A small blessing: Today, after several days of overcast and often rainy days, Portland once again got blue skies. I woke up to those, and was glad to get out under those blue skies — I went shopping at the soon-to-close Fred Meyer down the street.

It's a blessing because I wanted more light. Yes, the days are starting to get longer and the nights shorter, but the clouds have been heavy enough to keep much light from getting into the house.

Or, as I've put it lately, "even the light is dark."

That's almost a Yogi Berra-ism, but not quite.