Summer Solstice

Summer begins in the Northern hemisphere at 2:06 p.m. EDT today, June 21.

School is over for almost everybody. Summer vacations have begun, or summer jobs. Summer camps are open for business. Pools and public beaches are getting busy.

It is light before 5 a.m. and stays light until almost 9 p.m. Runners are out early and late, and almost everyone is a runner, it seems. Back in the early spring, I saw only one or two hardy dog walkers on my morning excursions, but now I see a dozen or more joggers out before the hot sun and traffic take over the day.

In most of Europe this day is celebrated as Midsummer (also, the Feast of St. John the Baptist). Here, we think of it as the beginning of summer, by which we really mean the beginning of our summer vacations. If there were any logic to our current calendar, Memorial Day would mark the beginning of summer and Labor Day the end, but never mind.

Fall seems a long way off, and winter is almost unthinkably distant. On this day, it's hard to even imagine a world without green grass and green leaves on the trees. For today, at least, let us think that summer is endless and that there is time for everything we want to do.

Soon enough, it will be really hot. Green lawns will begin to look thirsty. It will be humid and people will start to complain. And then one day, we'll notice that the days are a little bit shorter. But let's not think about that yet. Let's think about how nice it is to be outside just now, how nice it is to run in the woods and on the trails.