Dear Summer Night

Dear Summer Night,


You have kept me out far too late for the last week!  It is now after 11 p.m. and I've finally plodded into the house.  The sun slowly slipped behind the horizon at 10:01 tonight and it's still light outside.  When the days are this long, it's really hard to abandon you and retreat indoors before dark.  There's always another plant to water, another few weeds to pick, another tomato plant to fertilize, another tree to look at, another flower to enjoy before ending the day - and darkness hides everything.


I am lucky to live in this place where the summer daylight goes on and on and on.  This morning, the sky began to lighten at 4:00 a.m., just barely hours after it had finally got dark.  Today there will be 16 hours, 54 minutes and 34 seconds of daylight.  And we are still 1 week away from the longest day of the year!!


On the flip side of all this bright goodness is that just six months from now, the exact opposite will be true - less than 8 hours of daylight and you will be but a distant memory!  But we'll worry about that in the cold winter, not now when the sun is far to the north on the horizon.


It's only for a few short weeks in late June and early July that we get your counterpart of early morning sun shining into the north facing living room windows - and I love every morning of it!  Walking down the hallway to see those shafts of light coming in across the hardwood floor instantly makes me smile.  Our east-facing bedroom is flooded with the sun's rays and some days it's actually too bright to read in bed.  Sleeping in is harder in the summer for sure!


Days end perfectly as your golden light  falls across the lawn. The sun slowly sinks into a sky painted with scarlet, honeyed gold, magenta and fiery orange streaks.  And once again you have provided me with a spectacular sunset as the day finally draws to a close.


Thank you for the beautiful end to so many wonderful days!


Love,
Crystal