Friday, Mar 6th - who knew that's what it was?

Conditions at 5:30 am: bright full moon and clear sky, along with -17' that feels more like -24
Expected later: sunny and -11'

On Wednesday afternoon I was checking out a twitter message from someone in the science department at the university. It included a photo of a 'solar halo' that was taken on Sunday afternoon. As I looked at the photo, I realized we'd seen this phenomenon.

As we were driving back from Souris on Sunday after skiing, we witnessed what we thought was a rainbow, but it was a round circle, or at least almost a complete round circle, with the sun in the middle. I'd never seen anything like this and was quite intrigued. Then I ran across the info online that gave more of an explanation of  a Solar Halo

"So what is it?

Also known as a 22 degree halo or a sun halo, the ring is caused by sunlight passing through ice crystals in cirrus clouds within the Earth's atmosphere

The crystals bend direct sunlight, projecting it elsewhere into the sky, and at a certain angle -- you guessed it, 22 degrees -- a halo can be seen around the sun."

 This isn't the picture we took, but it pretty much illustrates what we saw

I realize now that it may well have been a  once in a lifetime sighting, or we'll see them more often now that we know what they are and what to look for.

It's parent teacher interviews today so our favorite bus driver is off to Halifax for the weekend to visit her aunt, and get in some ski practice before she hits the Rockies!  That means I'm on my own for the weekend. I just might take a ski down the back lane on Sunday  and check out things back there.  Weather should be good this weekend.  Or I could convince Lloyd to go into town for a beer at the Old Triangle and listen to some music! Or I could spend the day in my craft room - so many choices

I guess the only other big news is I've finally taken the plunge and gone on facebook.  I've avoided it for so long but it seems that everyone is on there and that seems to be the only means of contact for some people these days. I'll try it out and see how it feels.  I really don't plan to post much on there as anything I want to say or display I put on this blog. That way those people who actually care about my pretty mundane existence can go there and I don't have to bore the rest of the world with my drivel!  (Not that I don't truly appreciate those of you who stop by on a regular basis - believe me I do. Sometimes it's what gets me out of bed on a bad morning, or just don't feel like getting up!) So thank you loyal readers - you all know who you are!