Short hot summer

Down the Road A piece
By Milt Gross

This short, hot summer is flying by. Last time I paid attention it was spring. The birds were just arriving in our woods, the tourists were ganging up on us on the highway, and I was feeling just okay after a weird visit with “our” doctor.

I’ll take the weirdest first. I had to have a doctor sign something so I could have my other hip replaced. Someone we knew in Ellsworth said this doctor, Dr. Schmuck I’ll call him had available time. Dr. Schmuck turned out to be strange. If you need a doctor in the Belfast area, I would not recommend Dr. Schmuck.

He didn’t talk to me and later told someone else some strange stuff about me. Hey, I’m not that strange. And I’ve pretty much recovered from my hospital visit after the hip surgery. I just haven’t recovered from Dr. Schmuck. I understand why he had available office time.

The birds have settled down to their daily musical selections, and I heard something big in our woods the other night — probably just a moose.

But you can’t fool me. Pretty soon the birds will be heading south again, along with all those tourists who plug up the highway. The moose will likely hang around.

I feel sorry for all those tourists, who are frantically trying to get to Bar Harbor. I know Acadia National Park is there too and celebrating its 100th year. But those tourists really just want to spend their money in expensive restaurants and stay in motels or campgrounds. (Their parents were doing that years ago, when we used to sit in a parking lot along Route 1 and watch them drive past.)

The best part for me is that I’m still here. Healthy and as dumb as usual, plowing through a short hot summer. But I’m not that dumb. I don’t rush over to Bar Harbor and spend a lot of money. The money part is important, because after being in Maine since 1965, I still don’t have any. I think that happens when you live in Maine.

I go down to our town dock or the town park every so often and just enjoy being there in the quiet. Did you read that? Quiet, quiet in summer at our park and dock. While all those crazies are racing up the highway toward Bar Harbor.

What does Bar Harbor have that we don’t? I won’t go into that except to say they have the crowds of people who race past our little village … and Bar Harbor ends up with their money.

We have Maine — all year.

And we don’t have to rush to get here. Being here comes with the territory.

I still have a good bit of trail walking I’d like to do this summer and visit some state parks to which I haven’t been for years. I was looking at a map – on the computer – the other day of one of those parks.

Boy has that park changed over the years. Or it’s been too many years since I’ve been there. As soon as the weather cools some, we might get back to that park.

And hope we don’t get lost there.

In the meantime, we’re still here. The tourists are still rushing past. The birds are still singing. The moose are still moosing.

And we don’t have to leave Maine.

We can sit by the highway and watch those tourists rush past.

And be glad we don’t have to leave Maine.

Milt Gross can be reached for corrections, harassment, or other purposes at lesstraveledway@roadrunner.com.