I saw a firefly Saturday night.

It said summer. So did the people fishing and swimming in a nearly still Sheepscot River past Alna's Head Tide Dam Saturday.

So did the great blue heron further down, just being. It was looking about gracefully, occasionally changing its posture and, after several minutes, choosing another rock to stand on. More minutes passed and in an instant, the tall creature flew away.

Summer is here.

It is in the fliers posted for St. Philip's Episcopal Church's Strawberry Festival in Wiscasset June 30 and in the lines at Red's Eats and the off and on backup or crawl of traffic heading into the village. It’s in Wiscasset's July 4 plans, a press release Lucia Droby emailed us last week about the Wiscasset Art Walk, and in a Business After Hours gathering where Wiscasset Area Chamber of Commerce announced this year’s concerts on the common.

Summer was at Ames True Value Supply's Father's Day cookout Saturday and at a cookout Bible Baptist Church further north on Route 1 had the night before. It was in the softball game that followed.

It’s in the mosquitoes that know sunset and the moths drawn to the deck light. It is in the early sunrise that declares every day, the cold, short days of winter with its hard walking are long past.

Summer is in the lupines Phil Di Vece found at Sortwell Farm.

It is all around us, at last.