{"id":14958,"date":"2021-06-22T00:05:15","date_gmt":"2021-06-22T04:05:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/?p=14958"},"modified":"2021-06-21T22:35:20","modified_gmt":"2021-06-22T02:35:20","slug":"high-summer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2021\/06\/22\/high-summer\/","title":{"rendered":"High Summer"},"content":{"rendered":"

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SONY DSC\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Sunday, June 20th<\/sup> was the Summer Solstice this year.\u00a0 That was the longest day of the year.\u00a0 And Thursday, June 24th<\/sup> is Midsummer Day which is the traditional center of the growing season.\u00a0 And that is called the beginning of High Summer.\u00a0 That is the finest time of the year and unless you are afflicted in either mind or body, you\u2019ll probably be feeling your oats about this time of year.\u00a0 The Old Farmer\u2019s Almanac says that it is the Feast of St. John the Baptist and that \u201cthe dew on Midsummer Day makes young girls beautiful and old people look younger.\u201d\u00a0 Well, it\u2019s worth a shot.<\/p>\n

And anyone familiar with Will Shakespeare\u2019s, \u201cA Midsummer\u2019s Night\u2019s Dream,\u201d knows that faeries and goblins celebrate and cavort in the forests and wild places that night.\u00a0 Well, we\u2019ll see about that.\u00a0 But I expect that the fireflies will make their appearance and that will suffice as far as magic for me.\u00a0 I\u2019m hoping to keep my little two-year old granddaughter up past her bedtime one night soon to see the fireflies for the first time in her young life.\u00a0 She\u2019s had so many books about them read to her.\u00a0 It\u2019s time she saw what all the hype is about.\u00a0 I think she\u2019ll be impressed.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve got a couple of parties coming up, one for family, one for friends, and just thinking about them makes me feel like a kid waiting for his birthday or Christmas.\u00a0 And it reinforces what I\u2019ve been thinking about all the crazy things going on in this world we live in.\u00a0 What really counts is the people you care about.\u00a0 Being with them and sharing the small rituals and celebrating the things that are happening in their lives is infinitely more important than what that meathead in the White House mumbles at us on tv.\u00a0 Sure, he can make our lives worse and he can help other evil men attack us but that\u2019s no different than a lot of the other dangers that lurk in this world.<\/p>\n

So, the world keeps circling the sun and wobbling on its axis.\u00a0 We keep being born and growing up and bringing new people into this world.\u00a0 All this other nonsense about white privilege and transphobia and gay marriage is all mental illness that we have to hold at arms\u2019 length so that we don\u2019t miss the fleeting joys that this life holds.\u00a0 Be honest with your kids and grandkids.\u00a0 Don\u2019t be afraid to tell them what you believe and why.\u00a0 Otherwise, they\u2019ll assume you believe in what the teacher at school tells them is true.\u00a0 Tell them what the important things in life are; family, marriage, children, work and fun.\u00a0 Whether we ever reclaim our liberty in this \u201cland of the free\u201d is uncertain.\u00a0 But stopping your life waiting for it is foolish.\u00a0 Sure, pay attention to the politics and how it affects you but ruining your life fretting about defeats in Washington is madness.\u00a0 You can make a much bigger impact on the world by acting on your local reality.<\/p>\n

So, this Fourth of July I am declaring my independence from Washington.\u00a0 They are a foreign power and I renounce all loyalty to them and deny their legitimacy.\u00a0 I know what the Constitution says.\u00a0 Those are my rights.\u00a0 Anyone who denies that I have those rights isn\u2019t an American and has no business governing a free people.\u00a0 I will work to make my life meaningful and help the people that I care about.\u00a0 If I find people who agree with me then we can find common cause and maybe my horizons broaden.\u00a0 That\u2019s how politics is supposed to work.<\/p>\n

But if it comes right down to it even our side doesn\u2019t have a claim on us unless they prove that they\u2019re more than just talk.\u00a0 Republicans have been lying to me my whole life and other than a couple of exceptions they haven\u2019t saved a damn thing worth saving.\u00a0 If they want my support then they need to support me.<\/p>\n

So that\u2019s my thesis.\u00a0 I\u2019m going to put summer to its highest and best purpose.\u00a0 I\u2019m going to enjoy the intensity of summer at its peak and celebrate my life with the people that matter to me.\u00a0 I hope you enjoy your summer too.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  SONY DSC Sunday, June 20th was the Summer Solstice this year.\u00a0 That was the longest day of the year.\u00a0 And Thursday, June 24th is<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,818,1263],"tags":[83,2093,3141,253],"class_list":["post-14958","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-events","category-ocf","category-stuff-that-personally-interests-me-miscellaneous","tag-family","tag-reclaiming-the-family","tag-seize-the-day","tag-summer"],"yoast_head":"\nHigh Summer - Orion's Cold Fire<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2021\/06\/22\/high-summer\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"High Summer - 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