Goldenrod!

And I have the beginning of goldenrod! 

It is August. It is not supposed to be this gorgeous. It is supposed to be hot and humid and nasty and everyone who can is supposed to escape. Entire towns exits within two hours of DC just to cater to civil servants and their families fleeing DC in August. But stunning it is. 

The day was filled with laughter. From when, still in bed, I responded to emails and made someone in South Africa laugh, to later this morning when the laughter was a bit more manic, it was a great day. 

I recently learned that crows molt. This is good. My favorite crow is not diseased and is not transforming into a vulture, s/he is molting and will look gorgeous again when it is through. 

This is hugely important - people in the northern US and in Canada stand a good chance of seeing the Northern Lights this week. I don't, but people in the north do!

The war in Ukraine has brought nonstop weddings. People might have once had days of extravaganza, now they have small and short ceremonies during a break from the front-line. It is a seize-the-day ethos. the martial law imposed at the start allowed couples to quickly apply and marry on the same day. 

More military targets inside Russia and in Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine are catching fire in a string of apparent sabotage missions. Four explosions hit the Belbek airbase which is in the Crimean peninsula. There were a record 38,000 cars leaving the Crimean peninsula on Tuesday. The explosions are forcing Russia to withdraw airplanes and helicopters from Crimea. Crimea serves as Russia’s main supply route for weapons and ammunition 

Russian troops are having trouble fitting their tanks with Explosive Reactive Armor. ERA can help save a tank from incoming projectiles but many tank crews probably don't have the training to put it on.