Longest Days... Celebrating the Summer Solstice

From Bear:
Next weekend is the Summer Solstice (Sunday, June 21st), the longest day of the year. Here are some random Summer Solstice pictures and thoughts...

An early morning start to a long day.

Cookin' outside makes everything taste better.

Time to harvest some herbs, the real heat is coming soon.

Might have to go to bed while it's light out.

The close

to a good

long day.

From Theresa:
We celebrate the longest day by connecting with the Sun. We like to camp at Blue Mounds State Park, where we can watch the sunrise from the East observation tower, stay outside all day watching the Sun move slowly across the sky, then watch the sunset from atop the West Observation tower.
Click to see our Summer Solstice celebration from last year. 
These were my thoughts at the end of the day:

Watching the Sunrise and Sunset on a magical day is powerful,
 because it helps us reconnect with our visceral understanding of the changing seasons.  
We need to remember how long the longest day really is (around 16 hours of Sunlight in our area).  
We need to be reminded of the gifts that are offered to us freely by the Sun- warmth and food. 
The Sun heats the Earth just right- our Mother planet is habitable for many life forms, 
instead of being frozen or on fire.  The Sun's light becomes our food. Plants soak the rays of the Sun into their green leaves and miraculously photosynthesize it into food, 
becoming the basis of the food chain that feeds the rest of the world.  
On Solstice, we are reminded that the Sun is life. We celebrate and give Him our thanks.

Even after 
All this time
The Sun never says to the Earth,

"You owe me."

Look
What happens
With a love like that,
It lights the whole sky.

- Hafiz
a Sufi Mystic from the 1300s