Alone among the notable days in the year, there stands the summer solstice, in splendid, sun-drenched isolation. It starts Friday, the longest day of the year, when the sun (Latin “sol”) stands still (“sistere”) and shines for slightly over 15 hours.
Why no love for the summer solstice, a day when you can do whatever you like outdoors from dawn to dusk and then some?
The church calendar calls this season Ordinary Time. Are you kidding? No! Extraordinary time! You can take longer bike rides, and you can ignore Mom’s pleas to come indoors. The stifling July heat waves are still weeks away. Chase the ice cream truck, play stoop ball, go bird-watching, or go out to sea and stay there. Saturday morning is for sleeping in.