May 27

The skies cleared late this afternoon following this bitter late spring nor’easter which brought rain and even a few flakes of snow so close to June. Looking ahead, the barometer is on the rise, and high pressure will bring a return to normalcy, a fact that is confirmed by the weatherman who forecasts upper 70s within a couple of days. Had this been midwinter, the result of this storm would have been feet of snow.

Just after sunset on the western horizon, an absent friend has returned and is now partnered. Venus and Jupiter are within a half of degree of one another, making a bright pairing even in the twilight sky. Astronomical charts also indicate that Mercury is quite close, but the skies are simply too bright to permit a viewing of this fickle planet.

Venus will be rising now, steadily each night, assuming her position as the evening star as she swings in her orbit catching up to our own and getting closer with each passing day.

The twilights are now noticeably longer, and so distinct from winter. These are the evenings where the grayish veil persists long after the sun dips below the horizon and also the light that ushers in the daybreak and birdsong at 4:30 in the morning. Astronomers explain it as the inclination of our axis, where the directness of the rays persists after sunset. We simply enjoy it as a softening of the evening, a chance to breathe after a working day or a time to ease awake in the morning before the chores.

Twilight and Venus in the evening sky feels like summer is slowly approaching.