How do you celebrate Litha?

[DFW]

15. Not Seals & Crofts: MARK KNOPFLER!

My wife and I are going to see Mark Knopfler in concert this evening down in Köln (Cologne).

Normally, June 21 is a sad day for me because the days only get shorter from now on until late December, and I am definitely a day person. As it is, one advantage of being in Northern Europe this time of year is that there is still light outside at 10:00 PM. I often leave for work between 4:30 and 6:00 AM, and I love it that I can do that in daylight for a few months. Three hours' flight north of here, the sun doesn't even set for a month. I've been up in Kiruna to see that, and it is some kind of weird. The downside is that in the winter, there is only about 5 or 6 hours of daylight per day, and up in northern Scandinavia, there is none at all for about a month. This is what Norwegians call "mørketiden (the dark time)," and is the time of year when most suicides occur. I can imagine why.