Thursday, July 11, 2013

Midsummer Weekend


Midsummer this year was June 22, "the period of time centered upon the summer solstice, and more specifically the European celebrations that accompany the actual solstice or take place on a day between June 21 and June 25 and the preceeding evening." More information about summer solstice can be found here: Summer Solstice.

We spent the weekend of Midsummer, 21, 22, 23 of June, in simple but relaxing and rewarding activities. On Midsummer's eve, we set out on a fishing jaunt in a countryside lake. It was a quiet bright evening, the sun shining radiantly near the zenith even at 7 p.m. Parked on a little clearing along the lake was a big homecar occupied by some Polish nationals who came here to fish too. 







We parked in another corner of the lake with a viewing/fishing platform.  While hubby was fishing, I went about hunting for something to photograph. 
























It looked like this was not the best time for fishing. Hubby said that he's a mink. If a mink can't catch fish, then there's no fish at all. But that was okay, it was still nice to be out there in this pleasant night.

Back home that night, I went to pick some wildflowers from the wayside and placed them in a vase, then we ate the traditional midsummer dinner, a simple meal of  pickled "sill" (herring), boiled potatoes with a special sauce.  At the same time, we watched midsummer programs on tv.















The afternoon of the following day, Midsummer day, we traveled to another lake to fish. This time, the weather was slightly gloomy but looked promising. As always, while hubby was fishing, I took lots of pictures.  And he caught five good-sized trouts weighing about 4 kilos altogether. We ate one for dinner that night and stored the remaining four in the freezer.






























Sunday was a very quiet day. Most people just took it easy, woke up late and maybe stayed home, except those who went away for travel holidays.

We tended our small flower bed and rearranged our plants. I also took out the flower vase and placed it on our back porch table, feasted my eyes on the potpourri of wildflowers and photograph them in many angles. That's also one of my simple pleasures.











This weekend closed with the appearance of the supermoon (see my other blog here), which smiled at me and whispered, "It's been a fine midsummer weekend, and I'm here tonight to crown it with celestial beauty."