The celebration at Stonehenge seemed like a really good time. :D


Revelers welcome summer solstice By RAPHAEL G. SATTER, Associated Press Writer

STONEHENGE, England - Druids, drummers, pagans and partygoers welcomed the sun Thursday as it rose above the prehistoric monument of Stonehenge on the longest day of the year — the summer solstice.

Clad in antlers, black cloaks and oak leaves, a group of druids cheered and danced at the Heel stone — a twisted, pockmarked pillar at the edge of Stonehenge.

About 24,000 people gathered at the stone circle in Wiltshire, in southwestern England. Dancers writhed to the sound of drums and whistles as floodlights colored the ancient pillars shades of pink and purple. Couples snuggled under plastic sheets.

Sounds like quite the party!  

I'm always a bit sad at the Summer Solstice.  I really like the longer daylight hours - our sunrise this morning was at 5:27 am and sunset won't be until 9:03pm.  We will hold at these times for a few days, then sunrise will start to come later and later.  I love to bike to work with the sun rising.  By August I will be back to riding to work with a headlight.  :(

The sun begins coming up here at 5:00.  I actually like the shorter days, to me it's more peaceful when it's dark.  

What time do yo begin your commute to work?  It seems like you get started pretty early.

The summer solstice is definitely a day that I dread.  :P

Long, excruciatingly hot days, sunburns, UV poisoning, heat exhaustion, fires, sweat, dry skin, all of that infernal light...I have no idea why anyone would like summer. But that's just me.

Of course, it isn't all bad, I suppose. Late summer, at least, is when all of the stores put their autumn/Halloween merchandise out. That's something I look forward to every year. heh heh  8-)
   There's nothing quite like escaping the sweltering desert summer in a big, air conditioned store and immersing yourself in black ironwork and fake spiderweb.

Okay, I get it!  The summer solstice isn't so happy for you all!;D  

I on the other hand love absolutely summer... and spring.  Fall and winter are the seasons I'm not so fond of. ;)

Actually I find spring the most pleasant season of the year  :).  At one point in time I favored Autumn.  The weather was getting chilly, nites got longer.  But now as I am getting older, I like it warmer.  I like not having to wear mountains of clothes.  But the heat, bugs, and sweat of summer just make me tired  :(.
I like to be able to sit outside and enjoy the trees and flowers the occassional bee.  Reading outdoors is great pastime of mine.  

My 2 cents worth!!

Debr

Debr wrote on Jun 21^st, 2007 at 2:17pm:

I like not having to wear mountains of clothes.  I like to be able to sit outside and enjoy the trees and flowers the occassional bee.  Reading outdoors is great pastime of mine.

Some reasons I prefer warm weather as well. :D

wrote on Jun 21^st, 2007 at 11:36am:

The sun begins coming up here at 5:00.  I actually like the shorter days, to me it's more peaceful when it's dark.   What time do yo begin your commute to work?  It seems like you get started pretty early.

I usually start biking to work at 5:20 so that I am at the office by 6am.  I am a morning person - always have been.

I love the summer solstice mostly because it means shorter days! And I agree with you Angel Spun, about looking forward to the halloween decorations. For years, until black nail polish became... trendy *shudder* halloween was the time I stocked up for the year. Heh. If you want black Ironwork and REAL spiderwebs, You should come visit Louisiana. My guy's shop has been declared "too goth for me" by one of Baton Rouge's palest night walkers.  ;) Mostly the black paint dust, clinging to the cobweb (there used to be more, but over the years I gather they've ... grown together... so now it's a cobweb shaped ceiling) and the massive gate they were working on at the time with old new orleans style scrollwork. I've seen pictures. It was pretty.  Anyway though, I'm a spring/fall person. warm, but not hot. cool, but not cold. less mosquitos. And no June Bugs. I think the local june bugs are trying to eat my eyeballs. I've been getting dive bombed by them for three days straight, and they're all going for the eyes. /tangent. Sorry. I admire morning people... the world is so much prettier right when the sun is coming up. Unfortunately for me, the only way I see the world when the sun is just coming up, is right before bed. (not my fault, by the way. P. can't sleep well at night, and when he doesn't sleep, I can't sleep(pointy elbows), so we both end up giving up, going out to the shop, and coming in around 7 or so in the morning)

I'm absolutely a night/winter person, so I loathe this time of year.

Kiraela, I have always wanted to visit Louisiana.  :D  Your bf's shop sounds really cool. Does he have a website for it? I'd be really interested to see the kind of things that he makes. Sorry to hear about the eyeball-craving June bugs.  :P  Blasted little buggers...

Actually, I really like the fact that more and more high-end companies are making black nail polish these days. The polishes that only surface around Halloween are cheap in every sense of the word. Very poor quality. With black nail polish becoming more widely-accepted and fashionable, more companies are jumping on the bandwagon and turning out good black nail polish. I don't object to that in the least. After all, it isn't just the mall kids who wear it.  ;)

A few more advantages to summer: 1.) It gives me the chance to pull all of my lace tops out of the closet and wear them.  2.) Our zoo is open at night, when all of the nocturnal creatures (besides myself) become active...and bats are just that much cuter when they're awake.  ;D

He owns the domain where he's planning on putting a website... but he hasn't gotten around to it yet. (he's had the domain for about four years.) Actually, two domains. One that's for conventional iron work like gates, balconies, etc., and one for more art related things(art metal, and possibly metal music).  I can send/post pictures, though, if you want.  

I guess you've got a point about better quality nail polish coming out, but... around the time that it became a mall rat trend, and I actually got accused of trying to copy THEM... I was like, screw this.
Bats, I like bats. And not just for the gothy, vampiry air. Bats eat mosquitos. Bats are my friends! Down here, it's so hot and humid from April on, that any sort of sleeve is impossible. And it sucks, because I'm anti-shorts, and don't want to get bug bites in... uncomfortable places from wearing long skirts, so i'm stuck in jeans all year. Early in the morning, though, when the sun is first rising over the bamboo-ish stuff in the front yard, and everything is dewy and misty... it almost makes up for the summer heat later in the day. (if we had central air conditioning, it would indeed make up for it. but we don't.  :( :()

Aww, Kiraela.  :(  I too have faced several summers without central a/c. Last summer I lived on the 2nd floor in a concrete jungle with no a/c at all. I'm in SoCal, so temps never dropped below 90. Even at night.

Yes, bats are friends! The city aqueduct runs just behind my backyard, so without bats, the mosquitoes would take over! Especially in the summer.  :P

Pix would be great. I'd love to see the kind of work that your bf does. I love creative ironwork.  :)  And I know that Louisiana is pretty notorious for it.

Quality black nail polish is essential for any goth who takes themselves seriously (but not too seriously!  ;)). So I was overjoyed when companies like L'Oreal, Revlon, Maybelline, etc. started releasing gorgeous blacks that didn't chip within 30 seconds of wear and didn't require 14 coats to become opaque.  ::)
   It's unfortunate that anyone would accuse you of copying someone else's look. Especially considering that the mall kids didn't invent it either. But critical minds don't tend to think that far...they simply judge without knowing the facts. Too bad for them, but don't let them stop you from doing your thang 'cause that's letting them win.  ;)  I personally don't give a rip what anyone else thinks - almost all of the negative commentary that my look has received has come from a scant few people that I see on a daily basis. All the rest has been positive, from honest curiosity to attraction. You learn to take it in stride.  ;)

Quote:

Too bad for them, but don't let them stop you from doing your thang 'cause that's letting them win.

Nowadays, my look is.. not one. I'm equally likely to be found in jeans and an avenged sevenfold t-shirt; black satin skirt with lace insets, black haltertop, and of course, the black lace overshirt; a flowy black velvet ren-fantasy dress with blue lace sleeves and a chain mail belt; or a green tye died velvet halter dress and brown crocheted vest. (simply an example of my four favorite outfits) *shrugs* I don't fit in with any one style, and that's how I like it.  I seem to have left my good black polish in missouri, so I am usually to be found with dark purple or green.  I haven't really recieved any negative comments since I was in high school. I think once I got out of populations where a childish petulancy is firmly bolted in place at the forefront of the personality, I became far more accepted. Or maybe I just live close enough to New Orleans (about 60 or so miles) that the people here are used to weirdos and freaks.   :P

http://s124.photobucket.com/albums/p15/pawnofhearts/Ironwork/                          
[edit]Added a link to Pics of Paul's ironwork. * points[/edit]

wrote on Jun 22^nd, 2007 at 1:34pm:

A few more advantages to summer: 1.) It gives me the chance to pull all of my lace tops out of the closet and wear them.  2.) Our zoo is open at night, when all of the nocturnal creatures (besides myself) become active...and bats are just that much cuter when they're awake.  ;D

I love lace too, especially black lace, I have lots of black lace tops and dresses!  Going to the zoo at night sounds cool, I think I need to check my local zoo to see if they do that as well.

I haven't worn black nail polish since middle school.  I tried it out again last year but I felt it made my fingers look short and stubby, like they were cut off at the tips.:-?