Summer officially begins today--well actually it began on June 20 --the earliest the solstice has arrived since George Washington was president. That's a long time ago. I have no idea how "they" figure out when the solstice will get here--but "they" know what they are doing.
Solstices mark the beginning of summer or winter when there's either more light than dark or more dark than light. Equinoxes mark the beginning of spring and fall when there are equal amounts of light, night or day. From the solstice, the days will get shorter and shorter until December 21ish...then they will get longer again. Given that, we are enjoying the long long days. The sun is getting up about 6:30 and not going down until 8:45 at this elevation. It's a treat to have all the daylight.
Do you remember as a kid, that no matter how light it was, at 8:30 all the moms on the block would call out "it's time to come in." All the kids reluctantly went inside as we could not defy our moms. I never liked going to bed when it was light outside. It did not seem right. I'm still like that...it's hard to go to bed with there is still daylight. It's a good thing I don't live in Juneau, or St. Petersburg where the days are extra long. In St. Petersburg they call it "white nights." One time in SP, we went to the ballet, and when we walked out of the theater at the end of the performance of Swan Lake, it was 11:30 PM and still daylight. What a treat.
But I digress. The days are long and bright right now and I'm not a kid anymore. I don't have to go to bed when it's still daylight outside. I can go to bed whenever I want to. I hope you can too. Remember, we're all in this together.
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