Around 4:25 am. The streets of Portland were all mine: fabulous!
Believe me when I say I am usually the person to oversleep amazing things. I am not a morning person in the traditional sense of the word only because 1) I love to stay up late and 2) I love my bed in the morning. As my beloved favorite Aunt has always said, "When I'm awake, I love to be awake. And when I'm asleep, I love to be asleep!".
You can see where this is going. I had decided, like many folks with non-specific spiritual leanings, that a little ceremony minus the dogma is a lovely thing to cultivate in life. Thus: Summer Solstice Sunrise.
I tried to entice friends and kin with promises of local mead ("Come watch the summer sunrise with Pagan booze!") to get up at 4:00 am in order to be to the Eastern Promenade by around 4:30.
The clouds were arranged in the sky for what as sure to be a great sun show. I found myself a nice spot on the grass. No one there but me for a while.
The boats in the harbor were a nice touch.
Must be 4:59! The Mead was chilled, and tasted especially good at this early hour. At this time, I had yet to have any friends join.
The only other souls on the hill were a young couple making out and snuggling in what must have been the most romantic moment in their 17-year-old lives. (Ha! I did not take a picture of them.)
I was looking at the above scene when a brave, sleep-looking friend of mine joined with her sprinting dog. Her dog did laps on the green and we sipped our lovely mead. I remember thinking at the time that this was more than a fair trade-in for some lost sleep.
As if solstice sunrise wasn't award enough, I decided to keep the fun going with THE BEST BREAKFAST: smoothie, french-press, and early tomato-basil cheese toasts.
Happy Summer Solstice!
