Monday, May 14, 2012

Maine in the Middle of May

Southern Maine is damp today.  It isn't raining, just damp.  I know that because the patio is dark in some places, and almost white in others.   It's cool enough for the dampness to collect in low spots.   I could have discerned the dampness without even looking out the window.   The paper in the printer is soft and slow going through the rollers.   My hair is limp and my toes ache.   Yup, true indications of dampness.

The lilacs are out.   Beautiful purple ( mine are quite dark) plumes of tiny honey filled blossoms.  One of God's truly artistic creations. All traces of the forsythia are gone, even the fallen blossoms.   Of course, the "ground crew" came around a few days ago with their indiscriminate machines taking everything up that isn't pegged down.  I don't miss the dandelions, but the mat of yellow was sort of pretty beneath the forsytha.

The tulips and hyacynths are gone.   We now wait for the second wave of whatever we planted last year, or maybe we've put in some new annuals just for the color.   My butterfly bushes, the beautiful purple on and the not so beautiful white one (barely shows against my white siding) are up several inches and showing promise.  The foxglove is up eight inches so we can expect to see blossoming early on those.   The roses are all leaf at this point.  

I drove the 35 or so miles to Raymond Hill yesterday (Mother's Day) and was privileged to see the sky dotted with hawks all along the way.   Beautiful free birds.  They don't seem to need an "updraft" like seaguls.   A few flaps of their wings allows them to soar up and down in enviously graceful swoops.   ALthough the trip takes me through a section of the Gray Game Preserve, I have never seen a deer on that trip.    Maybe next time.   YOu have to love Maine in May.

jmajor2@maine.rr.com

Saturday, May 5, 2012

Sunshine and dandelions

After several days of rain - off and on, but mostly on - the sun has come out and the dandelions are loving it.   Newly seeded section of the back lawn looks promising. Butterfly bushes both front and back, have new green shoots and the western honeysuckle by the fence has grown four inches nearly over night.   You can't kill that western honeysuckly, you know.  The ground crew has mowed it over, the high winds have blown it and the trellis it grew on, over.  At that point I cut the trellis, vine and and all the little shoots off at ground level.  And there it is again.   Of course, the trellis is gone so I wil l have to do something about that before long.

I had cataract surgery in both eyes recently.  I don't exactly see any better, although, I now have 20/20 vision without glasses which means I don't need them for driving.   I do see a difference in colors, which everyone said I would.  Greens are greener and blues are bluer.   A beautiful sky above the greening of the maples and aspens, and the rusty buds on the oak make the world a better place.

My Wheaton, Nick, is sick and not moving about much so I haven't been to Yarmouth.
I haven't seen what the rocks are doing - yes they do things - they weep and change color with the seasons; their striation shows as seasons change.   The ones I see have been fractured by the encroaching highway, and there are pieces which drop off, exposing other facets.  Little sprouts of green spring up in the cracks.   Some prevail and  become bonafide plants, others die from the lack of nourishment and drop off.  The big ones make the cracks bigger as their roots take hold and then water gets in and the ice in winter makes the crack wider. There are large pine trees growing from the rock crevices where you would not believe there would be enough support to keep them upright.

Tourists are appearing on weekends.    Campers are coming in to get hooked up for summer; cottage owners are opening and airing their homes, getting water, lights, telephone back in place.   Some will find the red squirrels (maybe even grays and chippies) have taken winter refuge at their expense.  Once when we opened our cottage we found a flock of dead birds that had come down the Franklin stove chimney which SOMEONE had neglected to seal off. 

Happy Cinco de Mayo - to all of our Mexican friends.  Kennebunk Maine is holding an annual festival today with a parade of LIttle Leaguers, Cub Scouts, Blue Birds, 4-Hers and the drum and bugle brigade in their serapes and sombreros.   

May is a good time in Maine, when the rain stops, the sun comes out and the thermometer stretches to 55 degrees.  

jmajor2@maine.rr.com