Summer Solstice

One of the pleasures of being in the North at this time of year is the extended daylight. The sun reached its most northerly declination (solstice) and the longest day of the year about a week ago (about 15-1/2 hours). At this more northerly latitude, the length of twilight and the duration of sunsets and sunrises is also extended because the sun intersects the horizon at a more acute angle (about 50% longer in Yarmouth, ME than in Houston, TX).

Sunset from Pulpit Harbor, ME (2007). This spectacular sunset seemed to go on forever. I took more than 50 images over at least an hour. In 2007 the sunsets seemed to have much more color than in more recent years.

At 4:30 AM when I started writing this post, it was already light enough to see things clearly. The birds had begun their "dawn chorus" (I heard 5 species before 5:00 AM). We are not normally early risers, but on the boat we tend to go to bed and arise with the sun. The quiet time between twilight and sunrise is almost magical. Few other people are up, and I can be alone with my thoughts and the bird songs.

Sunrise in the Royal River Boatyard, Yarmouth, ME 5:30am 06/25/2010. Just the birds and I were up.

Home on the Hard

The view from the deck of our "home" in the boatyard at Royal River

We have been here almost a week now working on the boat, with probably a week to go before we get in the water.  We have a couple of big projects to do including installing an electric anchor windlass (a concession to age and infirmity).   The surroundings are scenic and the boat is comfortable, rather like an RV campground, with showers and bathroom a few steps away.  The toughest part is climbing a 12-foot ladder.  But we don't have to worry about the anchor dragging in a blow.

Perhaps the best part is the friends that are here working on their boats or who, with their boats already launched, have stopped by to say hello.  Spring fitting out in Maine is different than just working in a boatyard in warmer climates.  Many other boat owners are  here painting, varnishing, etc. and a sort of camaraderie and sharing of experience develops.   Many of the same people we met and enjoyed in past years are here again.

 

Along the waterfront at the boatyard.

The surroundings of the yard are also unusually scenic with the opposite banks of the river completely wooded, and a nature preserve just down river.   In the morning and evening we have also seen many different bird species including osprey fishing the river, ducks, great blue herons, yellow warblers, northern rough-winged swallows, goldfinches, several kinds of sparrows and many red-winged blackbirds.

At the boat in Maine

We arrived yesterday (Friday 4th) on a beautiful clear warm day (70deg not typical early June in ME).  Now moved onto the boat in the yard.  It is a rainy weekend so we left the winter shrink-wrap cover on.  120VAC power, the batteries and charger/inverter hooked up, and refrigeration working.  On the hard, it's like living in an RV, except for having to climb a 10' ladder.  But, it seems more like home than the apartment.  Now we are just getting things organized aboard.  It looks like we will be here 10 days or so working on the boat.

 

Near Earlville, NY

 

We had a good trip from Atlanta via I-77, I-81 to Harrisburg, PA then on US-15 north to Corning, NY an Ithaca where we stopped at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the Sapsucker Woods Bird Sanctuary.  The next day on 2-lane blacktop roads across Central NY near where I grew up.  Everything is so green there in early June.  The trees are freshly leafed out, the grass is still green, and first hay being mowed.