May in Maine is usually a month of the occasional wild weather - Spring is still trying to arrive and on some days, Summer steps in for a preview. The April showers of just a few days ago have left behind some large puddles. On my walk today, I wanted to photograph whatever I saw in those puddles. I stopped by a wide, slow flowing stream where clouds and blue sky could be deciphered. Other puddles contained reflections of trees and other colorful plants nearby.
All in all, I thought it was a productive as well as energetic exercise - breathing deep and observing locals performing spring yard chores and other outdoor seasonal rituals. One young guy was clearing out his side yard. There was a wooded area near a stream. He'd been working all day and by this time had a fifteen foot high bonfire of trees and shrubs ablaze. The heat felt good as I passed by on the road.
I was reminded of a book I read about Maine called
"Come Spring". It told of men clearing land from the St. George River area up the banks of Thomaston, and the progress made for the next couple of years every Spring up into the town of Warren as well as the Seven Tree Pond area in Union.
I imagined the hardy men directing their oxen to fell the trees and, in reality, was a bit disappointed in the comparison of this young, somewhat unfit man in a big red tractor just pushing the trees down and uprooting them in an effort to make his yard more "tree-less". The men of the past cleared the land in order to plant crops for food to survive. I walked on by full of thoughts of men of brawn.
On the return trip, I observed an elderly man talking to himself - there was no cell phone apparatus... I checked - and he quickly made up a story as he saw me;
"Spring - this weather - gotta get up the leaves before the bugs come out. It's a good day to do it." "Indeed it is - great attitude," I responded.
I got back just as the first heavy afternoon shower came rolling through. A half an hour later, the sun was back out. About an hour later, things clouded over, gusty winds swept up, and it down-poured some more - and cleared out just as quickly. The last shower of the day was the most incredible. I stopped what I was working on and looked out one set of windows that face the west. The sun was low in the afternoon sky and shining brightly inside. Yet, I could hear the torrential beating of the rain on my roof. Outside, the rain was coming down in huge drops and with the bright sun, gave this shower a phenomenal 3-D effect.
When I turned around and look out my other set of windows in my work space, I was amazed at the brilliance of a double rainbow against the black clouds. It was as if God had photo-shopped them. The rainbow was so close to my location and it seemed too beautiful and colorful to be real!
Until next time,
The happy painter,
Jill
