In the days of old recruiting ads, there used to be one that featured the deck of an aircraft carrier, driving into the wind amid white foam. The ballet associated with bringing the ship into the wind and readying the powerful aircraft for flight was accompanied by the bold assertive remark: “Dawn Launch! Sea of Japan!”

I don’t know if we will ever have occasion to go look for that one again, but suffice it to say, the “Dawn Launch” has been a periodic event in my little slice of it in all the tumult of time. On Refuge Farm, the regular morning show is slower but still shows the pattern of life.

Grace and I were out puffing a morning cigarette and watching the light come up in a chill but nice morning. One thing was striking, and she ducked inside to get the phone to take a picture of the flock of Turkey Vultures that share the property. They normally will congregate in the north end where the foliage is a little thicker, but with the sun coming up to dissipate the cold of night, twenty or so relocated to the east, and perched sunward above the garage.

Here they are. Preparing for flight. Dawn Launch, Culpeper Virginia!

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