As you can see, green is happening.

Also there is some purply-pink in the form of a certain rhododendron who lives just outside the boundaries of this particular shot.

But that is not the photograph I want to feature for today’s Show and Tell.

The one I wanted to feature comes with a certain story. Allow me to unveil the setting.

It is yesterday.

About noon.

The sun is shining and it is Maine Spring Warm (MSW), nearly sixty degrees (fahrenheit (I felt the need to clarify)).

I am in my office by the back gardens and notice that I have a message on the house phone.

It is my friend, who is also a lobsterman. He wants me to know that his son is bringing by some really top notch oysters later and do I want some?

I am headed outside, where I won’t have good service, so I e-mail him to let him know that JoHn and I are not big enough fans of oysters to take these great ones away from those who would really appreciate them. I thank him a ton because oysters are a big deal and his offer was very generous.

This comes next:

“Okay! Keep your eye out for the green lobster boat at 5 or 6 tonight. We be in.”

I know what this means.

His lobster boat is being put in the water – this one for its 41st season – and he will be piloting the big boat down the waterway that passes by my house between 5 and 6 tonight.

Awesome!

I make a mental note to have my camera available and text him that I’ll be looking out for him between five and six.

He texts back: “Ok”.

And the day marches on.

Increasing numbers of lobster boats, heavy with their traps, have been passing by our house lately. They slide into and out of our coves, and it’s a sure sign that Memorial Day weekend is nearly upon us.

Summ-ah will follow soon after (aft-ah (and, yes, I can say it that way (I was born next tuh Bah-stun))).

Cap’n Rusty’s boat being put in just adds to the anticipation of The Season.

4:00 found me with a bucket of warm water (mixed with three drops of Dawn dishwashing detergent), a wet cloth soaking in it, and a squeegee – my preferred window washing equipment. I was walking around the screen porch, wiping and squeegee-ing the panels of plexiglass (in place because dogs and low screens don’t mix).

I was keeping an eye on the clock and, by the time I’d finished all the inside and outside of all the panels (and gotten distracted once or twice, of course), it was coming up on 5:00. So I went to get my camera, and make sure it had good battery life (and also that the dang card was in place, because sometimes – and usually when I really want a certain ‘shot’ – it is… somehow… not).

My phone rang.

It was the Captain.

He said he was coming down the Gut (kind of ugly name for a pretty beautiful water channel). I turned to reach for my camera just as I heard him say I might want to bring it to the water’s edge. He said his son was going to be waterskiing behind his boat.

Huh?

Did he say ‘waterskiing‘?

The water – and yes I checked – is 47.7 degrees (yes, fah-ren-heit) right now!

I rushed outside with my camera, big lens at the ready.

Sure enough, a few minutes later, I heard the unmistakeable bub bub bub of a big diesel engine.

And, from around the bend…

Well…

I’ll just show you.

Ha!

Sun shinin’.

Crazy cool boat, crazy cool captain, crazy cool crew.

Crazy cool period.

This, my friends, is how we are kicking off – just a little bit early – this unprecidentedly strange summ-ah season…

On the midcoast of Maine.

Thanks for readin’.

Comments and shares are always appreciated, and you can do that right here (well, not, like, RIGHT here… down there. See?). You can also join fellow ponderers over on the Just Ponderin’ Facebook page (there’s a bit of extra stuff too – from photos to observations to conversations. C’mon over any time!)