It's late at night as I write. The full moon keeps disrupting my concentration by calling me outside. The night is enchanting. It is June 23Midsummer's Eve. This is more a European holiday than it is American, but I like it because its sole intention is merry-making and lighthearted bewitchment.

This year, my celebration is more a quiet reflection, but it is somehow comforting to recognize this midpoint of the year in my own company. It's a wonderful opportunity to make corrections if one's course has strayed, and it is the perfect time for exploring dreams of the future.

Poet, James Russell Lowell wrote, &uot;Now is the high tide of the year,

And whatever of life has ebbed away Comes flooding back with ripply cheer Now the heart is so full that a drop overfills it,

We are happy now, because God wills it.&uot;

Lowell was not thinking of Midsummer's Eve when he wrote those lines, but they somehow are most appropriate for this celebration of merriment and joy.

Legend promises that on tomorrow, Midsummers's Day, any woman who washes her face with the morning dew will become more lovely with the passing year. Being a woman who leaves few stones unturned, I don't totally discount the possibility. There are wonders in this world that we'll never know.

So tomorrow morning, I'll take some dew from the Althea Bush blooming outside my back door and give myself a chance at a little loveliness.

But for now, I'm going back outside and let the moonlight become another of the simple joys that decorate my life.