Look up, look down

 

 

What is that bright thing in the sky? We've been pummeled with bad weather up here-- below freezing temperatures and snow followed by flooding rain. 

This weekend, the clouds finally lifted. The sun came out. Just a couple weeks past the winter solstice and it looks a tad higher above the horizon.

The temperature reached the high 40's, which felt almost springlike. The first tulips agree and are already poking their heads up. 

I went outside to survey the freeze wreckage (not bad) and pulled out some ugly dracenas-- no big loss. The garden skeleton is clean and tidy, the best time to think about next summer. Fewer pots, less watering, for example. The days of abundant summer rain in Seattle are past. 

 Speaking of looking up. Have you followed the successful launch of the James Webb telescope? 

 

 

If all goes well, among other wonders, the telescope will view the cosmos in infrared light, revealing wavelengths in colors human eyes have never seen.

Down here on Planet Earth, for Christmas John gave me a lightweight but quite powerful "beginners" telescope. There's a learning curve, but last night I was able to find Jupiter's moons for the first time by myself. A magical sight, even in light-polluted Seattle. From our dark summer deck in Twisp, what wonders lie ahead.