Midsummer Night's Dreams

I popped open today's date in "Simple Abundance: A Daybook of Comfort and Joy" by Sarah Ban Breathnach and fell in love, all over again, with the message there. Here are 'parts' of it for your consideration:

"... a bit of midsummer madness and magic are good for the soul. This probably explains why in Europe, Midsummer's Eve (June 23) has traditionally been set aside as the night for high-spirited merry making and light-hearted [fun]. ~... life's simple pleasures are meant to be savored... ~ "

Think of the very best beliefs of the most peaceful religions... Breathnach explains about "Stillwaters," the mock New England sect imagined by author and illustrator Tasha Tudor, "Stillwater connotes something very peaceful, life without stress. Nowadays, people are so jeezled up. If they took some chamomile tea and spent more time rocking on the porch in the evening... they might enjoy life more."

As for the Dorko: I remember my parents (and grandparents) sitting out on the porch on summer evenings chatting with the occasional neighbor who may happen by. Watching [us!] their children as we stalked painted lady butterflies, where ever we could find them, prize additions to our mayonnaise jars with the 'holes in the lids', courtesy of Mom and her trusty meat fork. The cicadas, we called them locus, always providing the background music, singing loud then low up in the trees. And when that sun went down there was the delightful magic of fireflies to light our way! (more pretties for our jars!) ~ but I digress ~ returning to Simple Abundance...

Breathnach goes on to say that: "On Midsummer's Eve, the Still waters have a Great Party -- plenty of music, dancing in the barn, and a sumptuous summer supper. ... very hedonistic. Life is to be enjoyed, not saddled with, Tasha Tudor insists. The first commandment of the Stillwaters, is to 'Take joy' from each day. This is a catechism we should all embrace to experience Heaven on earth... I love Midsummer's Day (June 24). For me, it's a personal mid-course correction for the year. I wander out into the back yard very early in the morning and pluck a blossom from the garden heavy with dew. With my fingers, I'll pat the dew upon my face, for legend has it that any woman who washes her face in the dew of Mid-summer's Day will grow more lovely with the passing year. Fairy cakes are made for tea, midsummer's syllabub (a delightful concoction of cider, lemon, berries, and whipped cream) is prepared for a moonlit picnic, and personal dreams are renewed. Being Irish, I don't dismiss the belief in love charms, magic herbs, and divination, for I know there's more to this world than we'll ever hope to understand. But these days I'm not so much interested in what the future holds as I am in the present.

"I believe the nicest and sweetest days are not those on which anything very splendid or wonderful or exciting happens, but just those that bring simple little pleasures, following one another softly, like pearls slipping off a string," ...When Midsummer arrives, it's a time to look ahead and dream. Perhaps, if one is lucky, the days ahead will unfold as a "never-to-be-forgotten summer -- one of those summers which come seldom into any life, but leave a rich heritage of beautiful memories of delightful weather, delightful friends and delightful doings, come as near perfection as anything can come in the world."

Now is the high-tide of the year,

And whatever of life hath ebbed away

Comes flooding back with ripply cheer

Now the heart is so full that a drop overfills it,

We are happy now, because God wills it.

-- James Russell Lowell

This is how Breathnach ends 'her post' and I'm following suit: "May this potent Midsummer spell never be broken for you and those you love."