Tuesday, June 21, 2005

longest day of the year!!!

June 21 is the summer solstice. . day of the year with the most sunlight!! i wonder how many weirdos may gather at Stonehenge today to re-enact the pagan dances and celebrations of the day?! First day of summer. . . ahhhh. . .

summer is so freeing. . the layers of clothing come off. . which itself is great, cuz you actually get to feel the air on your skin without it becoming numb!! You have to have worn a stupid winter coat for months in the frozen tundra to appreciate shedding it!!! Feeling a warm breeze, the marvel of wearing sandals or the gloriousness of lounging on the deck, looking at the sky without having your vision obscured by the mist of your own breath! Sure the sun fries unprotected skin in a matter of minutes. . . and the smog alerts are coming thick and fast. . yeah, we saturate ourselves in DEET mosquito repellent to avoid West Nile and of course the bugs attack us should we decide to dine al fresco. . . but its summer. . this is the price we pay for going around in our convertibles, swimming outdoors, firing up the barbie. Still wouldn't trade it, would we?

This summer i have many chores to do and i'm hoping that we will get some canoeing in?! i want to buy a sandbox for the grandkiddies and a swingset. . What i REALLY want is a gigantic trampoline!!!!! maybe i'm having a midlife crisis?? i want to be able to go outside on my break and jump like a kid on my very own trabampoline (Homer Simpson's hilarious!!!) anyone see the 'trabampoline' episode?!!! classic! My killjoy husband says "Where are we gonna put it when the summer's done?" oh, i don't know *I'm tempted to say 'Up your butt and around the corner." as he's sometimes fond of saying to me* but my response is "How about in between the shed and the fence?? no, sez Rob, its too big for there. D'oh!!! I hate when he's the serious one. . its such a reversal! So that's out. . . I'd also like a pool too! but 'realistic Robbie' is nixing this refreshing idea by citing the potential filter clogging potential of the nearby foliage and i don't give a crap about that. . cuz as Lindsay says "that's what they make those scoopy thingies for" excuse #2 from Rob is "it'll take up the entire back yard." no it won't!!! and all its used for now is for the dog to poo on.. and the grandkids to run around on (hopefully not in the poo). . *sigh!* excuse #3 is: 'its only operational for 3 months out of 12.' (okay he has a point there), but so?! can't those 3 months be spent in the pool? Excuse#4 " It'll cost a fortune to fill it and operate it." yeah, yeah. . . i hate this last excuse the most, cuz its the one that keeps the pool in the store and out of our yard. . oh well. . Robbie and his excuses win. We do have a pool, however -- its purple, 6 inches deep and has googly eyes and elephant ears. We bought it for James when he was little. . . he used to scream "NO, NO NO!!!!!" every time we tried to put him in the stupid thing. .*gee, I wonder why?!* who designs these things?? so "Ella" has never been used! It sits behind our canoe, gathering spider webs and catching grass clippings. . I think maybe its time for her debut? Hopefully Eri won't be spooked by a giant purple elephant face pool??

hmmm. . what will i do to commemorate the longest day of the year??? going to pick strawberries in the evening would be nice. . . but we bring home sooo many berries and then i have to find room in the fridge and the herculean task of sorting the mushies from the firms, washing the jam berries, then sterilizing all the rings, lids, jars for the jam and making the jam and pouring it and filling up the basement freezer with the jars, and then turning my attention to the others and making the pies and sorting the 'eating berries'. . . . .ohmigosh. . you gotta psych yourself up for that marathon!!! makes me tired just thinking of it. . maybe i should get to bed now, so that i can wake up on time to get up and at 'em, to make the most of the hopefully gorgeous day? Of course it will be beautiful, cuz its a work day and as our youngest daughter, KK is discovering as a full time worker. . . every flippin' work day is gorgeous, fantastic, beauteous, marvellous and where are we full time workers on these splendiferous days??? we're indoors working!!! BAAAAAHHH!! the weekends roll around, whaddya got? clouds, clouds, rain, overcast conditions, partly sunny to cloudy, drizzle and yes, more clouds!!! its like some cosmic joke and we ain't the ones laughing.

anyway. . have a great day!! do something commemorative. . . have a picnic supper or maybe bbq it, go mini golfing, go to DQ, throw the frisbee, play badminton, go for a sunset drive. . .

that's it for me. . i'm beat! 'night!!! (*I mean morning*) everyone!

12 comments:

supersimbo said...

yea for good days.......im off today workin on an assignment and it is beautiful outside so i might get out later! typical!

kathryn said...

oh yea, you're doing a uni course, aren't ya?! too bad you can't do the work outdoors. . d'oh!!

Krista said...

I sinkin' LOVE summer! But, what the? It's gone from beautiful sunny, to overcast, and I'm getting a headache. Dang weather.

I think I'll walk the dog and putter around the garden to commemorate the day! Hopefully I won't get drenched!

Tracy said...

I've got a story about druids but it's packed away so I can't even tell you the title, but I loved it! I love how much they love nature.

Guess what we did today! We played in Jonah's sandbox! It was Miles' first time. He wasn't sure what to think in the beginning, but then he got into it...until he started giving me the "milk" sign. Oops! I forgot to give him that before we went outside and got covered in sand. :}

kathryn said...

the druids were fascinating. . i just think its weird when ppl now go to Stonehenge to try to act like they're druids!!! wannabes!! i suppose the ancients would think that Christianity's one God was rather a let down when they were so accustomed to their 'pantheistic smorgasboard'??!

Solstice: Either of the 2 points in the sun's apparent annual orbit in relation to the fixed stars, at which it is the furthest from the equator.

I can't remember why the druids celebrated this. . but i think they celebrated everything!!! heh heh. . .

kathryn said...

awww, Miles' first time in a sandbox!!! we should get one here too. . the kids would love it! would have to have a lid -- don't want any little 'kitty tootsie rolls" in there -- not to mention the pee. . . eeeeww!!!

kathryn said...

it would be awesome to go to Stonehenge!!! the pictures i could take there!!! i wish that we had oodles of $$ and our whole family could take a trip to the U.K. and go everywhere. . Wales, Scotland, Ireland and of course England!! Churchill a druid? wow!

Stonehenge makes me think of Spinal Tap!!!! LOL!!!! heh heh. . .

supersimbo said...

spinal tap! now thats a post just waiting to happen! what a fantastic film, any time we have the guitars out a spinal tap joke is always close by!

Krista said...

Milk - the child squeezes his hand(s) like he's milking a cow!

Tracy said...

Exactly like in Meet the Fockers, that's right. :)

kathryn said...

okay, Ally i'll expect a spinal tap blog from you then!! chop chop!

as for Meet the Fockers. . . HILARITY!!! oh I loved that movie! the baby sign language and baby's 'first word'. . . oh my that was the best! Speaking of babies doing sign language. . okay, maybe i'm just an old fashioned mom. . but i don't see why this is necessary. wouldn't that maybe make them NOT want to become verbal and just keep signing?! would that not confuse babies? at what point would the parent say 'okay now, no more signing, only speaking.'I had never even heard of this until Meet the Fockers! and i laughed my head off cuz i thought it was so 'out there'!!! It reminds me of Jane Goodall's gorilla, "Coco"!

Tracy said...

Kathy, teaching babies how to sign can actually make life easier for everyone. Babies are able to form a few rudimentary signs with their hands before they can say words. You always say the word along with the sign, so they learn both at the same time. Jonah, for example, can sign when he wants "more", when he needs "help", he knows the signs for "water" and "up" and "down". Of course babies have their own language, which their parents seem to understand better than anyone else - to us, more and milk and mommy all sound the same, but Sherri knows the difference. However, along with Jonah, the rest of us in the household have also learned these signs and can easily tell the difference between "more" and "milk". Once they're able to easily say words, they may drop the signs, depending most likley on whether or not you (the parent) do. It's quite fascinating, really. Sherri may have more to add if she sees these comments.