Here we are, at the Summer Solstice, the longest day of the year:

The first “official” day of summer occurs early next week, at 1:16 p.m. EDT, on Tuesday, June 21 to be exact. This is the time of the summer solstice (or more accurately known as the June solstice), when the Earth’s tilt on its axis is at its maximum, 23 degrees and 26 minutes.

Thus, at this time, the direct rays of the sun are at the farthest point north, the Tropic of Cancer. Also on this day, the northern hemisphere experiences its most sunlight of any day of the year, ranging from 24 hours anywhere north of the Arctic Circle to a never-changing 12 hours at the equator. Major cities in the Lower 48 will have as much as 15 hours, 36 minutes and 54 seconds in Minneapolis and as few as 13 hours, 45 minutes and 4 seconds in Miami.

Enjoy the length the day, as at 1:17 p.m. EDT Tuesday, the sun begins to make its apparent southward trek across the sky for the next six months (until the winter, or December, solstice). The time the sun is out will drop to 13 hours, 45 minutes and 3 seconds in Miami on June 22nd and 15 hours 36 minutes and 52 seconds in Minneapolis.

Time to turn up the heat, as Accuweather meterologist Ken Clark tells us what we’re in for here in the West, especially in the Valley of the Sun:

Phoenix hottest so far has been 110 and it will be around 115 Wednesday and Thursday.

Holy sh**. My summer flowers don’t stand a chance.

Whenever June 21st comes around, I can’t help but think of the opening scenes in “The Great Gatsby”, one of my all-time favorite movies (and, I’m happy to say, one of my late godfather Milt’s as well). I just love the scene with Mia Farrow all in white, sitting at that table with everyone else in white, the green trees of Newport behind them, the pink roses and the candles, and she wondering how people celebrate the longest day of the year. Me, I’ve always liked putting on every light in the house and burning candles all over the place, as if celebrating the zenith of the sun in the Western Hemisphere would somehow hold at bay the coming slow but inevitable slide towards November and December, and the almost claustrophobic darkness those weeks and days bring.

To this day, Tracey hates the longest day of the year – it reminds her of living in the northern climes, where, unlike here in Arizona, those short days of November and December weren’t always so docile.

I often wonder if the Summer Solstice is a reminder (at least to those of us who pay attention to these kinds of things) that, no matter how full the season seems to be and our lives might be at a given point in time, you can’t avoid the slide towards the autumn and winter of life, and the melancholy and challenges they bring. Maybe we subconciously try to hold on to the longest day of the year because we know that, as beautiful as the coming autumn of the year and our lives might be, we know what comes afterwards.

Me, I’m burning candles all over the place.