Happy Father's Day and Summer Solstice

Greetings from the Far North,

This is a happy day for me, it is Father's Day and it is the Summer Solstice.  I am happy it is Father's Day because I got a wonderful card from Allison, which made me a wee bit home sick.  I also got to call my Dad to wish him a happy Father's Day.  This really made my Sunday a happy occasion.  So for all you Dad's out there, I hope that y'all had as good a day as I have had.

The Summer Solstice is a big todo in the Arctic and Antarctic communities.  For the Arctic, it is the day when the sun is as high in the sky as it will get and summer is full swing.  In fact we had a high temperature today of 14 F.  It is fun to walk around without needing my heavy jacket.  The light winds also help a lot in making it feel so warm outside.  For the Antarctic the solstice means the sun is coming back and your winter is halfway done.  In fact it is called Mid-Winter's Day around the continent.  One of the nice traditions started a while back is for all of the different stations to send each other an E-Card wishing everybody a safe and happy day.  I have changed my blog's picture to the Summit Solstice greeting picture we sent out.  It is a fun day and a lot of fun to participate in.  Over on my Picasa site I have made a new folder just to contain all of the greetings we have received in the last couple of days.  Take a look, there are some good ones from Russia, Italy and Uruguay.

Last night, being a Saturday night and with nobody having to work the next morning, we celebrated the Solstice.  We had asked everybody to change into their best clothes for dinner so we could celebrate.  We pulled out our linen's and candles and rearranged the tables in the Big House so we could all sit together.  Our dinner consisted of steak and crab cakes, with roasted veggies and a lemon cake for dessert.  Somebody even pulled out a bottle of wine, so that we could all have a sip to celebrate.  It was a wonderful dinner.  Afterwards we rearranged the furniture again, this time into a theater type setting and we watched Interstellar.  Not a bad way to end the day.

Well, as the day is coming to a close, I want to wish everybody a happy Father's Day and for those of us in the far north, enjoy the summer while it lasts.