I remember so well the bittersweet pleasure of a school year’s final day. As sad as I was to leave my classes and teachers, I also looked-forward to a couple of months of playing all day, dressing in play clothes, and not having to complete any homework. And there was the occasional super-treat of meeting a parent for lunch “in-town.”
Henry James wrote, “Summer afternoon—summer afternoon; to me those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language.” At 12:38 tomorrow afternoon (Eastern Time), the summer shall begin. At that moment, called the Summer Solstice, the sun will be at its northernmost point (farthest from the Equator) on its annual trek through the heavens. It will be the longest day of the year and, sadly, starting tomorrow, the days will begin to get shorter.
The card above, printed by letterpress on Swan’s Island, Maine, captures wonderfully the liberation of un-clocked time under a warming sun.