In Brooklin, Maine
June was named by the Romans in honor of Juno, their goddess of marriage and eternal youth. And, in Maine, the month is true to those sentiments: June is a time for marriages and for youthful states of mind. Astronomically, summer begins at June's solstice, the 21st. Weather-wise, however, it’s not that simple here: spring is short and summer always begins suddenly and gloriously at some unpredictable time in June. We find out that summer has returned when we forget winter and begin to feel younger by just looking out the window.
In June, the fallow fields here seem to erupt with wild flowers overnight.
Among these are luminous wild Lupines (“Lew-Pins”), a signature legume here that ancient peoples cultivated for its edible beans.
Bashful Wild ("Blue Flag") Irises can be found hiding among other flowers and grasses in the fields.
The June gardens burst with early-blooming perennials and annuals, including startling red-orange Poppies and soothing magenta Peonies.
June is when sailboats are loosed upon the clear waters of Brooklin’s Great Cove to hunt for wind in sun and fog.
Picturesque schooners begin to arrive in the Cove in June. Ironically, the business of these sparkling windjammers is taking well-off summer tourists sightseeing. This is quite different from the desperately hard and dangerous journeys that schooners originally took around here. In their time, these ships’ holds and decks often were overloaded with granite, coal, wood, and other commodities; they sailed in all seasons, and, sometimes, they were covered in grime and ice. But not today.
After terrestrial winter vacations, many lobster boats are returned to their element in June to work the sea hard for six months or so.
By about mid-June, the big deciduous trees are in full leaf and their branches reach out to each other, creating a high canopy over the woods. Where once full sun lit up the trails, there now is dappled light that dances to the wind’s tunes. One can find serenity here just by being still and letting it seep in.
June also is when Black Bears discover and destroy bird feeders. We’ve come to rationalize this as nature’s way of letting us know that it’s time to stop feeding our feathered friends so that they can concentrate on propagating wild flowers and gulping insects.
It's also the time when White Tail Does give birth well within the woods, where they hide and nurse their fawns two to three times a day.
And there’s much more to June. The short virtual tour of moments that we'll use to help us remember the month can be viewed by clicking the link below. We recommend that your initial screening be a full-frame slideshow. (To make that happen, click on the Slideshow button [>] above the featured [largest] image on the gallery page to which the link will take you.) Here's the link:
https://leightons.smugmug.com/Maine/Out/June-Postcards-From-Maine/i-KcQrTZ5
Cheers,
Barbara and Dick