...and with the arrival of Summer...

"In summer, the song sings itself." - William Carlos Williams

"The summer night is like a perfection in itself." - Wallace Stevens

"Deep summer is when laziness finds respectability." - Sam Keen

Happy Summer Solstice

The longest day of the year is here – time to celebrate. But why is it the longest and why celebrate?

“The seasons of the year are caused by the 23.5º tilt of the earth's axis. Because the earth is rotating like a top or gyroscope, the North Pole points in a fixed direction continuously*- towards a point in space near the North Star. But the earth is also revolving around the sun. During half of the year, the southern hemisphere is more exposed to the sun than is the northern hemisphere. During the rest of the year, the reverse is true. At noontime in the Northern Hemisphere the sun appears high in the sky during summertime, and low during winter. The time of the year when the sun reaches its maximum elevation occurs on the summer solstice -- the day with the greatest number of daylight hours. It typically occurs on, or within a day or two of, JUN-21 -- the first day of summer.”

OK, but what about the pre-Mayans, their system understood the hemispheres switch seasons (Precession of the Equinoxes) every few thousand years - and ends December 21, 2012 – winter solstice. You simply need to Google ‘Mayan’ and ‘2012’ and you’ll have more to read that you’ll probably care for. Some of it is end of the world conspiracy stuff, but the underlying fact is that they had an extremely good grasp of mathematics and the rotation of the earth.

OK, lets get to the celebration stuff.

Anient China: Theirsummer solstice ceremony celebrated the earth, the feminine, and the yin forces. It complemented the winter solstice which celebrated the heavens, masculinity and yang forces.

Ancient Gaul: The Midsummer celebration was called Feast of Epona, named after a mare goddess who personified fertility, sovereignty and agriculture. She was portrayed as a woman riding a mare.

Ancient Sweden: A Midsummer tree was set up and decorated in each town. The villagers danced around it. Women and girls would customarily bathe in the local river. This was a magical ritual, intended to bring rain for the crops.

In pre-historic times, summer was a joyous time of the year for those Aboriginal people who lived in the northern latitudes. The snow had disappeared; the ground had thawed out; warm temperatures had returned; flowers were blooming; leaves had returned to the deciduous trees. Some herbs could be harvested, for medicinal and other uses. Food was easier to find. The crops had already been planted and would be harvested in the months to come. Although many months of warm/hot weather remained before the fall, they noticed that the days were beginning to shorten, so that the return of the cold season was inevitable.

The first (or only) full moon in June is called the Honey Moon. Tradition holds that this is the best time to harvest honey from the hives.

This time of year, between the planting and harvesting of the crops, was the traditional month for weddings. This is because many ancient peoples believed that the "grand [sexual] union" of the Goddess and God occurred in early May at Beltaine. Since it was unlucky to compete with the deities, many couples delayed their weddings until June. June remains a favorite month for marriage today. In some traditions, "newly wed couples were fed dishes and beverages that featured honey for the first month of their married life to encourage love and fertility. The surviving vestige of this tradition lives on in the name given to the holiday immediately after the ceremony: The Honeymoon."

I’ve strayed a bit so lets get back to the point. Summer Solstice – it’s longest day of the year because of the way the earth rotates on it’s axis and around the sun. Why should you celebrate? Look outside – it’s a good day, that’s all the reason you need.

Best Father's Day Yet

Yesterday was father’s Day, and by all counts it was a really good day. It didn’t even have to be Father’s Day I suppose, but it didn’t hurt.

I slept until 9:30, had some coffee, and began working in the yard. I like working outside, it was pretty hot, but it didn’t bother me at all; I even set up a ‘water park’ for the kids to enjoy while I sawed, drilled, and nailed my way to a new gate. The kids had fun too – under a shade canopy, lawn sprinkler spraying, kiddy pool filled, and sand table all within reach.

Lunch was kinda special, we decided I’d steam some littleneck clams. So with some lemon, butter, garlic, parsley, thyme, pepper, lemon juice, a halved lime, and Chardonnay I cooked up 50 delicious little bi-valve treats and even had some Chardonnay to spare to enjoy with my meal. Lori had picked up some long French bread, so after filling up on bread soaked in the remaining liquid I headed back out to re-start the water park and finish the day’s gate project. We live near an air station that was hosting the Blue Angels so the boom of jets overhead and the “Happy Father’s Day” skywriting was also nice to go back to work to.

Later dinner’s main entrée was a steak grilled to rare coated with blue cheese and cracked black pepper. Nothing better.

So I managed to get some work done, cook two good meals, and do a little relaxing while having fun with the wife and kids – not too shabby for a 92 degree Sunday. I imagine I could do the same every weekend and be quite satisfied with my summer. I’ll get back to you on that in September.