In our 2021 Explore Maine, we want to share with you some art, a great summer road trip playlist with songs suggested by NRCM members and supporters, and some tips for making your yard wildlife-friendly.
Art
“Looking South from the Bubbles” by Rick Osann
Looking South from the Bubble
Artist: Rick Osann, Bar Harbor
“Like so many in Maine, my wife and I love the outdoors—hiking, biking, gardening, and, yes, painting. We moved to Bar Harbor two years ago to be close to Acadia National Park, where our lives could be focused on being outside. After years of teaching art and theatre in the Portland area, I’m loving being able to focus on painting. The first thing I look for as a painting subject is the quality of light. For me, painting is all about the light. I love to explore the color variation of sunlight and shadows, the quiet gray haze of a cloudy or foggy day, the reflections of clouds and the shoreline on still water, and the intense blue of the shadows across the snow on a sunny winter day. Every painting is a discovery, of color relationships, of watercolor techniques, and a chance to share with others the special feeling of being out in our beautiful Maine landscape.” See more of Rick’s work at www.rickosann.com.
Wildlife-friendly Tips for Your Yard
Are you interested in making your yard more wildlife-friendly? Here are a few easy steps you and your family can take at your home to provide a little more habitat for Maine’s wildlife.
Tree Swallows, by Tony Nazar
Plant Native Plants
Plants that occur naturally in Maine provide food, shelter, and nesting habiting for native birds and other creatures. They require less water and fuss, and help keep soils in place. You may know monarch butterflies use milkweed, but did you know serviceberry is the larval plant for eastern tiger swallowtail?
Shrink Your Lawn Manicured grass is not welcoming to wildlife. Maintaining less lawn (or not mowing at all) allows native plants to take hold and provide wildlife habitat.
Avoid Chemicals Fertilizers, herbicides, pesticides, and other chemicals kill bees and also fungi and other organic matter that make soil and plants healthy.
Create a Brush Pile Don’t trash fallen tree limbs! Find a place in your yard to pile them up. Brush piles provide wildlife with shelter during storms and a place to hide from predators such as roaming cats.
Keep Cats Indoors Cats are not native to the landscape and kill billions of birds annually. Keeping cats inside (or on a harness) is safer for cats and wildlife.
Put Up a Bat House Providing a nest box for the right species in the right place is a great way to help wildlife. But don’t forget bats! They’re nature’s insecticides, eating tons of mosquitos and other insects. Yet bat populations have experienced sharp declines. You can help by providing a bat house.
Old Trees, Leave Them Be Old trees are natural bird feeders, attracting woodpeckers that drill for insects and grubs.
Garden for Birds & Pollinators A garden with flowers in bloom from spring to fall will provide a steady source of food for bees, butterflies, and birds. Remember to keep them native: Hummingbirds love cardinal flowers. Penstemon, goldenrod, and asters attract bees. Butterflies and moths frequent primrose.
Summer Road Trip Playlist
Enjoying Maine’s great outdoors is a great way to spend time in the summer. Now, getting to those special places can also be part of the fun, thanks to our Summer Road Trip Playlist, created by our members! Find the song list on Spotify at https://tinyurl.com/NRCMplaylist.
Not on Spotify? Here’s our full list:
Joy to the World (Jeremiah was a bullfrog) by Three Dog Night
Sweet Caroline by Neil Diamond
Going Up the Country by Canned Heat
Where I Go by Natalie Merchant
Turning toward the Morning by Gordon Bok
Águas De Março (Waters Of March) by Antonio Carlos Jobim & Elis Regina
The Reach by Dan Fogelberg
Mountains to the Sea by Dan Fogelberg
Mrs. MacDonald’s Lament by Gordon Bok
On the Road Again by Canned Heat
The House on Vine Street by The Greencards
Lodestar by Sarah Harmer
The Outdoor Type by The Lemonheads
Come Walk with Me by Walkin’ Jim Stoltz
If I Were a Tree by Walkin’ Jim Stoltz
Have to Have a Habitat by Walkin’ Jim Stoltz
This Land is Your Land by Woodie Guthrie
Feeling Groovy by Simon & Garfunkel
The Long and Winding Road by The Beatles
Walking Blues by Playing for Change
Carey by Joni Mitchell
Light Shine by Jesse Colin Young
Wider Circles by Rising Appalachia
Acadian Driftwood by Shawn Colvin
Get Together by Lizz Wright
That Bird by The Teskey Brothers
Resilient (Full Band) by Rising Appalachia
Blue Sky by The Allman Brothers Band
Catfish John by Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
Country Comfort by Elton John
Goin’ to Brownsville by North Mississippi Allstars
Hey World (Don’t Give Up) by Michael Franti
Like a Seed by Kenny Rankin
Sometimes by Kenny Rankin
The Long Way Around by Jackson Browne
Waiting on the World to Change by Taj Mahal & Keb Mo’
Cattails by Big Thief
Takin’ Off by Adam Ezra Group
Light of a Clear Blue Morning by Dolly Parton
Summer by War
Summer’s Cauldron by XTC
Saturday in the Park by Chicago
The Lobster License Plate Song by Jan Harmon
Subplots by Jack Johnson
Mony, Mony by Billy Idol
Unchained Melody by the Righteous Brothers
Let It Be by The Beatles
I Am I Said by Neil Diamond
Music of the Night from Phantom of the Opera
Special thanks to these members who sent in their favorite road trip songs: Richard Collins, Amanda Dwelley, Miriam Gibely, Diana Hauser, Mary Hewitt, Steve Hoad, Lisa Kelley, Vin Lawrence, Steve Miller, Ann Pedreschi, Peter Simmons, Mariana Tupper, Charles Walcott, and Deb Wade. We look forward to tuning in!
Banner art: Looking South from the Bubble by Rick Osann
