Solstice 09!!

Summer Solstice -- (6/20) the longest day of the year for us here in the Northern Hemisphere -- followed by the shortest night. And then, summer officially begins!

It is a bitter sweetness, this my favorite day of the year. In addition to being the longest day of the year, it also marks that each day after will be incrementally shorter --- until winter solstice.

Here in these high Blue Mountains of Northeastern Oregon, summer solstice was spectacular.



On my morning run along Granite Boulder Creek, the sound of Sand Hill Cranes flying over head echoed into the day's first dawn -- opening my soul.


We worked a long day on the Middle Fork John Day River.....except for setting survey points, much of the day was in the water.
Fast, large, shape-changing white clouds moved overhead in a deep-blue sky.

After dinner back at camp we drove up towards Indian Rock. At about 6,500 ft we stopped at an overlook for a "bird's eye" view of the sunset.

Polly, Didi & Pat.........Indian Rock Lookout Mountain

We stopped where a severely forest fire had taken the forest in 1996. Seedlings and a lush diverse ground-cover indicated a steady recovery. A bed of low flowers and edibles. We also ate chocolate.














I took in the year. A time of growth and discovery for me. Ever so grateful that I live in such a magnificent landscape. I filled my soul with the cold air I breathed in, the season's new growth at my feet, and a view so vast that distance seemed irrelevant.