Summer Solstice

Today is Summer Solstice, the longest day of the year.  Below is the definition that I glommed off of Huff Post.

Today, June 21, is the summer solstice in the Northern Hemisphere, which means it's the longest day of the year in 2011.

According to USA Today, 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 1:16 p.m. ET.

While some consider the summer solstice as the beginning of summer, many actually regard it as midsummer, though the definition varies between different regions and cultures. In the Southern Hemisphere, today actually marks the 2011 winter solstice. These seasons will again be flipped between the hemispheres on December 22, when the second solstice of the year occurs (winter for Northern Hemisphere, and summer for Southern Hemisphere).

I love summertime.  It is my favorite time of the year.  Summer reminds me of the days when I went to grade school in the small Pennsylvania town of Downingtown.  Summer meant the end of stifling school classrooms and the beginning of long, warm days of play and adventure with my friends on Washington Avenue.  I will always remember summer that way.

When I was young I thought each summer day was longer until daylight abruptly changed with the leaves turning color and the chill winds slowly descending upon us.  Now that I'm older I know that early in summer with the Summer Solstice the days begin to get shorter.  This is always sad for me.  In not too many weeks my Purple Martins will have raised their last batch of baby Purple Martins and they too will be gone along with the warm winds and long days of summer.

But in the meantime, my friend Lar is on his way down from Claymont (he'll be here in about an hour) and we will have an adventure like we did when we were childhood friends lo these many years ago (the Fifties) on Washington Avenue in Downingtown, Pennsylvania.  

Today our adventure is getting our pictures taken at the Olde Time Photo Studio in Rehoboth Beach.  Yeah, yeah, I know these "Olde Time Photo places are tourist traps.  We're doing it anyway.

Hey, Larry's here!

First Day of Summer Rehoboth Beach 2010

Ron on the beach

On this first day of summer I decided to mark the event by taking a rare trip into Rehoboth Beach.  

The new stimulus fun built Rehoboth Beach boardwalk this morning

Although I live near Rehoboth Beach (six miles north on the east side of Rt. 1) I rarely venture into Rehbooth Beach during the season because of the heavy traffic.  However, when I awoke this morning to clear blue skies and hot summertime temperatures, the beach beckoned me.  

Almost empty boardwalk in Rehoboth Beach, DE early this morning

The trick to going to Rehoboth Beach in season is to leave early.  Get into Rehoboth before the parking meters take effect at 10 a.m.  Thus, at 8:30 a.m. my '98 red Subaru Forester and I headed down the Coastal Highway (AKA Rt. 1) to Rehoboth.  Turning off of Rt. 1, into the Rehoboth traffic circle and down Rehoboth Avenue I was greeted by a sea of open, meter free parking spots.  I parked my trusty vehicle across from the Purple Parrot.  Next stop the stimulus funds built boardwalk.

The Rehoboth Bandstand (trash in front from the weekend)

Couple with children on an early morning stroll on the boardwalk

Ordering breakfast at Victoria's Restaurant on the boardwalk

Traffic picks up on the boardwalk - the skate boarders arrive

Overpriced boardwalk beach schlock (aka "essentials")

Ready for your grease infusion for the day?

Ever wonder where those $24.95 entrees come from?  Here's your answer.

Keeping the bod toned by an early morning run on the boardwalk

The beach is ready!  An umbrella and chair rental station.

A Baltimore Avenue sculpture - how would you like this in your front yard?

After taking a walk up and down the boardwalk and then venturing on Baltimore Avenue, I decided to visit my friend Wayne who works at a local Mexican themed eatery.  The picture below is me loitering outside the restaurant on the bench.  Do I look like I'm having a good time?  I am having a good time.  I love my life now in retirement (only working part-time at the hotel) in southern Delaware.  It just doesn't get much better than this!

Your's truly loitering on Rehoboth Avenue this morning

Next stop?  The North Shores Beach.  That posting is the next one.

Tatooed eye candy in the North Shores parking lot.  North Shores has the best scenery.

Lazy, Hazy Days of Summer

This has to be my favorite time of the year, these lazy hazy days of summer. The sun is up at 6 in the morning and doesn't go down until after 8:30 in the evening. Days like this seem like they will last forever but I know all too well that the days are getting shorter. They have been getting shorter since the Summer Solstice.

My summer day begins when I wake up about 7 am and stumble into my bathroom to shave. After I splash witch hazel on my face I'm ready to face the world. The kitchen is my next stop. I mix up some fiber blend with grape-cranberry juice to take before my breakfast of Corn Chex and freshly sliced strawberries. For years I had problems with my morning constitution (I was constipated) but not since I began taking AIM raspberry flavored fiber blend mix about five years ago. Maybe this is too much information but it was a wonderful development in my life. Now I'm just a "regular" guy. Smile.

I used to watch "Morning Joe" on MSNBC but I can't take Joe Scarborough anymore and his constant negativity on anything Democratic, Obama and Nancy Peolosi. Scarborough, or as one blogger calls him "Doucheborough", is one of that dwindling variety of Republicans called "wingnuts." They are the part of "NO!" and exclusivity (meaning that minorities and GBLT members of our society need not apply because they are the "real American" -like we're not.) Scarborough's daily hateful diatribes against anything Democratic I can do without thank you. These mornings my TV is silent.

Bill has been up since 4 am (he goes to bed at 7 pm) so he's ready for some chit chat. If I'm in the mood I'll chew the fat, if not then he understands and disappears to his lair in the basement (where he lives.) Warning, I'm not always bright and cheerie in the morning.

This morning we're waiting for a call from The Garage to tell Bill that his '91 Jeep Cherokee is fixed. The brake pads are being fixed and something about the brake hose being blown. I don't know all that mechanical stuff but I do know if the brake hose was blown while we were on Rt. 1 that would have been a BIG PROBLEM. That's another bullet we dodged. Thank you Jesus.

Hopefully we'll get a call this morning so we can make our weekly trek to the Super Wal-Mart in Milford. This is the only store in this area (which we call "Lower Slower") that I can buy Turkey Hill Decaffeinated Diet Orange Iced Tea. Oh sure, the regular Turkey Hill Orange Iced Tea is plentiful at other stores but I can only take so much fructose corn syrup. I'm not on a diet but the Turkey Hill diet orange iced tea agrees with my stomach. Drinking it gets me through the summer (and winter too.) Of course it's not like the homemade iced tea that my friend Larry's grandmother Mrs. Brown used to make. Oh my oh my, that was wonderful iced tea. The only other iced tea that came close was my Aunt Mabel's iced tea. Making homemade iced tea is a lost art.

Yesterday I took Bill up to a new produce stand eight miles up Route 1, where Billy Bob's used to be. We're both at that point in our lives now that we don't desire a lot of heavy meat in our diets. Fresh fruit and vegetables work just fine for us. Oh, an occasional piece of chicken or even some hamburger but not on a regular basis. Yesterday I purchased cantaloupe, broccoli, corn on the cob, strawberries, watermelon and onions. The honey dew looked scrumptious but I just don't have enough room in my refrigerator. Maybe if I got one of those french door refrigerators I could squeeze all that fresh fruit into it. But Bill won't hear of that. He says our present refrigerator will do just fine and we can save the $2,000 that it would cost for a new refrigerator.

When we got home yesterday I sliced the cantaloupe up for Bill. I even had a piece. The taste of fresh fruit is almost as near to heaven that we can get. This is not your store bought wintertime cantaloupe. This is Summertime cantaloupe. Maybe it should be called "Candyloupe."

This morning I cooked a fresh broccoli cheese casserole with the broccoli I bought yesterday. Our friend Jay gave me a church cookbook which has the best broccoli casserole I've ever tasted. Here is the recipe:

Broccoli Cheese Casserole

1 cooked bunch of fresh broccoli, cut small (I steam mine to al dente - don't overcook)
1 can cream of celery soup
1 cup of mayonnaise
1 chopped onion
2 cups cheddar cheese
2 eggs
1 box Progresso Panko Crispy Bread Crumbs
2 pats of butter

Mix the first six items together in a large bowl. Spread in a 9" x 13" casserole dish. Cover with Progresso Panko (Italian Style) Crumbs. Press break crumbs lightly down on top of casserole. Dot with butter. Bake in preheated oven 350 degrees. Enjoy. This is the perfect light lunch or dinner with a salad. If you wish, you can add cook rotisserie chicken to the mix for a more hearty meal but I prefer the broccoli alone.


I was just outside pulling up some weeds from my flower beds in front of the house. It is humid out there today! This is the kind of day when just a little movement will result in a sweat soaked Ron that has to take two showers today. I did that yesterday. I don't want to do that today so I'll stick around inside. Maybe read a book, maybe sit on the deck and watch the new baby Purple Martins learn to fly. Then again, maybe I'll just take a nap. I'm at that point in my life where naps are very important and enjoyable. I rarely miss an opportunity to recharge myself by taking a well deserved nap.

Tomorrow we will do our usual weekly Saturday morning breakfast at Zorba's then another lazy hazy day just hanging around the house. Maybe I'll do a little yard work and then maybe I won't. That is what is nice about being retired, I can do whatever I want to. I'm no longer a slave to a eight hour, five day a week work schedule, 50 weeks a year. The only relief is that two weeks of vacation. Oh sure, I still work but I work part-time now which is a big difference from full-time. The difference is that I have control over my life and not someone else. For way too many years I was a slave to the Man. The corporate culture that demanded the best days of my life. I've earned my retirement and, believe me, I am enjoying it. Especially on a lazy, hazy day of summer like today.

Summer Solstice

Today is the Summer Solstice, the first day of summer and the longest day of the year. Oh how I love this time of year. This is my 66th summer. I don't remember much about the first four but all of the summers since I do remember. So many good memories. When I lived in an apartment building on Washington Avenue in Downingtown, Pennsylvania; summer was a carefree time of play with friends during the day and catching lightening bugs at night. Those summers were vacation from school. They were also the fastest three months of the year. It always seemed that they went by so fast. We were hardly out of school, then it was time for my Mother to order new school clothes for us from the Montgomery Ward catalogue. I can still remember the fresh cotton smell of those new clothes. Even though our family didn't have too much in way of material possessions, summer was always a special time for me and my brothers. As adults, with jobs, summer became less of a vacation and more of a time to just try and stay cool. Now that I am retired, summer has again become a time of freedom and happiness for me. That is especially true because of where I live now in Delaware, near the ocean. During my last years of work at Girard/Mellon Bank in Philadelphia, I would take summer vacations to Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Summer was again a carefree, joyous time of long days that never seemed to end. Every form of life seemed to come alive after a long winter of hibernation. The birds happily singing and swooping to and fro down from the sky. The flowers and vegetables bursting through the earth's warm soil reaching for the sun. Ice tea, soft ice cream, fresh fruit and vegetables; all the good stuff happens in summer. Who hasn't had a summer romance? Watched new baby birds hatch and fly away to a new life? The sad part is that the Summer Solstice is the longest day but that the next days gradually become shorter and shorter until we are again at that point when it gets dark at 5 pm. Then we go into the winter doldrums. Life seems to become more serious. Gone are the carefree, endless days of summer. But, those days are here now. I am so thankful I am priviliged to enjoy another summer.