Monday, December 21, 2020 was officially the first day of Winter for the 2020/2021 season.

 

It was an overcast day – with a high of 39 deg. F and off-and-on light drizzle. The first photograph shows a snow-less Jefferson Park as viewed from the attic of our house on Cooley Avenue -- on the south side of the park.

 

The sun, behind the ever-present dense clouds – rose at 7:50 a.m. and set at 5:00 p.m. – giving us a 9 hr. – 10 min. long day – in fact the shortest day of the year.

 

Spring is officially scheduled to arrive on March 21, 2021 – when the sun will rise at 7:27 a.m. and set at 7:40 p.m. – giving us a 12 hr. – 13 min. long day.

 

So between today and the arrival of Spring – we will have gained over 3 hours and 3 minutes of daylight.

 

For the next three months -- the days will keep on getting longer – more sunshine, more light – and soon the winter blues will be behind us. December is almost over, we have to put up with 31 days of January, and February does not count, as it is a short month. And come March – Spring will be in the air.

 

I spent 3-hours today afternoon planting nearly 4-dozen daffodil bulbs on a very pleasant day. Most of the time was spent – literally drilling 6 to 8-inch deep holes in the hard ground. I love daffodils. Looking forward to the blooming of the bulbs.

 

 

Today, December 21, 2020 – was also the day of the Great Conjunction – when the two massive planets in our Solar Sytem – which are actually very far away – hundreds of millions of miles – suddenly appear next to one another to create an image of a giant shining star – which in earlier times was called the Christmas Star – being very close to Christmas day.

 

Since this astronomical event – does not occur very frequently – there was a lot of buzz in the media – that we should all observe it.

 

So in the evening I took my camera and umbrella (there was a light drizzle) – made my way to the far-end of the south lawn of the park – so I could observe the conjunction.

 

At 5:00 p.m. as the sun set (I had no way to confirm as it was totally overcast) – I peered in the southwest direction to observe the conjunction.

 

Well, there were no planets to be seen.

 

What I saw was totally remarkable.

 

I saw our white house in the distant – with Christmas lights in the windows – with the two tall Christmas trees on either side – our neighbor’s on the left and ours on the right. See the second photograph.

 

This for me was the Christmas Star of the Great Conjunction – two houses, two neighbors, two Christmas trees.

 

 

See the following links for additional information on the Great Conjunction:

 

1.https://finance.yahoo.com/.../jupiter-saturn-form-rare...

 

2.https://www.scientificamerican.com/.../jupiter-and.../

 

3.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X15UH03VRI8