Summer 1: Solstice

Tuesday, June 21, 2011
9:00am-11:20am, Aullwood Garden MetroPark, Englewood, OH
very warm, humid, scattered clouds

I fantasized about catching the sunrise and the sunset on our longest day of the year, but failed on both counts.

It was a cloudy dawn, so my lazy rising at 6:30am was purely in search of a photo of the early morning, cloud-streaked sky:

Later Rodney Veal, choreographer (and creative partner-in-crime!), and I went to Aullwood Garden to meet Glen Pottenger, park manager, and to go over logistics and use of the space.

We got to Aullwood an hour before the meeting to investigate and plan our performance. It was our first time exploring the park together, and I showed Rodney some of my favorite places.

Together, we narrowed down the specific spots where we would put musicians and/or dancers, and where the culminating final piece would take place. Rodney was concerned about the length of the wooded trail (1 mile), so we decided to put up signs at both ends indicating the distance, so that less-mobile patrons would be informed.

We also ran sound checks and discovered that a violin has to play pretty darn loud to be heard over a babbling brook! A friendly park visitor helped out with sound-checks for a little while.

My bird of the day was actually on the bridge on the way from the parking lot to the park entrance. (I learned later that it is a Carolina Wren!)

Here is my version:


I can't remember now if it rained through the sunset, or if I just got too busy with work, but suffice it to say, I missed both the exact beginning and the exact end of the solstice this year...!