

From the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same the LORD'S name is to be praised.
Psalm 113:3

And a Time for Every Purpose Under Heaven

Fall comes later in Virginia than it did when I was up North, as a child.

Now the days are ending early, but the flowers flourish.   Our temperatures are in the sixties and the seventies.  My flowers are happier than in the dog days of August and September.

The trees across the street are just beginning to put on their fall clothes.

The last daisy nestles with some apple mint. I am always sorry to see them go back to sleep until spring.

Geraniums are party animals, the very last to go, hanging out until last call, when we get a hard freeze.

"To everything, there is a season and a time for every purpose under heaven."  Ecclesiastes

Here's a gratuitous dog pic because I love her.  She's looking a bit more pit bull here than Labrador. That's one of her "babies" that I pick up at the Dollar Store.

Aerostat Flying Free

We are rejoicing over Bruce's new job as a senior instructional designer at Camber Corporation for a few reasons.

First, his normal hour and ten minute commute (one way) to another state is down to 25 minutes to Virginia Beach.

Second, the physical plant of his job site is in an upscale office park.  That is not the norm in military contracting.

The office park has a lovely little cafe, a gym, fountains out front, is well landscaped, with atriums in the buildings' centers. He and his co-workers walk during lunch along the trails which border the Lynnhaven River.  The "River" is actually a tidal estuary of the Atlantic Ocean.

Third, his pay increased tremendously.  Thank you, Jesus.  As my beloved Joyce Meyer says, "He's El Shaddai (Giver of All Sustenance in Hebrew), not "El Cheapo."

Fourth, Bruce had a word from God that he should leave his former company. He worked in the Quality Assurance department, creating videos to enhance safety, quality, and efficiency.  Bruce loved the actual work, which involved being highly proactive, productive, and creative. However,sometimes, I know, he felt like a voice crying out in the wilderness.

You know that big "blimp" that became untethered last week, taking down electrical wires, and leaving tens of thousands without electricity?  The media kept calling it a blimp.  It was actually an aerostat; a blimp designed to be tethered by lines, rather than to fly.  The media also stated that it was made by Raytheon Corporation.  That was also incorrect.

Raytheon was the primary contractor, but the aerostat was made by Bruce's former company.  The inaccuracy reminded me that the news media isn't too keen on fact checking, these days.

Walker Cronkite must be rolling in his grave.  When he said, "And that's the way it is, Thursday, June 2, 1972," you could believe it. Today? Not so much.

 I You-Tubed him and this made me cry:

Top Ten Walter Cronkite moments

When I was small, I thought that Walter Cronkite and Captain Kangaroo were the same person at different times of the day.  I related better to the "morning Walter." Modesty, professionalism, accuracy. The most trusted man in America. That's who he was.  Okay, back to Bruce's job.

The JLENS project (putting spy or commo stuff on aerostats) is now being scrutinized and, no doubt, the other countries (US allies) who buy the aerostats from the North Carolina company where Bruce used to work are thinking twice.  One source says the program is "hanging by a thread."     Not a good time to make aerostats  Bruce's job would have been highly jeopardized.

Thank you Lord, for speaking to Bruce's heart.  And thank you, Bruce, that you heard and obeyed.

Psalm 95:7
For he is our God and we are the people of his pasture, the flock under his care. Today, if only you would hear his voice,