I feel exactly the same way. The solstice is perhaps the saddest day of the year because it means the darkness is returning. The rest of the summer is filled with dread for the dark days ahead.
I really need to start switching hemispheres at the equinoxes so it can be forever spring and summer. Just gotta suddenly get rich first without hurting anyone to do it.
The huge painting of Big Sur that we've got in our living room is a good measurement point for the progression of the sun. There are several times during the spring and summer where the rising sun hits the painting and lights it up as if we were standing in the real spot as the sun comes over the coastal mountains in the morning. But it's only a week or two on each side of the solstice and about halfway between the solstice and either equinox.
I dated a woman whose birthday is on the summer solstice. She always had the best parties and I never once got sacrificed to the old gods.
