Star gaze the old year out and the New Year in weather permitting

I see it as a kind of therapy. I will stand there looking up at the sky and ask it did I do OK this year and what does it expect of me during the next one?

Yes Himself thinks I’m a trifle bonkers when it comes to astronomy and is apt to try to bring me down a peg, such as question who I think I’m putting these questions too up there and do I get any thanks, or answers for that matter?

For years I’ve been telling him it’s my soul that needs these answers which generally brings on his response that he knows there’s wiser locked up.

So fond of talking to the planets and the moon am I (still) that he decided one Christmas to buy me a proper telescope for sky searching. He often heard me talking about Jupiter and Mars and claim at times to observe falling stars (it’s true). But unless it’s something with a sail on it and a rudder he’s not interested. A few years ago this enormous box awaited my attention under the Christmas tree. I thought, at last, he’s bought those items I wanted for the kitchen. I was very excited. And so the box was dragged out and it took probably half an hour to open it. The lid was lifted and for a minute or so I hadn’t a clue what I was looking at. Then I saw something that resembled a telescope and suddenly the penny dropped. I could now go sky searching and observe those falling stars up close.

I soon realised that one should be careful what one wishes for.

Sky gazing was going to mean sitting out in the bitter cold of winter nights when the stars and planets are more visible. The very expensive telescope once, it was put together, seemed to weigh a ton. And no he had no intention of sitting out there in the cold or for that matter lifting the apparatus into different positions as the planets moved. I was on my own. Also, he didn’t want the attic turned into Jodrell Bank since there was a heap of my junk already in it. I soon realised this night sky business was not going to be as straight forward as I had thought.

Currently the night sky is glorious and there are times when I stand outside and it seems as though it is paying me a visit to make up for that sky watching dream the mechanics for which still remain in the box.

I will be out again tonight weather permitting and who knows he may have created a stand for that telescope so that I can finally get up close and personal with Jupiter and Mars.