Summer Solstice at Camp Grayling

Yesterday was Litha, Summer Solstice, the longest day of the year.

(How can any day be longer than any other? They all have 24 hours, right? Summer Solstice is the day with the most hours of sunlight in the northern hemisphere, because of the tilt of the Earth on its axis.)

Here at Camp Grayling, it was a beautiful, breezy, sun-drenched day. I could only get on the internet by sitting out front of my building (wireless access has its limitations), and I delighted in spending lots of time with the sun, the moon, the oak and maple trees near the door, and the wind dancing through them. Just down the hill is Lake Margrethe, sparkling in the sun.

And it was, in fact, a day with loooong sunshine: nearly 15 1/2 hours of light. According to the US Naval Observatory, the data for Grayling, MI for yesterday are:

Begin civil twilight       5:16 a.m.                
Sunrise                    5:53 a.m.                
Sun transit                1:41 p.m.                
Sunset                     9:28 p.m.                
End civil twilight        10:05 p.m.  

I walked a case over to admin at 10:30 pm last night, and the sky was still not completely dark. It was a lovely, luminous blue, with the moon, nearly half-full, sailing high.