Summer Breeze

As I write this rendition of the summer of 2021, I’m reminded of the Seals & Croft song, ♫ ♪ “Summer Breeze”. ♪ ♫ Yes! It was a nice summer. I’m still alive. In Maine, summer nights are short, sun sets around 9 pm and is rising above the horizon long before 5 am. As the summer wanes toward fall, nights quickly grow and by September 20^th, night and day are equal.

Summer on Pleasant Pond

Because of only about 3 months of summer, we hope for a lot of good weather. June started off great! Dry, sunny and relatively warm weather greeted us to a great start. Farmers started to whine as did others who worried about the looming drought. No need to fear mother nature was here!

Rain came. And came. And came some more. Most of July was pretty wet and the crops were saved. To give you an idea, by June 30^th we were 7 inches behind in our yearly total. By the end of July we made up more than 3”. We were still in drought conditions but July was a wet month. August and September were average months but October began to resemble July. Not in heat but in moisture. Ground water was restored and wells were spared. Life was good for all in Maine.

Pictures from Maine

Pictures from a Maine summer

How did that plan in our adventures? I had my health issues. Deb kept us on track, helping my friends in both Leeds and Rumford. For some crazy reason, I thought getting back into football refereeing was a good idea (I love football). And October is when I put food away for our long trek south: dried apples, fruit leather, and beef jerky. Thanks to my good friends Brett and Mike, I was able to supplement our local food supply with Livermore (Maine) Maple syrup. All of a sudden, we were headed back to Florida.

Barring the health issues of me and my friends, it was a pretty uneventful summer. The good: spending time with my good friend Rick in Rumford. There, I was able to see some of my old colleagues and my brother and his family. Spending time with my good friend Owen in Leeds and visiting my old colleagues and sister in the Turner area. And spending time with family at the family camp on Pleasant Pond. The Pink Camp is a favorite in family folklore. My grandmother and mother would be proud on how the Camp is used by the extended family. It’s great for the soul.

Now for the bad. Covid has devastated us! Besides a dozen friends and family getting sick (of the ones I know), my brother-in-law died from it in October. My cousin’s husband is on a ventilator. A colleague in Rumford died last week from it. And it influenced many of us who protected ourselves from the deadly disease but the disease still found a way to profoundly affect us. My friend in Rumford was not able to get the care he needed because the hospital was full …of Covid patients. My friend in Leeds had his heart operation postponed twice. He finally got in. I continue to have health issues because …you guessed it… hospital facilities unavailable because of Covid patients. And the majority of patients are there by choice. They refused the vaccine.

Nevertheless, life goes on. Everyday is a gift. My advice is: Enjoy today. The glass is half full.

An assistant principal use to tell his students every day over the intercom, “Today is the first day of the rest of your life, make it a great one!” So the adventure continues …

Some have been here too long

Sights of our trips …more to come!

STAY TUNED! More “tales from the campah”!

Please comment (and share to facebook, twitter, instagram, other social media) (campahedu@gmail.com)