Counting down is something we like to do. Those of us who were there for the "Space Era" know about "T-Minus" - the countdown to launch.
During countdown:
Aerospace personnel bring the rocket vehicle to the launch site and load it with payload and propellants;
Launch-center computers communicate with sensors in the rocket, which monitor important systems on the launch vehicle and payload;
Launch personnel monitor the weather and wait for the launch window;
Security personnel prevent unauthorized persons from entering the "keep-out" area.
Each mission requires approximately 100 procedure books.
The same generation will remember early Films and their start with a countdown sequence printed on the head leader so that the film could be synchronized with sound. I hadn't realized that the countdown is in units of feet rather than time.
Our implied countdown today is Spring, as we look at spring flowers.
What would you like to count down? Would it be the New Year 2016 in New York, in Sunnyvale, in Las Vegas? Would it be the Olympic Games in 2016? Or the NHL Winter Classic?
More likely we're counting down to the first snow storm. The forecast today is scattered flurries this morning. There's a Southern Ontario storm watch. So I guess we'll be watching the ice and or snow this morning, possibly, and maybe.
Going shopping seems unlikely: After a check of the headlines, the theme I take is that Boxing Day/Week shopping is stressful and dangerous.
Below is hydrangea flowers in winter, and weathered wood.
