By Sheila Dassatt
This article came with a lot of careful thought to our way of life on the Coast of Maine. We have a very short summer here on the Coast, with most of it being a lot of hard work and very little play. This year has especially been a tough year. It seems that the cold weather, wind and rain has almost gone almost the “year round.” We have also had rain every weekend since March, which is also quite a record for inclement weather. This has slowed down the planting season for those that plant their own vegetables and has also made it very difficult to get our boat that are sitting in the boat yards ready. A lot of them or should I say most of them need sanding and painting at least for the bottom paint and the trim. I really feel sorry for the ones that are trying to get a wooden boat ready for the season. When they get wet like this, they need to dry out before you can even put a paint brush to it. So this season has had a slow start for sure.
June has been a slow month for getting our gear ready and overboard, there isn’t a whole lot of available good bait yet and the lobsters are starting slow. The talk is that we may have an old fashioned start to the lobster season which is traditionally around the 4th of July. I always said that the 4th of July is usually wicked hot and humid, which I call summer, the shedders start showing up and then “that’s it, that was our summer!” After the 4th of July, we start moving toward shorter days and the sun is shifting in the sky toward the “end.”
Now I’m not trying to pain gloom and doom around here, we just need to make the most of our season the best that we can. With this being said, we have had our run of rhubarb, lilacs and now the beautiful lupins that are painting the fields right now. This is also strawberry picking time when everyone is making the most of going to a local farm and picking all the strawberries that we can. July is the time for enjoying strawberry shortcake and strawberry rhubarb pie. Yum, I can taste them now!
After the strawberries show up, so do the best lobsters of the season. They seem to go hand in hand. There’s nothing better than the delicate and sweet taste of a lobster feed with new shell lobsters, corn on the cob and fresh strawberry shortcake with lots of whipped cream. I admit, we do like to eat around here and have some of the best seafood in the land. After this, the tiger lilies start to blossom, which is our indicator that July is almost over and we’re headed for August. The beauty of our way of life is the exact order of our wildflowers, seafood and fresh fruit and vegetables. But, we also try to fit as much as we can in a short time of the year. There’s more family picnics, class reunions, family reunions and last but not least, lobster boat races. We try to cram so much of these functions in during our few off days that when the fall shows up, we’re ready for the slow down. Then the fairs start ramping up such as the Blue Hill Fair, Union Fair, Celtic Festival, Fryeburg Fair, and so on. Who loves the horse pulling with those beautiful draft horses that the owners are so proud of? The horses themselves are also proud of their beauty and achievements.
There are also a lot of cruising and classic car shows in the area in the summer and fall. There’s nothing more fun and camaraderie than sharing those classic muscle cars and playing the music of the 60’s and 70’s. Some towns still allow the line up and cruise through the village, which is also quite something to see…..they just don’t make cars as beautiful as these any more. The kids love to hop in and take that ride through town with their grandparents in one of these cars. It does them proud to ride through town and wave to the onlookers.
By the end of the summer, generally August, it’s time for our beloved blueberry season! The Union Fair was always celebrated as the Maine Blueberry Festival. They also celebrate Moxie there! There’s nothing better than all of those blueberry pies washed down with a cold bottle of Moxie, our Maine soft drink. I know that Moxie is an acquired taste, but once you get used to it, it has a taste all of it’s own. It used to be medicinal but now, it still will settle your stomach if you have a little upset. I always kept it around just for that purpose. A lot of folks from away will come here and take Moxie home with them because it’s hard to find it once you leave the state.
I know that I’m kinda going down memory lane, but this is our way of life here. I guess I need to sit back and not take it for granted and see it through the eyes of our visitors who come here to “get away from it all.” That’s all fine and dandy, as long as they leave a little space for those of us who live here year round. We really have to earn our free time and have such a short time to enjoy it. Let’s enjoy and have a better understanding of us locals that work so hard for all of these gifts that we share!
