Summer 4 - Midsummer mingle

[kollomods]

During the day

[ Preparations are in full swing right after breakfast - although still seemingly unstaffed, the kitchen is a flurry of activity and careless guests may find themselves bumped into if they venture too far into the actual cooking area.

It's safer outside, where guests are encouraged to help dress the maypole with fresh cut, leafy birch twigs and a variety of colourful, seasonal flowers - ox-eye daisies, woodland geraniums, cow parsley, buttercups and lupines. There's also a table and benches to carry out into the community center garden, lanterns to hang in the fruit trees and bottles and bottles of elderflower lemonade, beer and brännvin - midsommar isn't midsommar without snaps.

A little later in the afternoon, with the tables laden heavy with pickled herring, fresh potatoes, sour cream and chives, and Västerbotten cheese pie (and a few other less traditional but perhaps more palatable dishes), guests and residents alike sit down for the midsummer celebration. If anyone wants to partake in local customs such as the little frog dance, Ingvar is more than happy to provide the music. Of course, he's just as happy to teach a few drinking songs for those who want to partake in snaps. ]

Evening

[ As the sun begins to... well, not exactly set, but take a dip towards the horizon, the long table will be cleared
for dessert - coffee or tea, strawberries and cream, with the option of an aperitif of your choice. The music will continue with traditional songs, that the residents are more than happy to try and teach the guests - or just sing poorly, as is tradition.

For those who are looking for something a bit more quiet and peaceful, Valborg is spending the evening talking about the magic properties of midsummers eve, the most magical of nights. It says that if you pick seven different types of flowers in complete silence and then sleep with them under your pillow, you'll dream of your future betrothed... ]

Night

[ Those who stay out late will quickly notice that the sun doesn't exactly set tonight. You don't need much light to guide your way back to the cabins. However, as you make your way through a wooded area, you might get the sensation that you're being... watched. Like there's someone following you in the shadows. Surely that's just your eyes playing tricks on you... right? ]

Comments

[pushdagger]

Yeah, nice. [ well, it's a much better bow than keith could do so clearly noel must know what he's doing! if keith looks impressed, that's because he actually is. at some point someone will have to stop them before this snowballs into something you really don't want mucking up your celebration.

where is lance when you need him? he's actually decent at this sort of coordination. ]

Can you hold and pin that end there? I'm gonna wrap this one around the pole. [ that boy is absolutely about to add some mustard yellow into this mix. ]

[oracledriven]

[No one is around to stop this train from going any further off the rails. Choo-choo, pulling into the cheapo satin ribbon station here. Noel nods in approval at Keith's ribbon choice because, I don't know, they're both colorblind or something???]

Yeah. Got it.

[He pins the end (clumsily, there's a bump of fabric under the end) and surveys what Keith is doing.] What if we twist it as we wrap, so you can see the underside of the fabric?

[The underside happens to be a different shade of green from any they've used before, a sort of sickly lime.]