Maine in August

Maine in August is very green. The evergreen tips have all matured and there is very little "coming in" right now. It has been unusually hot and somewhat dry for the past several days which means some of the green is turning a nice gold. However, a good rain will bring color back yet again until fall really sets in.

The daylight is shorter, of course, but most evenings are lovely and cool. The lakes will cool quickly with the cooler nights, and the summer vacationers with kids will begin to drift back to their "school zones." My own grandson, the youngest, is heading out soon for Ohio State. (Much too far away, in my way of thinking.) He stops by often to see me on his way home from the local race track where he is a ticket seller or teller or whatever they call them now. Perhaps because he always knew he would go to college, or maybe because he is just a very confident kid, he doesn't seem to have all the excited angst I expected.

Anyway, back to Maine in August. There is a lot of political bustling. We will go to the polls in November to elect a new governor; ours is term limited out. And not too soon, I might add. I really don't know what he has done that has been outstandingly good or bad. But I am all for the 8-year rule. He won't be among the unemployed, I am sure. We will also, along with the rest of the country, take a long look at our Congressional Representatives. If Maine goes for "kick the bums out" it will be interesting to see who gets in. Dean Scontras is hoping to unseat Chellie Pingree. I am hoping Dean will succeed. I am one of those dissatisfied people who got invited to participate in a telephone town hall, was told I was "next in the queue" and waited while several people got in and Ms. Pingree recited LOOOOOONG pat answers, which served mostly to tell what she had done for us. Thanks but no thanks.

The fairs are starting up, beginning with the "up-state" ones. The Common Ground Fair is one I have always thought I would attend, but, alas, now that I am old and my knees complain when I expect them to trek overly long, I will probably never get there.
I will hope perhaps to get to the Cumberland Fair which is one of the last in the state.
The Acton Fair is a smaller agri-fair. I am not much for oxen-pulling or rabbit raising.
But actually, I do like the roosters with their fancy headdress and foot "feathers."

Maine still has a lot of summer camps for kids. With schools opening earlier every year (or so it seems) they will be winding up their activities. Two lake beaches ( a beach is at the ocean, in my vocab, but fresh water fans call those yellow stretches of shore "the beach") have had to close this year because of e-coli contamination which the health authorities attribute to soiled diapers being improperly disposed of. But don't panic. Maine has hundreds of those "beaches" so if fresh water is your choice, just keep moving on until you come to on.

Cool night, warm days, the quince bushes are dropping their leaves exposing the bitter fruit (looks like an apple but - whoooeee! - are they sour), bee balm, asters, late roses.
Maine is lovely in August.

jem