Solstice Celebration
An ice cream social, one of my all time favorite paintings, and a summer moment.
“Summer afternoon - summer afternoon; to me those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language.” - Henry James
This weekend, to celebrate the solstice, I hosted a little “sandwich and ice cream social”.
Three of my favorite words when I was a kid in the summer were “ice cream social”.
If it was mentioned that someone was throwing an ice cream party I felt like I hit the jackpot. Even better if there were root beer floats involved.
I don’t know what it is about these little “socials” but they just ooze the essence of summer to me.
So for my throwback to the 90’s summer, I thought it would be just the thing we all needed to experience.
I went to the local farmer’s market to gather fresh seasonal ingredients for the sandwiches to infuse a bit of summer’s energy and flavors into our meal.
The cucumbers from the market were huge and quite flavorful as well as the tomatoes. There’s nothing like a fresh, organic tomato that hasn’t been shipped in from somewhere afar to the supermarket. It’s amazing how much of a difference things taste when they’re not mass produced.
I also purchased some rainier cherries because they always remind me of home in the pacific northwest.
For the ice cream our options were mountain huckleberry, french vanilla, or chocolate mudslide. It was hard to choose but the huckleberry was delicious.
I think the afternoon was a hit for everyone. :)
“Summer is the annual permission slip to be lazy. To do nothing and have it count for something. To lie in the grass and count the stars. To sit on a branch and study the clouds.” - Regina Brett
A Summer Painting
This is one of my all time favorite paintings and lucky me- it lives at the San Diego Museum of Art so I’m able to visit it often.
This painting is summer. When I look at it I can feel what it’s like to be in this scene out in the desert on a hot summer night, the heat is intense but bearable with low humidity, and it is sweetly scented with dry grass and the dirt that blows with the occasional breeze.
Saint John’s Eve coincides with the summer solstice so this girl is likely celebrating the shortest night of the year with her candle.
When I first saw it at the museum I felt such a connection with the girl and it took me back to summer evenings outside as a child.
It reminds me of a time when “outside” was as much a space in my life as any other room in the house. The wide open world, so warm and inviting, held endless possibilities and inspiration for play, daydreams, and adventure. Corners of the landscape, trees and bushes became as familiar as my own possessions, yet illuminated in the moonlight, they remained free.
I imagine this girl running around, as I did, soaking in the lingering light of day before venturing in for a snack and rest. Falling asleep to the sound of wild creatures out an open window as the wind rustles the curtain. She drifts off to the whir of a fan, feeling every delight of childhood midsummer.
I’m grateful for the power of art and the ability to experience facets of life that have sat dormant in my mind. When I visit this painting I feel that young girl still inside me, urging me to get out and explore.
Moments
There’s a moment at the end of a summer day, when you’re outside watching the sky fade and all of the distant trees, hills, bushes and other shapes slowly lose their detail as they turn into blackened silhouettes.
It’s the time when, depending where you live, you see the first firefly of the night dart across the grass or you smack at the first mosquito lurching for your arm. Someone nearly always points to the sky and exclaims “I think that was a bat!”
It’s about the time when someone near you might also say “Well… looks like it’s time to go in”.
So you take your last deep breath of the night air, gather your empty drinks, and go inside. You step into the dark house, turning on a few lamps and fans.
The floors might creak a little as the wood expands from the heat.
You attempt to open the windows wider than they already are and shuffle the curtains to the side- hoping the exchange of thick indoor air and cooling night air are swift.
Out of the window is the full moon casting shadows and a growing collection of stars.
Insects echo songs in the darkness and you flop down on your bed to exhale everything out of you-
any worries, any stray thoughts, and it’s here…
The deep rest of summer that sets in and lulls you to sleep.
___
I hope the solstice is treating you well and your summer is moving along swimmingly.
Also, happy Summerween :) Let’s just celebrate everything and anything. Why not. (Period because that’s rhetorical).
x,
Courtney