The Longest Day

Of course, the day as such wasn't longer than any other day, but you know what I mean - the time between sunrise and sunset was at its longest yesterday, June 21st. From now on, slowly but surely we are moving towards the shortest day. It is comforting in a way, isn't it; knowing that this has been going on for millions of years regardless of what's happening in our little lives. Everything seems so insignificant compared to the workings of the universe in general and of our solar system in particular.

Here, we were lucky in that the day was not too hot with even a rather chilly morning, making it easy to fill the house with fresh air and cool everything down a little after the very hot days of the weekend.

After work, my sister and I met up and bought Asian takeaway food, bringing it over to our parents' for a meal with them. My Mum cooks every day and makes sure they both eat healthy homecooked food all the time, but every now and then, a change is welcome when she does not need to cook.

The food was nice and we're going to use that shop (it was our first try) again.

It was still only about 7:30 pm when my sister and I left; it had been a long and somewhat difficult day for both my parents and they needed to rest. Sunset was going to be at 9:30 precisely, giving me plenty of time for a long walk, and that's of course what I did.

It was just beautiful out on the fields, the air was pleasant and balmy with not too many annoying little flying things about. I deliberately chose grassy paths and dirt tracks where possible, to avoid the many cyclists still out and about.

I love it that more and more, you now see flowers on and along our fields; gone are the days when each and every little "weed" (who classifies a plant as a weed anyway - don't they all have the same right to grow, and are playing their part in the ecosystem?) was sprayed to kingdom come. 

People now understand how important it is for insects, birds and other wildlife to have at least SOME natural growth left, although of course we still need the arable fields planted with crop so that our species can eat (or drink - much of the barley growing on our fields is used for beer).

Sunset was precisely on time - isn't it wonderful how we can calculate such events with great precision for centuries ahead?

The last picture is the view from my Third Room, which has been my work place almost exclusively for more than two years now. Two large trees have been cut down in the neighbouring gardens recently, which I found a pity, but it now enables me to see more of the sunset.

Bye-bye, longest day! I am glad I had the chance to accompany it to the last bit.