This is a special day in most places, but it has even more meaning this far north. Many cities, towns and communities have events to recognize Summer Solstice, the longest day of the year. There are ball games, music performances, festivals and all kinds of parties. Technically, the sun doesn’t really shine for 24 hours, at least not where we are, but it’s certainly light enough outside to see without extra light. Sunrise here is about 4:20 am, and it sets about 11:40 pm. The sun does shine for 24 hours at points near the Arctic Circle, but we’re quite a distance south of that. Wikipedia provides a good discussion of the midnight sun.
Unfortunately, I don’t feel like attending any of the celebrations after spending 1-1/2 hours in the dentist’s chair this afternoon. He did a temporary fix on my broken tooth. It happened last night during happy hour while crunching on a cracker – the tooth broke and was fixed about this time last year, and I thought it was okay, but I need to get two crowns replaced whenever I stay in one place long enough for that to be done. It probably won’t be until November. I was lucky to slip into a slot caused by a last-minute cancellation by a regular patient. So now I’m good to go for at least a few months.
We were also lucky to find a pet groomer who not only had an opening for Shadow, but she was also very good at handling a difficult case. Shadow likes to bite groomers, and consequently doesn’t always come out of the experience looking his best. Today was a different story. He looks like a real Poodle! And he smells a lot better, too. Brandy even noticed and chased him around the lawn, with Marilyn (who had just walked Brandy) and I trying to keep the leashes from tangling. Without all his curly fur, he looks like he lost weight!
The forecast of rain proved to be wrong today, and we enjoyed our happy hour gathering in warm sunshine!
Tom and Carol Bezdeka joined us and we shared hugs and stories of our travels. They’ll be leaving tomorrow, so it was just a brief visit.
Travel safely, friends. We hope to see you again down the road.
Normally I just pass on through without saying much, but wanted to say I was sorry to hear of the tooth issue.
ReplyDeleteBeen there, done that. Broke a tooth that had an ancient filling in it on an M & M of all things!
And no, I haven't exactly given up M & Ms either.
I was fortunate enough to find a dentist right away here in Vienna who fixed it up all nice and pretty.
Not sure about you, but those kinds of things aren't exactly on my "bucket list", not that I even have one.
I've enjoyed experiencing the "midnight sun," but it sure feels odd! Glad you got the tooth fixed. Tell Shadow I think he is a Handsome Dude!
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