Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Land of the Midnight Sun

I know, none of you think I'm LYING when I talk about it never really getting dark during the Solstice, but I wanted to show just how light it DOES stay this time of year.


  • These were taken at 12:45 AM this morning, right after I'd had my shower, before going to bed. The first, looking out the front door, across our front yard toward the gap between the neighbour's houses. I'm facing East with that pic.
  • The second is looking from the back door, over across the top of the dog kennel, toward the North. You can just see a glimpse of sunlight still there in a gap between our next-door-neighbour's trees. This is after MIDNIGHT last night, and it was only just barely dusky.
  • This is also why the kids rarely come inside before 11 pm during the summer. We get so little sunlight (much less heat!) during the winter, that they wind up cooped up in the house most of the time. So during the summer, when it's warm and light 24/7 (for at least a couple of those 7's), they spend a lot of their time outside enjoying what they can before the weather turns cold and dark again.
  • **********

    Sian: Thanks for the suggestion about the rosehip syrup. That's something most outdoorsy little Alaskans are taught, is that it's safe to eat rosehips and that you can get more Vit C. from 2 or 3 of them, than from a whole orange. Personally I don't care for the flavor of Rosehip syrup or jelly or such. Dad made a batch a couple of years back and after trying it, he and I had a hard time eatting any more. Tay loved it though.
  • My plan, this year, now that I know how many rosehips there will be in the FIL's back yard, is to get over there and pick the rosehips before they're totally mushy. Rather than simmering them into syrup or jelly, I'm going to slice them in half, remove the seeds, then dry the flesh of the rosehips, and grind it into powder. This can be added to baked goods, or sprinkled on fruit for an extra dose of Vit. C if the going gets tough. It'll also hopefully be more palatable than a dose of the jelly. *grin* My understanding is that just about a Tablespoon of the powder gives a full day's dose of needed Vit. C.
  • **********

    I didn't know whether to laugh at my hubby last night, or be bummed for the poor guy.
  • Tay finally went to bed about 11 pm, and I was sitting there reading up on the veggies I have planted out here, trying to get some indication of when it'd be a good idea to thin my turnips, how much to water my not-yet-showing-any-green potatoes, if I've got a hope in hell of my cucumbers actually doing anything while sitting on my back deck...... That sort of thing. Well, Scott comes out of the bathroom and stands there and looks at me and asks:
  • "So, are you coming back?"
  • Me: Coming back from WHERE? (I'm confused!!!! I was sitting there reading, where am I supposed to be going and coming back from?)
  • Him: From Spokane! Are you coming back???
  • Me: Well, YEAH! Why wouldn't I?
  • Him: I didn't know if this was some scheme you'd cooked up to leave me and take the kid, and if you weren't planning on coming back, then she wasn't going to get to go in the first place. You're not leaving AND taking Tay away.
  • Me: Are you NUTS?!?!?! I have not intention of staying down there. The thought hadn't even crossed my mind.
  • Him: Well. I didn't know. The "Brandon's" got a dissolution, and it was in the paper today. Everybody else is either getting dissolutions or divorced, I didn't know if this was how you were planning on divorcing me.
  • Me: *shaking head* NO! I'm NOT leaving for good! Just a vacation dear!
  • Ye gods! Maybe I should be glad he's worried about me leaving, that way when I come back with my tattoo, at least he'll just be glad to have me back. *wry smile* Silly man..... Like I told him last night, we've had some rough times before and I didn't leave then, why would I leave now?!?!
  • **********

    Ok. I need to go wake the kiddo up. It's 10:15 and she's not supposed to sleep past 10 am any more. We think it's part of the reason she's been off her sleep schedual, she's sleeping too long in the morning.
  • Have a Blessed Day!

PS: I HATE it when Blogger decides to run all my paragraphs together. I wind up having to bullit-point everything just to seperate the paragraphs where they should be. *sigh* Sorry!

7 comments:

Toriz said...

LOL @ Scott! Why would he think you were ready to leave him? *Shrugs* And they (men) say we (women) are hard to understand sometimes!

Em said...

I really had no clue it was THAT light! I mean...I understand it is light...but I thought barely light...not such bright light. Wow...thanks for sharing that.

Anonymous said...

LOL at Scott too! If you were leaving him... you'd probably be moving here to Hawaii with me... NOT to Spokane where your sister lives! LOL! You & your youngest sister are like oil & water... just don't mix well. Tell Scott we promise to send you & Tay back. *smiles* Love ya!
- Mom
P.S. I wouldn't spend $1600 on round-trip tickets if you were actually only coming one way. Gotta love Scott! (Love you Scott... thanks for putting up with my daughter!) *smiles*

barefoot gardener said...

As much as Scott is funny for thinking that, I feel bad for him too. I know I have that little voice in the back of my mind every time Mr. Barefoot goes away for a gig that insists he is gonna hook up with someone even younger than I and never come back, so I can see how that thought would bubble around in his mind.

Still, you just planted a GARDEN for crying out loud. Like you are gonna leave THAT. A hubby can get left in a heartbeat, but gardens are forever.... ;) *giggle*

I really like the pics showing how light it is at night in the summer. It is so hard to imagine! Could you try to remember to do similar pics in the middle of the day come midwinter? I would really like to see what THAT is like, too (though I suppose the pics would be pretty much the same, just light coming from the other direction, huh?).

barefoot gardener said...

Well, crud, blogger ate my comment.

Short version:

Poor Scott, I know how he feels

love the pics...could you do the same kind of thing come midwinter?

whimsical brainpan said...

Wow! I believed you but seeing is amazing. Thanks for sharing.

LOL! Why on earth would Scott think you are leaving?

Rev. Peter Doodes said...

Your garden.... utterly, totally, unbelievably amazing... you have put most of us (OK me) to shame...