Starry starry night....

I woke up early this morning, just as it was getting light, and noticed that it was still drippy and drizzly and gray out. It was supposed to be clear and dry today and for the next three days, I was hoping it would be so I could get the lawn mowed, as The grass is tickling Sadies little Hind end when she goes out to pottie. It is a bright bright green, and growing fast!! It is only January, and our coldest weather is still to come!! It usually hits in February, with a snow in March and then it is Spring.

As I went in to the store tonight just as it was getting dark, I looked at the horizon and it was clear! The clouds were just passing over, and the evening was arriving clear and cold! On the drive bam the store, I noticed the stars out. Crisp and clear, and loud! Right on the prairie, where there were no trees blocking the eastern horizon, I noticed that Orion was out bright and beautiful! This was at 630 PM.

Orion is my touchstone, I wait for it every August, and feel like have been reborn when I spot it for the first time each Fall. It usually comes over the top of the trees around 500 AM around the middle of August. Just in time to get lost in the sunrise. I see it and know that the cooler days of fall are coming, and I am at peace.

I have no idea why I am so drawn to this constellation, maybe in another life, I was from a star in that formation.

Each night that I can see the stars, I look for Orion, and it gets higher and higher in the sky earlier and earlier in the evening, on its march across the southern sky and on to oblivion. Soon it will be blanked out by the evening light again. Our nights are getting shorter and shorter, and it is now staying light enough to see until about 600. And it is almost light enough to see at 700AM!

I just let Sadie out for her night time pee, and stood on the deck with my breath heading skyward in huge moist clouds, and looked at the stars. Orion was right up there, and right out of its belt flew a shooting star. Way up high but bright enough to see it's brief light, as it flew over my head and on to the cosmos.

It was if Orion was saying to me..."keep watching Mary Lou, I'm still here for a few more months!"

I will...and I will be watching again in August when you return from your visit to the Southern Hemisphere. Be safe!