June 21, 2017 – Fill up your senses
Summer Solstice – 14 hours and 31
minutes
Last
week I noticed that the nights were getting much longer and in the back of my
mind I knew I would notice that the onions were “making” or you could say “bulbing”
or “developing” which is a sure sign of longer days and Summer Solstice.
In
celebration of the Summer Solstice, I decided after dinner last night to test
drive my brick patio for a “sit-out” until dark – since it was the longest day
of the year. I actually cannot remember
the last time I sat out until darkness had fallen.
I
pulled on a long sleeve shirt so that the bugs wouldn’t “eat me up”, poured a
large glass of red wine and pulled a second lawn chair close to another so I could
sit with my feet up and directed my attention to the herb garden 6 feet away
and the back lawn slopping down to the Kudzu covered back property line. There was none of the usual bird life chatter
so the sound of silence sort of cloaked the moment.
The
first thing I noticed once I settled into my chair was the scent of the
cilantro blossoms which were cascading out of the garden onto the brick paver
patio. Ten minutes later I actually
could feel the dew coming down on my crossed bare ankles and my hands and my
upturned face. [I wonder how effective
dew drops are in erasing wrinkles; I am hopeful.] Then I noticed that the dew
drops stirred the scent of the mint into the air – that was nice.
Several
minutes later I admired what I thought could be a locust “sawing” sound in the
trees up near the river birches and it eventually drifted away and was sudden
quite. As if on cue, as in a stage play,
I next heard what I believe was a tree frog “gurgling” and the fireflies dancing
out in the lawn became more perceptible as the dusk drifted slowly toward
darkness.
The
sunset of blue sky with pink underbelly could be seen through the tall trees on
the back property line for the longest time.
Eventually it washed out to a medium grey, yet it wasn’t really dark out
yet. I could see the color and texture of wispy maidenhair grass, silver
foliaged lamb’s ears [Stachys byzantina],
and the white blossoms of the cilantro seemed to become even brighter as the
dusk drifted away.
I noticed
a movement at the periphery of my right eye and glanced at the brick
pavement. I saw what looked like a
crumpled beige paper towel. I didn’t
remember seeing any trash on the patio when I was re-arranging my chairs, so I
got up to inspect. Two steps toward the
beige mound and “hop” – it was a toad that had come out from who knows
where. I settled back into my lawn chair
and admired the firefly show and the grey sky becoming subtly darker.
Over time, Mr. Toad made his way about
six feet to the raised garden edge and then managed to disappear into it somewhere
under the cilantro blossoms into the damp earth of the garden. I called to him and told him “happy hunting”
in his quest for insects.
Then
I noticed the white blooms of the going-to-seed arugula were in direct
competition with the cilantro. Possibly the
arugula blossoms open up more at night?
I don’t know but I pondered this. They seemed luminous suddenly.
Even
at 9:30 p.m. [almost an hour after sunset] I could clearly make out all the
details of the patio and back yard. About
that time, a concerned husband opened the back door and sent out a blinding
flashlight beam to roust me back into the house – but I told him to not lock up
– I was going to stay out until I felt it was as dark as it would get.
That make-out-the-details
light didn’t seem to change for the next half hour to 45 minutes.
I challenge
everyone who reads this blog to try a “sit-out” during the longest nights we
have in summer . . . and live the lyrics from Annie’s Song:
“Like
a night in the forest, you fill up my senses.”
NOTE: Following
is a link to a chart of sunrise, sunset and other interesting things like
Astronomical Twilight, Nautical Twilight, and Civil Twilight.
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