Scrubbed

NO GO: Today we were ready for the historic launch of a SpaceX rocket with a couple of NASA astronauts atop it in a Dragon capsule. Lift off was supposed to be just a bit after 1:30 p.m. I turned pre-launch coverage on NASA TV by 8 a.m. :)

It was exciting watching the pre-launch activities. We saw astronauts Doug Hurley and Robert Behnken ready for flight. They said some goodbyes before hopping into their custom Tesla to head to the launch pad. 

One of the goodbyes was from SpaceX founder Elon Musk. Others were from their families. 

According to businessinsider.com, "SpaceX CEO Elon Musk seemed to get emotional on Wednesday when discussing the astronauts his company is about to launch into space. Speaking on NASA live TV two hours before the scheduled liftoff, Musk said he felt responsible for the astronauts who were inside his company's Crew Dragon spacecraft. ... 'I felt it most strongly when I saw their families just before coming here,' Musk said, pausing for a few seconds and appearing to choke up before continuing. 'I said, "We've done everything we can to make sure your dads come back OK.'" ' "

On CBS This Morning just ahead of today's scheduled launch, Musk said, "I'm the chief engineer of this thing, so I'd just like to say that if it goes right, it's credit to the SpaceX-NASA team. If it goes wrong, it's my fault."

Bet he had to take an extra bong hit or three before bedtime last night in order to get to sleep.

ANOTHER ABORT: Annabelle was scheduled for an online art class this morning but there was trouble with the link to the Zoom meeting, and once it finally worked, the class was so slow to get going, she grew frustrated with the wait. "I'd rather be watching NASA," she declared. Naturally, I told her to forget the art class, the launch was a much bigger deal in the grand scheme of things.

GARDEN SCENES: Now that I'm working full time (albeit at home) whenever I can, I pop outside for some fresh air. Here are a couple of scenes from our 'campus' today.  

I posted a few rockrose photos before. They were bushels of pink blossoms on bushes along our driveway. Their 'real' name is Cistus is a genus of flowering plants in the rockrose family Cistaceae. Lately, a few white ones have shown up on the mix. So pretty!

I headed down the stone stairs on the west side of our house to check out the foxglove that has just blossomed. As I got closer, I could hear the plant was abuzz. Upon closer examination, I found that many of its bell-shaped blossoms were filled with pollinators.

Can you spot the bee butt in the photo below? 

The whole plant was a like a bee hotel with hardly any vacancy.