I took the dog walking a bit late tonight. On a dark street a block away, I got a good look at the Big Dipper, which I use to locate the North Star. (Find the far edge of the cup, then look out of the cup along that edge about six times the length of the edge, assuming you're far enough up in the Northerm Hemisphere.) But the Dipper was on the wrong side of Polaris!
It took a good ten seconds to figure out that it'd been about five months since I was last out late on a night that was dark enough and clear enough to even bother looking, and to remember that the North Star is called that for a very good reason.
Continue approximately along that same line from the Big Dipper to Polaris and you'll reach the constellation Cassiopeia. Whether it looks like a big M or a big W is a good reminder of what time of year it is.
