Here, we see cumulus clouds conferring over Stonington on May 12, deciding whether to turn themselves into cumulonimbus or cumulus congestus storm clouds and give the old seaport a dowsing.
Our eye can’t help catching the sweeping sheer and remarkably clean buoys and lobster traps of the Fishing Vessel Tsunami, calmly waiting at its mooring that day:
Stonington was settled by Europeans about 1769, relatively late in the colonization of New England. Perhaps this is because it’s on the southern tip of rocky Deer Isle, Maine, where soil is not abundant and the sea winds can blow hard. But, as is obvious from its name, Stonington does have stone -- fine granite that was quarried in the 19th Century and shipped south to become part of many famous buildings and roads.
The granite boom is gone, but lobster fishing is doing well here. The Stonington fleet may be the most successful lobster harvesters in the world. Perhaps the Town name should be changed to Lobsterton. (Stonington, Maine)