Mid summer's night, Solstice 2007 in Alaska

Tonight, of course, is mid summer's night in Alaska and fabulous things can happen on mid summer's night.

According to my calendar, tomorrow June 21 is the first official day of summer. Going by the temperature here today, 78 degrees when I left work, summer is a day early as things are heating up in the northland.

The sun rose at 4:20 am this morning and will set here tonight in Anchorage Alaska at 11:42 pm, giving us 19 hours and 42 minutes of sunlight. I can't deny it any longer. Summer's officially here.

After last year’s summer of cold and wet weather, let me just say, “Excuse me while I go melt.” I'm already longing for autumn. NOT!!!

In one of the few places on earth where our summer weather forecast: “Mostly sunny for the remainder of the night.” . . . Right now there is about 4.5 hrs of what could be called twilight in between the “day” and the next day - no real night per se. It is like this . . . you get in your rig to go somewhere at one o’clock in the morning and you debate whether to turn on your headlights to drive. You go camping and do not need any Coleman lanterns to ‘light up’ the path when going to the bathroom, (tree or bush close by). Tomorrow (June 21-Summer Solstice) will be our longest day and we'll start slowly losing daylight steadily till night equals day on Sept 23.

One of the most important elements of the Solstice is letting things go.

It's a time to acknowledge what has been completed, forgiven, changed, forsaken, or lost.

It's traditional to create or put forth a representation, or the literal presence of, what is being given up, and to toss it into a bonfire on the Solstice.

What am I letting go of this year?

I am letting go of the dream of moving to Homer, Alaska. Not forever, but for right now.

I will rejoice in living in a place where I can touch nature and all of the wonderment in my surroundings.

Rejoice in your Solstice and have a great day!

Ice

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