Today's sky report

Actually, this is yesterday’s sky report.  On the commute in to work, we were crossing the Everett Turnpike before we cloverleafed on, and Kreblog said, “Manchester better look out – there’s a comet heading its way. “  Sure enough, there was a long fairly thin cloud with a dark, rounded face that looked a lot like a comet.  I had never really seen a cloud like that before, so driving took a backseat while I craned my neck to see.  The only thing the comet was missing was a leering face which would have let the ManchVegas residents know how it felt about taking out the city.

 

And in another cloud laded coincidence, later that day, I was driving south (on the Everett, again) when I saw a perfect herringbone cloud.  Now seeing herringbone clouds isn’t so amazing, but this one was actually in the shape of a fish, as if a dead fish had been sent skyward and left to die.  Maybe the fish was taken out by the comet.

Today's sky report

As I was driving west from NY into NJ on Saturday evening, the phrase "cloud stained sunset" came to my head.  As in, "an orange light glowed from the cloud stained sunset".  I'm not exactly sure where in the trip I was, or what I was looking at, because after the phrase popped, I was determined to remember it.  I said it out loud a couple of times and kept thinking about it, because I liked how it sounded and the mental images it could evoke.  These days, it takes a really concentrated effort to remember things - I can't just assume that things I see or think will be retrievable later on.  Fortunately, it came back to me the next day, and I was able to roll it off my tongue a few more times until I was pretty sure I would remember it.  I began trying to use it in a sentence, one that could start a story or a blog post.  Of course, I cannot remember any of those sentences today, but I'm sure I could make one up again if I needed to…."He rode into the cloud stained sunset, his new life just beginning."  After I thought about the phrase for a while, I wondered if I had actually created it or whether I had just read it somewhere.  Fortunately, a Google search only found one reference and it was in an article from 2000 copy of Southern Living.  Pretty sure I didn't read that.  Cloud stained sunset. Rock band name, anyone?

Today's sky report

It occurred to me today just how old you must be when your fast food franchise discussion morphs from which one makes the best french fries to which one makes the best salad.  By the way, if you don't need to have your chicken topping hot, the answer is Wendy's.  And stay away from Subway - their salads are basically a pile of that shredded lettuce normally thrown on your sub, with anything else you want added (how about a roll and some roast beef?).

Today's sky report

Hey Mr. Moon, all bright and shiny in the sky, how about getting in touch with some of the municipal governments in the area?  I'm thinking you could save money for the towns by having them turn out their street lights when you're at your best.  Your sharp silver shadows from last night are still playing on my brain's screen.  And it's amazing how yellow you turn just before sinking below the horizon.

Today's sky report

After a couple of weeks on hiatus from blogging, I’ve received some pointed emails from friends who normally give me grief for being a blogger. So I figure it’s about time to put a post out there and get back into the habit. Between Christmas and New Years, I got to experience the somewhat warmer skies over Orlando, FL. Having been to Key West as recently as October, I foolishly expected that I might be able to repeat that idyllic time with balmy temperatures in the low eighties and gentle trade winds. Not so. Orlando in late December is warmer than our NH winters, but bring a jacket. At the beginning of our week, it was reaching the fifties and breezy enough that the words “wind-chill” had to remain part of our vocabulary. Towards the end of the week, I did get to break out the shorts, but not until the last day could I qualify a feeling as “hot”. In fact, one day we got up extra special early (or “ridiculously early” as quoted by the ticket sales woman at Universal’s Islands of Adventure) to be first in line for a major attraction, and I found myself dealing with ice on the minivan windshield. Oddly, the car rental companies don’t include ice scrapers as part of your rental package. Finally, I got to put my AAA card to good use.

It’s good to be back to the predictably cold skies of NH. January, cold like it should be and not some tease of the warm weather. Hmmm, today’s high was in the 40’s with predictions in the 50’s later this week. Are we in Orlando, Dorothy?