(Blogger’s note: this one is from me! More installments from my Dad are coming soon.)

Yesterday was the summer solstice; that is, the days are now getting shorter in the northern hemisphere. (Somehow, myopic little troll that I am, I cannot take seriously the concept that elsewhere in the world it is the beginning of winter. I know it’s true, but it’s just too weird for me to dwell on. Christmas, for example, coming in the height of summer. Weird.)

But I digress.

The advent of the summer solstice gets me thinking of all kinds of things. I am reminded, for example, of my father entertaining us kids by placing eggs in a wire basket and swinging it around and around over his head. The little wire cage that kept the eggs from flying off into space is obviously not a perfect analogy for gravity, but I guess it’s close enough. What amazed us, of course, was the fact that the eggs did not fall out of the basket when they passed overhead. My father explained to us that it was the force of the spin (centrifugal? centripetal?) that kept the eggs in place and asked us to imagine what would happen if he stopped the basket when it was above our heads. Which imagery allows me to come back around to the earth, and the fact that it is only the crazy speed of it all that keeps things from falling apart utterly. Makes me want to sit down somewhere and hang on.

I am reminded, too, of the one-and-only Douglas Adams who wrote of the “Total Perspective Vortex,” which causes one to dwell too long on the reality of the cosmos and therefore realize what an utterly insignificant blob of protoplasm that one is, much to the detriment of one’s sanity.

So, anyhoo, summer is here, and I am keeping my perspective narrow. The basket of eggs is whirling away, spinning like a demented top; our side has started to slant away from the center just a little bit, and the whole thing will fall apart if things slow down even a little bit. It’s the cosmic equivalent of walking, chewing gum, patting your head, and rubbing your tummy all at the same time and at a very, very fast pace.

Meanwhile, I am placidly picking spinach and canning fish.

I hope this crazy dance will continue for at least a little while longer because I, for one, am having too much fun to quit just yet.

For your further edification:

Centripetal vs Centrifugal Force: What’s the Difference & Why it Matters (sciencing.com)

Total Perspective Vortex | Hitchhikers | Fandom

Quote by Douglas Adams: “The Total Perspective Vortex derives its pictur…” (goodreads.com)