Today marks the first full day of summer and in Maine, summer never really begins until the calendar says so.

    Yesterday at around two in the afternoon, the
imaginary line known as the tropic of cancer aligned with the sun (it
wasn't too long ago that people believed it was the sun aligning with
the earth). At approximately 2:06 p.m. the sun began what appears from
earth to be a 182-day swing southward as if it were the weight on a
very large pendulum– just as it did last year, the year before and very
likely will do again next year.

    So it goes, someone once said.

    Tonight as the shadows get long, find a seat facing
the western horizon. As the sun disappears, check your watch and know
that tomorrow it will happen just a little sooner than tonight. Summer
is here and winter is coming.

    But in between we still have those 182 days and in
Maine, like last year and the year before and very likely next year, a
disproportionate number of those 182 days will be the nicest of the
whole year.

    It seems fitting that summer arrives just as the sun
begins to fleet away. Free from anticipation we enjoy today. 

–Ward Peck