It's the third full week in May and, I think, we can finally welcome spring. The calendar said spring began way back on March 20, but Mother Nature just kept on pouring on the rain and cold weather -- an extended winter, if you will. It's great to see the sunshine, feel the warm temperatures and discover the flowers blooming again.

And welcome back to our visitors and part-time residents. Seeing more out-of-state license plates of late reminds us that summer can't be far away. Homes, cottages and cabins are being opened and getting prepared for the onslaught of family gatherings during our warmest months, and weekend visitors have been here for a few weeks looking for something to do.

Welcome seasonal restaurant owners. May is a month when many of our larger restaurants open for the season. And thank you to the restaurants which stayed open year-round, which gave us locals at least some places to dine after raking leaves, shoveling snow and filling the oil tanks one more time before we shut the furnaces off for the summer.

Welcome to our visitors who arrive by sea, or who bring their boats to fill our harbors. Once again it's nice to look out and see our harbors being used, the moorings being filled and the marinas looking more like marinas rather than the skeletal landscape of slips, floats and pilings.

Welcome to our newcomers -- both visitors and new residents. Hopefully you'll love this part of Maine and want to spread the word of how great it is here. Watching the news this morning made me more thankful that I live in Maine and not somewhere along "Tornado Alley."

And welcome back the sounds of spring provided by birds.

It was a pretty quiet winter.