The arrival of August always leaves me feeling like the low gas indicator on my dashboard suddenly lit up. It is a jarring reminder about the finite quality of summer.
As I’m writing this, I’m preparing to head to Limestone to celebrate my 40th high school reunion. Forty years is a long time, but not enough time to erase my August panic. In agrarian Aroostook County, in order to offset the weeks spent attending to the potato harvest in September and October, August 1 signaled the two week warning for the beginning of another school year. Although completely irrelevant to my current life, my brain still sends an alert message to my adrenal glands every time I flip the page of my calendar to August.
After the initial shock wears off, I begin to relax and enjoy what is arguably one of the most wonderful months of the year. The recipe for August is a careful blend of leisure and adventure. It is one part relaxing in an Adirondack chair watching the loons glide by, and one part hiking to the top of that mountain you’ve been yearning to explore for years. August is the sound of crickets and katydids; it is the smell of campfires and s’mores; it is the taste of foraged blueberries and sour apples; it is the dampness of dew in the morning and the heat of the sun in the afternoon. It is the month for carefree family celebrations before everyone scatters to more serious endeavors.
The best way to serve up August is outdoors. Not simply being outside, but being fully and consciously immersed in the amazingness of Maine’s stellar natural resources. Life’s most precious experiences are greatly amplified by the context of where they take place. This is the attraction of Maine. Which is better? Sitting inside a condo eating microwaved s’mores, or gathering around a campfire on a pristine lake, as you listen to the banter and laughter of your family while they toast marshmallows over brightly burning pine logs – all superimposed with the intermittent sounds of wailing loons and a “who cooks for you” Barred Owl? Oh, and don’t forget the Perseid meteor showers shooting across the dark dome above your head.
I know which scenario I choose. It’s the same that countless others have chosen for generations — and it brings people to Maine from around the globe.
Never take the magic of August in Maine for granted. This is what Maine Audubon is all about. We share your love for “best-day-of-my-life” experiences in Maine’s great outdoor places. We’re naturalists and educators that help you truly understand and take delight in all of the magic going on around you. We’re scientists who cheerfully involve you, as citizen scientists, in our work to steward and study Maine’s wildlife and habitat, and we’re your partner in advocating for and taking action on behalf of Maine’s precious natural resources. Together with you, we’re keeping Maine, Maine – and making it more amazing every day.
Make Maine Audubon part of your amazing August!
