Dave Anderson highlights a unique North Country trait.

Summer solstice on June 21 was the meteorological "first day" of summer. The unofficial start was a month earlier on Memorial Day. That's a good thing because to classic rural New Englanders, solstice marks not the longest day of summer, but the beginning of the end! 

Sorry for the buzz-kill, but the days are already getting shorter. That wry "glass is half empty" resolute approach to Northern life is truly an acquired skill. If you assume the worst, you won't ever be disappointed and might even be pleasantly surprised!

Compared to long, cold winter nights following a 4 pm sunset, the next 2 months still feature 25% more daylight each day than a typical early winter day. Sunlight is THE “coin of the realm.” The current high tide of sunlight from 5:30 am to 8:30 pm is a 15-hour jackpot! We experience an all-too-brief floodtide of sunlight when even dour yankees grin, slap their thighs and wave their arms with joy… perhaps that’s just mosquitoes?

Recall the parable of the ant and grasshopper? Industrious ant gathered food all summer to survive the coming winter. Lazy grasshopper chirped and playing his fiddle in the sun instead of working. I’m reminded of the tale each June when some woods-wise and weather-worn neighbor teases: "Days are gettin' shorter now. Winter’s coming”

And with a raised eyebrow: “Got your wood all split and stacked?”

Before you squander a single summer day, enjoy the late twilight, breathe deep the floral-perfumed, warm summer air… Take poet Dylan Thomas' sage advice: "Do not go gentle into that good night. Rage, rage against the dying of the light”