Today we begin our summer term at the field school with the Summer Woodsman course, followed next week with the Canoe Expedition Skills course. After a short break for the 4th of July, we move into the 4-week Wilderness Canoe Expedition Semester. It’s a busy summer schedule.

But it doesn’t feel much like summer in northern Maine today. We have a projected high temperature of 45. It’s always about 5 degrees cooler at the field school than in town where they get the local temperature for the internet apps, though. As I’m writing this, it says it feels like 39 degrees F. In case you didn’t see the date of this post, it is June 19th. But I’ll happily take a day like today as a respite from the black flies and mosquitos as they tend to stay home when the temperatures get into the very lower 50’s. It’s all the more interesting because I’m reading about how most of the country is sweltering under an oppressive heat wave. We’re just trying to keep things from freezing!

The other thing with regard to the natural world around here this time of year is the hours of daylight. First light today was at 4:02am, with a sunrise at 4:41am. Last light is at 9:09pm. That’s a long day. When people think of Maine, they realize how far north it is, but not how far east it is. We’re right on the eastern edge of the time zone, hence the early mornings this time of year. It all balances out, though, as the days in December are pretty short.

Photo is of one of the neighbors hanging out at the top of a tree on the edge of the water.