I’m not exaggerating when I say that we have had mostly cloudy to overcast skies every single day for the last three months. Honestly. I can remember one day about a week ago when the skies cleared enough in the evening to be able to get a glimpse of Orion rising in the east but shortly thereafter, the clouds overtook the sky again and all was dark.

I was planning on writing this post about a week ago to complain about the terrible viewing conditions and how I haven’t had a chance to make it out to the observatory for many weeks now, but then I stepped outside this morning and I found myself smiling at the weather. I was smiling not because the sky was clear – on the contrary, it was just as grey and overcast as it has been – but because it’s Christmas eve, three days after the winter solstice, and it feels like a wonderful Spring morning!

Right now, it’s 60 outside. It has been raining for the last two days and the sky is dark. It’s warm enough to be comfortable outside wearing a tee-shirt and jeans. Honestly, it’s a perfect overcast, drizzly, warm Spring morning. For me, Spring always brings to mind a feeling of new beginnings and hope for things to come and right now, the smell of Spring hope is in the air.

Wet grass, damp wood, cool breeze… You can keep the snow, this is my kind of Christmas!