Back when I was first sent to my assigned military duty station in the Netherlands, I spent a week shadowing my supervisor. He and another sergeant were chatting about taking in a volksmarch later that day. The other fellow said, “We should have no trouble getting off early for it.” He smiled, turned to face the open gateway of our tiny compound with his fists dug into his waistline, arms akimbo. “US Military Community of the Netherlands — the vacation continues!”
Yesterday’s ride around Lake Draper was partly a long slow slog against a stiff breeze. I didn’t fight hard, just rode slowly in a low gear. The terrain on the western side of the lake is given more often to open grassland. They mow a wide strip off both sides of the pavement with tractors bearing multiple reel cutters, but otherwise leave it natural. So all along the several miles heading south against the headwind, I was treated to a view of flowers blossoming in every color of the rainbow.
The one I saw most was a flower that most folks don’t see because it’s an odd shade of green-almost-turquoise. There must have been a half-dozen different shades and sizes of yellow. From time to time I spotted the deep purple cups of our wild violet vines. Mixed into the tiny carpet flowers of yellow were some blues and pinks. Farther off in the unmowed areas were patches of deeply tangled vines bearing strips of bright purple dangling bell-shaped heads. On the dam itself were generous sprouts of intensely bright red-orange flowers some call Indian Paintbrushes. Among them were some blue flowers waving at the top of tall stems. Fanciest of all were the bull nettles just now starting to bloom bright lavender.
Meanwhile, the early crop blackberries were losing their white blossom petals, as the center of the flower swells upward to become berries. Some are still in bloom while others are sporting tiny green knots. The sand plums in some places already have tiny green orbs hanging from the branches.
And today I’m starting a rewrite on my Debian book, a second edition to update for Debian 8 (Jessie). I think I’ll keep the same cover and just change the title. It’s funny: When I was finally able to ditch the crazy cultic Linux mindset so common among Linux users, after a while it seems God is now insisting I use it and be ready to teach it. I have no particular intellectual reason or enthusiasm about it, but it’s essential for some reason I can’t give a name. Just walking by the leadership of my heart.
