Finally spring has arrived. This can be noted by the large amount of activity in and around the home. First, the dawn silence is actually loud. It seems that every new couple is chattering, tweeting or singing at levels that would deafen rock stars.
Squirrels, loons and mosquitos are engaging in activity that would make the parson and deacons blush if they let it. It’s summertime.
Days are now longer. By this time most kids are climbing into their buses and hoping that the school year will end sooner than later. The nights are deep with star-filled skies. The long underwear has been buried and the early gardening efforts are beginning. Thoughts now turn to events of summer.
Stories are traded about the fishing hole with two-foot-long trout, and for the newbies, stories of lampreys sucking blood until they explode and black flies that are insatiable. Days are warmer and the weather guy is out of work in the gloom department for a few days. It’s summertime.
This is the time that business developers wipe their chins thinking of benefits to come. Opportunity knocks and it finds a willing neighbor ready to open the door. Space is available. Power supplies are expanding with new solar and wind generators being installed and planned. A new crop of graduates polish shoes and speeches as they seek out adventures in the job market. Weddings and committals fill the calendar. It’s summertime.
Some new projects are begin and and others continue. The grand shuffle of people, jobs and the growth of business cards takes on new power.
An old friend and boss now joins the large group of those who seek family time and space to explore some of these ideas. Northern Maine Community College says goodbye to its proud publicist, Sue Bernard. In countless visits to schools, employers, donors and communities she has pushed the merits of a school that champions what The County has in abundance: bright, dedicated students.
There are those who well remember the calm, collected, well-spoken anchor of Channel Eight news. Having worked for five years in the early part of her public career, her determination to produce a newscast of quality and depth inspired many. A stickler for grammar and storytelling, she guided many colleagues into furthering their careers, building relationships that continue to link the local communities with the larger state and national issues.
To this day she remains humble and proud of a place she calls home. That is the very ideal of what it means to grow up in The County. May it continue.
Orpheus Allison is a photojournalist living in The County who graduated from UMPI and earned a master of liberal arts degree from the University of North Carolina. He began his journalism career at WAGM television later working in many different areas of the US. After 20 years of television he changed careers and taught in China and Korea.
