2025, animals, Gatherings, holidays, Uncategorized

Up North

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Happy Solstice, Midsommar, or whatever you call the first day of summer! The days are longer now, which I appreciate.

I have heard from two friends lately who have experienced some very long days. One is a college friend who lives way up north in Sweden near the Arctic circle. She posted a photo of her and her husband dropping her brother off last week at the nearby train station at 2:00 am. It was fully bright out. She then mentioned that when she and her husband arrived home at 3:00 am, the sun was starting to rise. It must have not got dark there at all! She and her husband are evangelical ministers. I doubt they will be doing too much carousing at Midsommar festivities, which I understand can get pretty wild.

I also heard from my friend the international pet sitter. Her most recent gig took her and her husband to Dawson City, Yukon, to take care of a Great Pyrenees dog. It was a huge, friendly dog who wanted to sit on her lap. They loved the Yukon. The permafrost makes it impossible to pave the streets. The local liquor store and Drivers License Bureau share the same office space. She took a photo at 10:00 pm and it looked like she took it at noon.

I think the farthest north I have been is Gimli, Manitoba. I like it dark when I sleep, and I don’t think I would adjust well when it would be light all day.

What us the farthest north you have ever been? Any Midsommar celebrating today and tomorrow?

33 thoughts on “Up North”

  3. Edmonton, but it was in September, so wasn’t terribly special from a daylight perspective.

    No midsommer plans other than get home tonight and “recuperate” from 4 straight days of golf. It’s tougher than it looks. And b.t.w., Sand Valley is “walking-only” courses, so there is much more exertion than swinging a golf club several hundred times. Not to mention the toll it takes on my tiny brain as I try to play well but still hit plenty of bad shots. 🙂

    Chris (soon to be back) in Owatonna

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      1. Yes, a caddy for the three full size courses. I get to carry my own bag today for the par-3 course (the Sandbox). But the terrain is quite hilly here. A good aerobic workout because I walk fast.

        Chris

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  4. A college friend of mine from Moorhead, MN who was of Swedish heritage said that family members went to visit Sweden and were there over Midsummer, and were rather appalled by the number of people they saw sleeping it off in ditches the next day.

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  5. I guess it would be Winnepeg, Banff, and the Canadian Rockies on my 50th b-day Train Trip. Have always wanted to go to Alaska… see if I could find a little town like Sicily in Northern Exposure.

    There is a Solstice Concert this evening at Kinstone Megalithic Garden. https://www.kinstonecircle.com/ .
    And/or, the Winona Jazz Collective is playing at Peter’s Biergarten downtown…

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    1. We were watching that from the deck! It was way off to the East, and I find it fascinating to visualize how far away something is “up and over there”. So we had the weather radar up to see where the storms were. The clouds were really neat too!

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  7. took the family to alaska 20 years ago. landed in ancorage and took taxi to rv rental at midnight. kind of grey green sky until 3 am when the sun started coming up again. we went north but i dont know which point was furthest. fairbanks? kenai? denali?

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  8. I have been to a few places in Alaska. Somehow usually on the solstices. But on midnight sun twice and no sun once. Midnight sun affected my body rhythms.
    Clyde

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  9. I did a cruise once that took me me to Oslo, Stockholm, Tallinn and St. Petersburg during June. Good dates to go, although it wasn’t on purpose. I recall the gray green skies well into the early hours as tim described.

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  10. Furthest north – Denali National Park. It was in July and very similar to what Tim described

    Furthest south – Antarctic Peninsula in late December/early January (summer). The sun barely disappeared for about an hour in the middle of the night. I was out on deck taking photos at about 5A and it was as bright as midday.

    I’ve only celebrated Midsommer once – that was at Gamelgarden in Scandia decades ago.

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  12. I just this week finished up the book Life On Svalbard.
    Excellent photos.
    That residents of that archipelago openly carry rifles to defend against polar bears was interesting. And free access to Svalbard without visas.

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  13. Rise and Shine, Baboons,

    I have been studying the northern maps. I think the farthest North would be up the West Cost of Norway in the fjord north of Bergen. I was also somewhere north in Ontario, but at this point I could not tell you where after many years.

    No Beltane Fires or other Solstice celebrating here. We are picking cherries and freezing them and that is about all. I am about to start pitting them again.

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    1. By the way, thanks for showing me the cherry pitter when I was there yesterday. You absolutely need it after looking at that tree.

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      1. I just finished pitting a gallon of them. The neighbors (who have adult children who can climb the ladder and the tree) can come get some, then I will pick again on Monday.

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  15. Kangerlussuaq Fjord – or Søndre Strømfjord as it was called back in 1965 when I worked there – is about 40 miles north of the Arctic Circle in Greenland. For about three weeks around the summer solstice the sun never set, compensating nicely for the long and dark winter days when you barely caught a glimpse of it.

    The Danes celebrate the summer solstice by feasting and singing some traditional songs together. The highlight of the evening is the burning of a witch on a bonfire when it starts to get dark. No human sacrifice is involved, but the scarecrow-like witch is a symbol of evil and an essential part of the tradition. Twin Cities Danes will gather tomorrow on a farm in Rosemount to celebrate that tradition, complete with a giant bonfire and a finely crafted witch.

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  16. The dance I mentioned is Langdans fran (from) Solleron. Here is a choral version:
    https://www.bing.com/videos/riverview/relatedvideo?pglt=931&q=langdans+fran+solleron+youtube&cvid=47f2ad359b264013879ad4c771ff93bb&gs_lcrp=EgRlZGdlKgYIABBFGDkyBggAEEUYOdIBCTIyNjgwajBqMagCALACAA&PC=U531&ru=%2fsearch%3fpglt%3d931%26q%3dlangdans%2bfran%2bsolleron%2byoutube%26cvid%3d47f2ad359b264013879ad4c771ff93bb%26gs_lcrp%3dEgRlZGdlKgYIABBFGDkyBggAEEUYOdIBCTIyNjgwajBqMagCALACAA%26FORM%3dANNTA1%26PC%3dU531&mmscn=vwrc&mid=81BB0F877642F31BDEC581BB0F877642F31BDEC5&FORM=WRVORC

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  19. No particular plans for Solstice except to survive YA’s feeling that the world may come to an end because it will be in the 90s here. She put in her window ac unit this afternoon and has suggested that we “stock up” in addition to thinking up things we can do in air-conditioned spaces, including going to a movie neither of us had wanted to see up until now. When I pointed out to her that it’s been 90+ before and neither of us spontaneously combusted, she wasnt’ amused. Maybe a little yardwork in the mornings and I’ll most likely clean out and fill the doggy pool.

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