Last night sitting around in the back yard as the light faded on the longest day. We were finishing off the popcorn cooked in a nifty device over the fire pit. Yum, smokey flavour! The conversation turned to the 4th July; fireworks, the menu for the picnic and what the youngsters would be doing. It had been one of the warmest days in Seattle this year. Ah, summer has come at last. Earlier I’d had a nap in the hammock under the trees, recovering from hiking up too many too steep hills in Seattle, while carrying my luggage. I was returning from Bainbridge with nothing much to report. That’s apart from coming up close to a Bald Eagle while touring the island earlier in the day. This is America, Independence Day approaches, it’s a huge family event.
What about a light-up Mum? I was thinking we could do a light-up in the evening of the 4th. You can see the young woman of the family demonstrating her skills in dancing with fire filmed by her dad titled Burning Daughter on You Tube. She is an adept.
Many thanks to this family for hosting me these last couple of days. So much talent and inspired action (I’m thinking of the son of the family) under one roof!
Strange to think that on these long days of lots of long light, they are turning now to get shorter again. Friends of ours were celebrating their 40th birthdays and they live about an hour from Frankfurt…it was a beautiful drive out in the late evening. Also fun was that Claudia had made a quiz for everyone to do that centered around the number “40”…great questions…I learned that the word “quarantine” comes from the French word “40” and “quarter” because that’s where people were put for 40 days if there was suspicion that they were exposed to a disease. I learned that the Greeks and Egyptians planted in a 40 day cycle and that in most ancient mythology and religion “40” was a number of “perfection and completeness”…maybe all numbers are in their own way! Then as we drove back home at midnight the moon was 3/4’s full and glowed orange…beautiful…then as we came to our front door…the café owned by a Russian family was still in full “light”…Russia had just beat the Netherlands in the European Soccer Championship…they were still laughing and dancing…fun to see the kids. A beautifully long day of long light into the night and even after midnight!