Oh, Mr. Sun -- Please Come Out and Play With Me

                                                           

I've been here so long

I think that it's time to move.

The winter's so cold, 

Summer's over too soon.

Let's pack our bags and 

Settle down where palm trees grow.

~~ Swing Life Away

For someone whose childhood nickname was, "Sunshine Girl," Northeast Ohio is not the place to be -- at least from November - April. Before you get the wrong impression and think I am negative, here's what today's Plain Dealer reported about Cleveland weather.

"If the sun does not shine today, we'll set a 5 year record for the most sunless days in a row - -eight -- and the National Weather Service says we will probably get through 10 before we get a chance of a glimmer, on Monday, when the prediction is mostly cloudy." (These are not the kind of records I care to participate in setting.)

"The Cleveland area has enjoyed only two perfectly clear days since Nov. 1. That leaves the other 97 dismal days since then either cloudy or partly cloudy."

"Cleveland ranks among the cloudiest cities in the nation -- 40th by one count and 21st by another."

"Cleveland averages 202 cloudy days a year."

Finally, validation that it's not just me -- and an explanation for why it feels like I am losing my mind. Clearly, I should have been a bear - -then I could just hibernate (which is pretty much what I do anyway) from November - April. 

But hey, at least it's not Milwaukee..."The robust and pale people...endured 17 straight sunless days in the winter of 2005-2006."

As always...something for which I am grateful.