Photo Challenge: SUMMER SOLSTICE
“This is the solstice, the still point of the sun, its cusp and midnight, the year’s threshold and unlocking, where the past lets go of and becomes the future; the place of caught breath.” Margaret Atwood
Photo Challenge: SUMMER SOLSTICE
The summer solstice is a time for strength and vitality for action and movement. Carole Carlton
One way of celebrating the Solstice is to consider it a sacred time of reflection, release, restoration, and renewal. Sarah Ban Breathnach
In June, as many as a dozen species may burst their buds on a single day. No man can heed all of these anniversaries; no man can ignore all of them. Aldo Leopold
The Summer Solstice is upon us! It is a time to look back and reflect on the first half of the year as we enter the second half. Are we enjoying a midsummer night’s fantasy or are our dreams translating into action? Enjoy the collection of some of my most favorite Summer pastimes and come back for more thoughts on this time of renewal. This is also the International Day of Yoga… so go outside and stretch. Take a class. Grow!
Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? (Sonnet 18) by William Shakespeare, 1564 – 1616
Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate.
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer’s lease hath all too short a date.
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimmed;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance, or nature’s changing course, untrimmed;
But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st,
Nor shall death brag thou wand’rest in his shade,
When in eternal lines to Time thou grow’st.
So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee. via poets.org
READ: DailyOm -The Summer Solstice
“It is Summer, it is the solstice the crowd is cheering, the crowd is laughing in detail permanently, seriously without thought.” William Carlos Williams
Photo Challenge: SUMMER SOLSTICE
Chair Yoga | Happy Yoga with Sarah Starr Cascading River
Green was the silence, wet was the light, the month of June trembled like a butterfly. Pablo Neruda
Not only is it Summer Solstice, there is a Full Moon. May love surround you like sunshine on a sunny day. William Shakespeare
It was June, and the world smelled of roses. The sunshine was like powdered gold over the grassy hillside. Maud Hart Lovelace
Both the Winter and the Summer Solstices are expressions of love. They show us the opposition of light and dark, expansion and contraction, that characterize our experiences in the Earth school so that we can recognize our options as we move through our lives. Gary Zukav
Today is the Summer Solstice: Where are you on your journey? What more does the summer hold for you? We ought to be making headway on our goals… Don’t despair. You have 6 months left to accomplish your 2018 goals.
A Summer Night by Elizabeth Drew Stoddard
I feel the breath of the summer night,
Aromatic fire:
The trees, the vines, the flowers are astir
With tender desire.
The white moths flutter about the lamp,
Enamoured with light;
And a thousand creates softly sing
A song to the night!
But I am alone, and how can I sing
Praises to thee?
Come, Night! unveil the beautiful soul
That waiteth for me. poets.org
More Below
“Summer solstice represents a time to reflect upon the blessings we have received in seasons past and look toward new growth.” MADISYN TAYLOR
Photo Challenge: SUMMER SOLSTICE
Photo Challenge: SUMMER SOLSTICE
Summer set lip to earth’s bosom bare, and left the flushed print in a poppy there. Francis Thompson
The days were longer then for time, like money, is measured by our needs, when summer afternoons were spacious, and the clock ticked slowly in the winter evenings. George Eliot
At the Summer Solstice, all is green and growing, potential coming into being, the miracle of manifestation painted large on the canvas of awareness. At the Winter Solstice, the wind is cold, trees are bare and all lies in stillness beneath blankets of snow. Gary Zukav
How are you planning your summer months and the Fall? It might seem a distance away but before we know, it will be upon us too. Stay vigilant and upbeat.
Summer Solstice By Stacie Cassarino via poetryfoundation
I wanted to see where beauty comes from
without you in the world, hauling my heart
across sixty acres of northeast meadow,
my pockets filling with flowers.
Then I remembered,
it’s you I miss in the brightness
and body of every living name:
rattlebox, yarrow, wild vetch.
You are the green wonder of June,
root and quasar, the thirst for salt.
When I finally understand that people fail
at love, what is left but cinquefoil, thistle,
the paper wings of the dragonfly
aeroplaning the soul with a sudden blue hilarity?
If I get the story right, desire is continuous,
equatorial. There is still so much
I want to know: what you believe
can never be removed from us,
what you dreamed on Walnut Street
in the unanswerable dark of your childhood,
learning pleasure on your own.
Tell me our story: are we impetuous,
are we kind to each other, do we surrender
to what the mind cannot think past?
Where is the evidence I will learn
to be good at loving?
The black dog orbits the horseshoe pond
for treefrogs in their plangent emergencies.
There are violet hills,
there is the covenant of duskbirds.
The moon comes over the mountain
like a big peach, and I want to tell you
what I couldn’t say the night we rushed
North, how I love the seriousness of your fingers
and the way you go into yourself,
calling my half-name like a secret.
I stand between taproot and treespire.
Here is the compass rose
to help me live through this.
Here are twelve ways of knowing
what blooms even in the blindness
of such longing. Yellow oxeye,
viper’s bugloss with its set of pink arms
pleading do not forget me.
We hunger for eloquence.
We measure the isopleths.
I am visiting my life with reckless plenitude.
The air is fragrant with tiny strawberries.
Fireflies turn on their electric wills:
an effulgence. Let me come back
whole, let me remember how to touch you
before it is too late.
This post was inspired by THE Summer Solstice & Change in Season
Positive Motivation Tip: Reflect on the summer and, then, jump into the second half of the year with renewed vigor
PHOTO CREDITS/ATTRIBUTIONS: All Photos from my personal collection.
Until Next Time…
Ask. Believe. Receive. ©
Elizabeth Obih-Frank
Mirth and Motivation
Positive Kismet
Our longest day of light to photograph! Love all the chairs lined up, the summery colors. Happy Summer Solstice
Happy Summer Solstice to you and yours too. I love Adirondack chairs as they remind me of a classic summer time indulgence. 🙂
Definitely!
Summer really is a happy season with colorful flowers all blossoming everywhere. I really love the colorful chairs and I really can’t decide which color to sit on as there are simply gorgeous.
My favorite time of the year! Like last night, I came home late because it was still light out, and able to enjoy the beautiful sunny weather. – AMER
The one from Stacie is my favourite one 🙂
Em @14daysof
I’m so very glad it’s summertime. Summer is definitely my favorite season of the year.
This is really a wonderful read. I enjoyed reading the most part of this post.
I really love all the colorful photos you too! I’m so happy for the summer to start. My daughter started her summer break today and now we can do some traveling!
Wonderful sunshine colours, a belated happy solstice to you my dear.
Likewise dear one.. I can’t believe it is now the cold fall season.
I think my favorite thing about your posts is the photo challenges. I don’t know why. Probably because you put them together so nicely and I always walk away feeling something as a result.
I am honestly happy to say that I have been accomplishing a lot so far this half year. Time to enjoy some summertime for sure!
I’m so excited for summer! We have so many fun things planned – it’ll be great!
I am so excited about summer. This had been such a long winter. Ready for all the sun and light and less layers. Love the pictures.
Love all the photos, especially the colorful chairs. Summer Solstice is not celebrated here, but Happy Summer Solstice to you!
The place of caught breath…love how it sounds. Have the happiest summer filled with freedom and true love!
Yay for the summer. My second favorite season (next to Autumn). I just love the bright colors of summer. Every where you look the colors give an instant emotional lift.
i love that photo with the chairs !!!!!!! i got 6 more months to achieve my goals for 2018 haha i always do my best at contemplating and reflecting
I really liked that poem by By Stacie Cassarino. It’s really nice. Happy Summer Solstice!
I so love the color of summer. Very pleasing to the eyes. And the photos are captured perfectly. I also love how the poem was constructed. I felt the emotions.
Happy summer solistice to you and your fam. I loved all your pictures. Lovely summer colors 🙂
I love the pictures, they are so colorful and the poetry too.
I hate summer but Summer Solstice truly is so much more than just a day in Summer.
Love the bright colors of the chairs, makes summer feel so much better!!
I am definitely cheering for the summer. Been awaiting it for so long and now that it’s here, I am so content. Thank God!
It’s hard to believe we are already over half way through another year! Every year the time just seems to fly by even faster. It is a good time to reflect back on what all you’ve accomplished so far and what goals you can get done by the end of the year!
Wow! What a colorful summer, I love the flower and its vibrant color also the chairs that is lined up. Sounds like this summer will brings out a lot of fun.
Summers make me feel very happy. The colors in the pictures just made me feel bright in the morning.
It’s so crazy to think that summer is already here and we’re halfway through the year!
Beautiful post! I love all your pictures and your text selection. Happy Summer Solstice!
I enjoyed this post. The photos are beautiful and full of life. It brought me joy. Now, I am inspired to paint my outdoor chairs similar to this.
Summer Solstice, I love this so much and it’s such a beautiful set of photos to enjoy that make me smile. I love summer beauty captured.
I love the pictures in this collection! Our summer here in the Philippines is now finished. We are now having rainy season. I wish I spent more time in the beach!
Happy Summer Solstice! Love the light spreading in the chairs lined up!
I love these great bright summer solstice photos. The poem included is perfect!
Summer Solstice and Winter Solstice , together with equinoxes are my fav moments of the year. They are magic and they’ve been uniting people in all the history of the world, do you aver think about it?
Happy Summer Solstice to you and everyone. Love the photos the chairs. They are very festive, especially for the summer and the upcoming holiday.
Happy Summer Solstice to you and everyone. Love the photos of the chairs. They are great for the summer, especially for the upcoming holiday.
I love summer and I love the colors! I think it’s a great time to assess the past six months and look forward to the next six months.
We are spending a lot of time outside in the garden and soaking in the sun! Enjoy the sun while it lasts. Love your photos too.
Those line of chairs really satisfies me to the heart’s core. Summer’s always the season for cleaning and growth. That, and recovery. I don’t know why I feel like making them the center of my priorities and not during Spring.
Love how summery and colourful the chair are – lovely selection of poems too
Here in England the summer solstice is best celebrated at Stonehenge. One day a year it is allowed to enter in the inside circle, where people sing and dance, waiting for the sun to rise.
I loved all the poems and the pictures are super pretty! Your post was very motivational!
I absolutely love this. You’re a beautiful writer! Loving this time of year ❤️
I love all these colorful photos! And I’m so glad the year is half over, honestly!! I’m pregnant and during the summer it’s BRUTAL! I’m ready for fall!
I love summer! I live in Canada where most of the year is unpleasantly cold so I really look forward to the warm months.
Time is flying I can’t believe it’s summer already! Life’s been busy so I do need to reflect on the first half of the year and set goals for the remainder of the year.
Whenever I think of the ‘summer solstice’ I am always reminded of the Shakespeare line that you included above ‘ Shall I compare thee to a summers day’ which is a beautiful excerpt from a talented man. On another note, people got very excited about the summer solstice here in the UK as well, a lot of people gathered round the Stonehenge to celebrate it.
Daylight always makes me happy so the summer solstice is a definitely a good time to enjoy the warm weather!
What a lovely summer photographs you have accompanying this post! I especially enjoyed Shakespeare’s Sonnet 18, which is one of my personal favorites!
You post today made me smile. ” Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? (Sonnet 18) by William Shakespeare, 1564 – 1616″ was a poem I had to learn in 10th grade. I remember giving my teacher grief about reciting it in front of class, but it turns out that after all of these years I still remember it.
Now that the summer solstice is here, that means that the days are going to start getting shorter. I’m not a fan of long, dark dreary days.
Loving all the flowers here. We are still trying to figure out summer plans, but we have a lot of wedding travel in September.
Happy Summer Solstice to you.
I love the photo collages that you make especially in this post it corresponds with the theme so well.
I love everything about this post, the different colors of a fruits, flowers and the chairs are perfectly beautiful in this summer season. I am just hoping that summer will not end too fast and hoping to stay a little bit longer.
I love this poem. Summer solstice was just like an ordinary day to me, but after reading your post, it suddenly became meaningful.
Ahhh thank you for reminding me to be thankful for all past blessings and welcome new growth. Love the photos, by the way. They are refreshing to look at.
Loving the colourful photos here. Summer is such a beautiful season. It makes me feel alive!
I always love a good sit in an Adirondack chair during the summer. Especially if they are by the water. It’s hard to believe solstice has passed already!
I love your photographs. They’re so vibrant! I love the summer solstice for two reasons. One the point where we reflect on where we’ve been this year and where we are going. The second is because I love seeing the flowers soaking up the extra bit of sunlight during the longest day of the year!
My favorite day of the year, longer light and longer day to take photos and experiment lighthings. Love all your photos!
This post makes me happy. The pictures , the words, the colors. I have found love in the Summer months , even with all the heat.
I have always wanted to celebrate the summer solstice some where special and then always forget to do it!! I just love all of your images here.
Loved this post, while I find high summer temperatures not always to my liking, I do love summer for all sorts of reasons. I’ve been doing yoga for over 20 years and I love that you touched on that here too.
I love this. Summer solstice is a really important date to me, it’s the day my best friend died 8 years ago now. Beautiful photos.
Happy summer solstice. I can tell you one thing for sure is I am so glad winter is gone and my kids are out of school in less than 24 hours!
I can hardly believe that half the year is up already. It’s life though. Hope you had an amazing solstice and you have great things planned for the future.
WoooW, I like this colorful chairs.. That would be perfect for my garden
Happy Summer Solstice!! I love those poems. Our summers are typically full of BBQ’s, water fun and indoor projects and crafts. We live in Florida so staying cool is top priority. Oh and planning for the start of my favorite season the Fall Equinox!!
Summer is my favorite season and i am thankful that i live in the island that is almost 365 days summer 🙂
The colors of summer is beyond words!
what a cool photo challange! Happy summer Solstice!
Happy Summer Solstice to all of us. This is one of the of the days I’ve been waiting for. Loving those colorful photos.
You must be celebrating summer solstice. Great feel. Though in Delhi, India June is the end of summer season with rainy season commencing now.
This is so beautiful, even though right now it’s so bloody hot I’m kind of ready for summer to leave! LOL
The middle of the year is a great time to reflect on goals we made at the start of the year. If action hasn’t been taken, now is definitely the time. Don’t think, do. I read somewhere that wanting to do something is simply a wish. Taking steps to make it happen, turns that wish into a goal. 🙂 Happy Summer Solstice (belated but genuine just the same). 🙂
Happy Solstice! The vibrant colors of chairs, flowers and fruits are vey summery!
The bright summery colours are motivating. I also enjoyed reading the poetry.
I will have to try that chair yoga! It will help me so much since I spend so much time working in front of a computer! Thanks for sharing the video!
Time sure flies by so fast! The next thing we know, it’s already Christmas!
What an inspirational post! I do love the summer months and the colourful blooms that come with it. 😊
Happy summer solstice! I love that we het so much light during the day currently! That poem titled summer solstice is really fitting.
I love all the bright colors in your post! Definitely puts me in the summer mood! We don’t really have any plans for the summer, but hopefully we’ll visit family. Hope you have a great summer!
I really enjoyed reading all these quotes! They are very beautiful! Also love all the bright pictures! We are going to be wrapping our summer up with a vacation! Very excited!
I absolutely love everything about summer except for some of the extreme temperatures. I really love that the days are longer.
I love everything about summer. Best time of year!
Happy summer solstice! I love the poems, and those pretty vibrant Adirondack chairs. Thanks for sharing!
I’m from the Philippines. During this time, summer has already ended. But my birth month is June and it is the time when I look back on the 1st half of the year and set new goals for the remaining months. I said that because it sounded the same as your motivational tip. I have been doing that for years and it’s really healthy!
Love this compilation and all the inspiring poems. This is one of my favorite times of year. Happy Solstice!
Love that William Shakespeare quote! You have the most vibrant pictures, can’t beliebe it’s summer alreadyand my son starts school in just a few weeks!
Happy summer solstice! I love all of the beautiful colors in this photo challenge 🙂
Happy summer solitice. The colours are really heart warming. And photographs are as usual great.
I can’t believe that we are halfway through the year already! Summer always gives me a boost after a long, cold first half of the year to be the best version of myself.
I love summer and everything that brings with it! I can’t believe it has been a six months already! 5 days ago I turned 24! Oh myy 😀 Time is flying so fast!
It was a wonderful year for now even though one of my loved ones passed away at the end of the last year. I can’t believe it was so long without him! But on the other hand, I decided to chase my dreams and to quit University Of Law where I was third year and to apply to University of Contemporary Art for Graphic Designer and I made it! It was a quiet journey for me with a lof of struggles, questions, but my family, friends and boyfriend were (are) so supportive that I feel so blessed!
I’m excited to see what else I’m going to accomplish in this lovely year!
Happy summer!
Loved this so beautiful and powerful
So Beautiful and powerful love your words of wisdom
Summer isn’t my mid -year check as to what I’ve done for the first half of the year. It’s my signal that my FAVORITE time of the year is coming. Pumpkin spice lattes, my entire family’s birthdays happen including mine, cooler weather, my sisters annual visit and Christmas! Yay,the time is drawing near.
These are such colorful pictures! I as a photographer can fully appreciate all of these pictures! Sometimes don’t see the beauty in objects that photographers capture but I can tell you understand it.
Does Summer Solstice have a particular meaning? I never had the chance to check upon this, and I thought this is a good moment, after reading your post. 🙂
Great photos! I really like the coloring idea for chairs. Summer solance is such a happy for me, I always my best around this time of a year.