Solstice

A beautiful shot from Stonehenge Dronescapes.

Today marks the coming of astronomical summer -- also astrological summer, as the sun enters Cancer at 10:42 PM EST. I remember Thomas was curious about that terminology the last time around.

I saw several pictures of Arthur Uther Pendragon of the Loyal Arthurian Warband, the biker turned druid and wielder of the movie sword Excalibur, as well as a couple of quick interviews as well. I'm always glad to see he's still doing his thing. We used to run into members of the Loyal Arthurian Warband at Scottish Highland Games around the South sometimes. 

Today is also my son's birthday. The guy hosting his birthday party was excited to meet me. He made Beowulf remind him of his last name so he could call me "Mister," respectfully, and then came down and offered me his hand. 

I used to accidentally surprise people with my handshake, as some readers may recall, so I've learned to be more gentle (while still of course being firm). But once I took his hand he started to squeeze as hard as he could. He was definitely a weightlifter.

Once I realized that he wanted to play I gave it to him, and when he finally relented he told me he'd been wanting to try that since my son showed him a video of me lifting in my home gym. He said he wanted to have one like it some day. I wish him well in his quest. 

Summer is a season of questing in the Arthurian tradition; in the South it was often a little hot. The Grandfather Mountain Highland Games are upcoming shortly in the very high mountains of North Carolina, where even mid-July is temperate (although MUCH wetter than I imagine Merry England to have been). The massive heat wave predicted for next week is expected to top out at 87 here, which would be if true three degrees hotter than I've ever seen it locally. You only have to go down to the valley to get into the 90s, though. Go just a bit south into Georgia, and you can find the low hundreds this time of year.