When I was a child, somewhere deep within me, I knew I needed to celebrate ‘mid-summer.’  The drive was so strong that, when I was about 10 years old, I actually got out a calendar and counted all the days between the summer solstice and the autumnal equinox.  Ever since then I’ve been celebrating in early August.

This year the mid-point occurs on August 6th.

Imagine my surprise when, as an adult, I discovered there was an actual holiday, associated with a real religion in early August.  Even more surprising was that they observed all my “made up” holidays.  (The quarter days and the cross-quarter days.)  Sometimes the call to honor the seasons runs so deep that even an unsuspecting 10 year-old in Idaho cannot help but heed it.

Since the scorching summer sun beats down on the fields, ripening the wheat, the Palouse smells faintly of baking bread every August.  To observe the holiday I’m making fresh bread, then heading outside with a glass of wine to catch the beginnings of the Perseid Meteor Shower.  (Peak is August 11 & 12, shortly after midnight.)  I hope all of you find a way to celebrate the rotating wheel of the year, too.