Longest Day

Today, June 21, is the summer solstice in the Northern Hemisphere, which means it's the longest day of the year in 2011.  The summer solstice occurs when the sun is the farthest north in the sky, directly above the Tropic of Cancer. The exact moment of the solstice today will occur at 17:16 GMT or 1:16 pm EDT today.

Here in the U.S. we usually consider this the first day of summer but in many other cultures it is considered midsummer and, of course, for our friends 'downunder' today marks the winter solstice or the first day of winter.
For those of you at one of the poles you will have a full 24 hours of either daylight or darkness (daylight at the north pole).

Here at chez Monk you can tell it is summer because we are eating full meals just from the garden. Last night it was roasted baby Kubocha squash, fresh sliced tomatoes and cucumbers with Greek feta and Kalamata olive oil and roasted new potatoes. Glorious!

Everyone enjoy the first day if summer and the longest day of the year (or the longest night). It's going to be a long day for me regardless since I have to work from 130pm to 1030pm.

To all my fellow pagans may your Litha be bright and blessed and to all my fellow Buddhists Namaste.