The rainbow above shows Burke Mountain (taken from Vermont Mornings HQ) after a few passing showers ahead of a forecast that says we’ll be sun-drenched for the entire weekend.  The Caledonia County Fair is underway, all is well.

It’s Better Here.

Oh, the picture was taken by a Droid X.  Wow.

The Vermont Children’s Theatre is on Darling Hill.  The youngsters are in the middle of their season.

It was, far and away, Lyndonville’s biggest event of the year.  And as the music continues in Bandstand Park, we are already planning Stars & Stripes 2011.

It’s better here.

The gates opened at five p-m, helicopter rides and chairlift rides were a hit.  What’s so funny???

By seven p-m, the base lodge was packed with thousands of people, including a couple of brothers on their way to the soccer pitch.

By nine p-m, there was magic in the skies…and in the air.

And then:

Vermont Fourth continues Saturday at Bandstand Park in Lyndonville with the Burklyn Arts Fair and the 1st Annual Vermont State Fiddle Championship.  Pictures to follow, we’ll see you there!

James Taylor – Summer\’s Here

Summer’s here, I’m for that. Got my rubber sandals, got my straw hat.
Got my cold beer, I’m just glad that it’s here.

Summer’s here, that suits me fine. It may rain today but I don’t mind.
It’s my favorite time of the year and I’m glad that it’s here.

Old man wintertime, he goes so slow. It’s ten degrees below, you know.
You can take your ice and snow, but let my balmy breezes blow.

Yeah, the water’s cold but I’ve been in. Baby, lose the laundry and jump on in.
I mean all God’s children got skin and it’s summer again.

Old man wintertime, he goes so slow. It’s ten degrees below, you know.
You can take your ice and snow, but let my balmy breezes blow.

Summer’s here, I’m for that. Got my rubber sandals, got my straw hat.
Drinking cold beer, man I’m glad that it’s here.
It’s my favorite time of the year and I’m glad that it’s here, yeah.

Summer officially begins at 7:28 Monday morning EDT, but for the last couple of weeks, we’ve been enjoying The Long Days.  The dawn’s early bright suggests itself at about 3:45 AM and if you’re outside at 9:00 PM, you realize that the twilight has lasted longer and longer.  Look northward and the glow you see above lingers until almost 11:00 PM.  It may not be midnight sun, but it’s wonderful and special and worth celebrating.

After tomorrow, amazingly, daylight already begins to get shorter.  But for the past couple of weeks, and for the next couple of weeks, we’re in The Long Days.  And we’re loving every minute of it.

Monday morning at precisely 7:28 AM (see above), we’ll start playing summer songs for a few hours.  Look to the upper left of this page, press LISTEN HERE, and you’re good to go.

And…Happy Father’s Day.  The kids are alright, eh?

The picture above was taken by Magic 97.7′s night guy, Jeff Garfield, on Saturday afternoon, when the weather turned dangerous.  They call them microbursts, they’re sorta like mini-tornadoes.  They were very localized, but they were all around the Northeast Kingdom Saturday afternoon.  The worst damage, besides an actual tornado that tore a roof off a house in Craftsbury, was from Caledonia County Airport across Darling Hill, where two mountain bikers were taken to hospital after being affected by a lightning strike.  (We say affected because we have no word from news  sources with the usual who/what/where/how/why, at least yet) Many two-hundred year old oaks ended their lives within a fifteen minute span that also featured golf-ball sized hail.

The problems covered much of New England, witness this time-lapse shot from Central Connecticut:

Toto?

It’s better here…