Summer Solstice

We've been observing Solstices (and Equinoxes) since about 1984-85.  Back then we lived in Windsor and were able to walk to bars, bakeries, etc., and were even able to take the tunnel bus to Detroit.  Since moving to the 'burbs, however, our walking destinations are nil.  So the party has been house and yard focussed now since about 1989.  Wood fires in the autumn and winter and spring, and staying inside and trying to survive the heat in summer.  Despite enjoying a very cool spring, the heat and humidity have arrived now, hitting us with both barrels.  85 F at 9 am is a bit extreme, as we head for the upper 90s over the next few days.  I have two photos to share of the Solstice, one of the sunset and one of the high speed train to Ashford.

Summer Solstice sunset looking across the Detroit River towards Michigan.  Families of geese were swimming by.  The little creek that empties into the river here is the same one that flows through our back yard, cutting our property in two.  In the summer it's the sunset that matters, as it represents the death of the sun.  From here until December its rays become less direct and weaker as each day passes (north of the equator).  People could get a lot more sleep if they realized that it isn't the sunrise that matters at Summer Solstice.  That event is for the Winter Solstice, when the sun is "reborn" and begins to get stronger each day.

 

Summer Solstice twilight on the high speed run from St. Pancras to Ashford International.  Train Sim World 5 photo. 

 

It's been a good month for reading, as the end of month summary will tell.  One of my biggest discoveries this month was Cornell Woolrich.  More on him later, but his books and short stories have been made into so many Hollywood films.  I just read his first novel and was quite blown away (it's called "Cover Charge).

 

Astronomy this time of year is difficult, due to the lateness of the hour when it becomes dark.  In the winter session I can be packed up and heading up at the time I am just beginning to observe in June and July.  Still, I am likely heading out tonight, and will try to pull an all-nighter (about 5 hours of observing).  Dawn breaks around 4 am, and it isn't really dark until after 11 pm.

 

In film watching news, there are two to report.  Cotton Comes To Harlem is from 1970 and was directed by Ossie Davis.  Chester Himes, a crime writer of black murder mystery fiction, created the black detectives Grave Digger Jones and Coffin Ed Johnson.  This time the bad guy is a black preacher, taking money from poor Harlem folk and promising them they will be sent back to Africa, a land of promise with no white man to tell them how to live.  He is a major crumb bum type and has no intention of spending a penny of that money for any worthy cause.  Lots of action centres around a bale of cotton that appears, and might hold the stolen money.    I've never read any Chester Himes, but I might now.  I hope the characters on the page are a bit more fun than the two detectives in this film.  They really don't seem like anybody special; they appear like two police detectives working outside of the system (like nearly every Hollywood detective before and after them).  Still, there is a lot of local colour with views of Harlem that are likely long gone now.

 

Leaving Criterion June 30th. 

 

Two Timid Souls is from 1928 and was Rene Clair's final silent feature film.  A timid lawyer (how did he get through law school?) and a young woman fall in love.  However, he is too timid to do anything about it.  A man that he defended for wife beating also falls for her.  The hero is too timid to do anything about it.  Her father is pretty much the same, and gives her to the bully.  And so on.  Essentially this is a 30' film that has been stretched to 77 minutes, and it becomes quite painful to watch.  The lawyer channels Buster Keaton in his performance, but Keaton would never have acted such a coward.  There are some brilliant storytelling touches done with split screen.  Though I dearly love the films of Rene Clair, this isn't one I would wish to see again.

 

Now showing on Criterion. 

 

Amanda L. paid an unexpected but welcome and fun visit this Sunday afternoon.  She was in town for her aunt's memorial service and managed to squeeze in a visit.  Food, drinks and conversation were had and enjoyed.  We heard about her recent visit to Colombia, mostly Medellin.  Sounds like a really wonderful place to visit and wander the streets!

 

8 pm update: It was 96 F today (35.5 C).  It's 94 right now.  The new AC unit upstairs can barely keep up.  Hotter tomorrow, and on until Wednesday, when temps will revert to more seasonal ones.  Blistering sun and no clouds, either.  But it's a clear night, so I will be heading out to use the telescope later on.  It will be a warm one, but it isn't supposed to be all that humid--I think it got burnt off today.

 

Mapman Mike