I read in our local Milwaukee paper that, as big cities go, Milwaukee is ranked 4th in the nation for bad winters and that Chicago, where I recently lived, is ranked 5th in the nation for bad winters. As a cross country skier I guess that means I am moving up in the world. It’s all a matter of perspective.

I remember an evening, many years,ago, when I was serving as a tour guide at our local astronomy club observatory. Had a guy that wanted to see Saturn in one of our telescopes, so I moved the scope into place and gave him instructions where to place his eye over the telescope eyepiece. He took one look and said, “Not much to it, is there?” Not sure what he expected, but seeing Saturn in a telescope, even after forty some years of seeing Saturn in a telescope, never fails to impress me. It’s all a matter of perspective.

I was once a birding guide for a local sanctuary and took a VIP out birding. He wanted to add a Ferruginous Hawk ( large western hawk) to his life list, so I took him to a remote prairie dog town that I knew was constantly patrolled by these big hawks. The setting was impressive. You could see the town disappear over a distant horizon, the day was warm and sunny, everything green and bustling on that beautiful spring day. It was a good day to be outdoors. I knew he would be impressed.

He wasn’t. Said it was kind of creepy. I setup the spotting scope and we spotted a Ferruginous Hawk in a matter of minutes. He nodded, then , checked it off on his list, then told me to get him out of there. It’s all a matter of perspective.