midsummer

we may be having the coldest summer on record, but for a scene like this, you can don a sweater and your wellies and just get out there and snap some pictures, even if it is nearly midnight.

and breathe in the cool, still air. 

and feel the stillness and the quiet.

and be at peace.

scenes from sankt hans - a scandinavian midsummer celebration

a midsummer celebration with pagan, hedonistic roots. burning a witch, a ceremony that once meant something positive and strong and feminine, was turned negative and anti-woman by, you guessed it, christianity. we talked about taking it back as a precisely a positive, strong, feminine act. i will no longer hold myself back from the fire, for fear of being sent to bloksburg (where ever that may be). embrace the witch, i say. and the light. and the long, midsummer nights. even if there was as little bit of rain, it wasn't enough to douse our pagan fires. it's a couple of days after the solstice, but it must have originally been in celebration of that. and here we are, still embracing the light and the sense of ceremony.

after the rain

the solstice has come and gone, we're on the downhill side of the light. i don't want to even think about that and thankfully we won't really see it for awhile. it's still light 'til 11 or so and the sun comes up around 4:30 a.m. (that's kind of annoying). if it would just stop raining, we could soak it in properly. it rained most of today, and i did my best to ignore it, spending time tending to various chicken emergencies (a variety of nesting hens, chicks hatching and general kerfluffles), planting radishes, picking strawberries and weeding in the garden anyway (note to self: it's easy to weed when the soil is wet). thankfully this evening, the sun broke through just in time for a glorious, golden sunset.

we've had days of good food (way too much meat), writing on the table, laughter, a trip to the beach, a proper bonfire for skt. hans (midsummer) and an afternoon at the flea market. i have a million notes of things to blog and tons of photos to share, but that will be for tomorrow. right now, i've got a date with orhan pamuk at the museum of innocence.

my thirty-thirteenth summer solstice

summer solstice sunset - 10:13 p.m.

i am decidedly not a religious person, tho' i'm fascinated by various aspects of various religions. if i were to be religious, i'd definitely worship the sun in some form. magpie girl suggested making a list of 8 ways to worship the sun, so i thought i'd go with that (it seems 8 things is a regular thing on her blog and not especially of significance to the solstice) on this, my thirty-thirteenth summer solstice.

1. create something for someone else.
2. ride a horse.
3. eat watermelon for dinner.
4. photograph the sunset.
5. breathe in the scent of fresh-mown hay.
6. bond with the child.
7. take a solitary walk.
8. do cartwheels across the lawn in the cool evening air.

i find that i could go on (and on and on, especially about the walk i took in the still, golden summer light down to our lake), but i will stop with 8. i hope you've fully utilized your summer solstice. if not, get out there and do it now!