What "sorcerer's ritual" does Douglas perform, and where does he perform it?

It is a quiet morning – the first morning of summer. Twelve-year-old Douglas Spaulding wakes up in his grandparents’ third-story bedroom tower (he’s allowed to spend one night a week there) and marvels at this day. He is ready for his ritual. He stands and looks out over the town and begins to summon lights to come on, people to wake, the sun to rise. He smiles that this will be a fine season. It is the summer of 1928 and it has just begun.