Have you seen the stars lately?

We've been having storms every other day or so, but after the heavy rains come clear skies.

About 2 weeks ago, I was putting the kids to bed (or trying to), when I happened to look out my bedroom window and see the stars shining so brightly in the night sky. There was no moon at the time, and the nearest streetlamp was kinda blocked by the corner of the wall, so there were no bright lights to mute the radiance of the stars.

Orion was the most obvious constellation (ok it is also the only one I can recognise), and I could even see the stars that make up the sword. No clouds, breathtakingly beautiful. I MAY have seen the arrow/crossbow stars, but I recall my Astronomy senior saying that those are usually difficult to see without a telescope, so I must have been imagining a little too much.

Got the kids to come look too (they love any excuse not to go to bed), so we stood at the window pointing and chatting for some minutes.

Since that first night, I've been trying to remember to do some star-gazing every night, except on a very few nights when it was slightly cloudy.

And we saw a halo in the sky under the full moon, from the garden, a few nights ago. It was almost magical, especially five minutes later when my mom, who was still standing in the garden feeding mosquitoes, pointed out that there were 2 thin trails of smoke crossing the halo, most likely from some rocket or something. She wondered whether it was a sign...