Notes from Maine - 2026/06/07
We had another fun week up here in Maine. It passed way too quickly, which is always the danger this time of year. When I was a little kid, Saturday mornings were tricky. Getting up before 7 on a Saturday was far too early. The house would be quiet and it had to stay that way. Nobody wanted to be disturbed so I would have to get my cereal without making a peep. Then what? Cartoons didn’t start until 7 so all that time was wasted. But waking up any time after 9 was no good either. Sure, the Bugs Bunny & Roadrunner show was on, but that was a zombie-trance that would wear on until the clock had double-digits in the hour. Anything after 9am was bright, sweaty time, even in the basement with the big TV.
Sometimes, now, I wonder what happened in my brain during those long TV trances. Eyes wide, jaw probably hanging open, I would watch the same cartoons that I had seen a thousand times. The good ones were seven minutes. The dialog between Bugs and Daffy, or Elmer, or Porky would play out in my head a second or two before the characters said the words. Some things were a foreign language that I learned only through context. What does “Sufferin' succotash” actually mean? Daffy Duck might say, “What a nimrod.” Bugs might say, “What an ultra-maroon.” I figured those were common insults. It didn’t occur to me that “maroon” was a malapropism of “moron.”
According to the internet, “nimrod” used to mean that someone was a great hunter. In 1934, W. C. Fields used nimrod derisively towards his caddy in You’re Telling Me. Daffy called Elmer a nimrod in 1948—he was being sarcastic, but by the time I saw it I didn’t know the word had any other meaning than just, “This guy is an idiot.”
I sat there, churning through my Saturday morning, and absorbed it all without thought. It was glorious and the time passed way too quickly.
It’s exactly the same way now with the month of June. Before June 20, I’ll be thinking, “Well, we haven’t even gotten to the really long day yet.” In a week or so, the birds will start chirping before 4am, and by the end of the month it will be light out until 9pm. I love those incredibly long days but I have to be careful. If I don’t pay attention, they’re gone as quickly as they came. By July, when it’s hot, dry, and summer is charging ahead, I will lament that I forgot to relish June.
My favorite Bugs cartoons were, “What’s Opera, Doc?” (everyone’s favorite) and “The Rabbit of Seville.” Of course, “Hair-Raising Hare” was also right at the top of my list. That one had the big orange monster who Bugs has to trick over and over to avoid being eaten. “Monsters are such interesting people.” I still say that to the horses whenever they’re being monstrous. The problem with those Saturday morning cartoon shows was that they would routinely hack and slash the cartoons to fit their time budget. If you’re watching “Hair-Raising Hare” and it’s less than 7 minutes, you’re being ripped off. I could watch them now any time I would like, but I don’t think I can drop into that same trance state to a TV show anymore. I can fall into a trance while I’m writing, or while I’m working with my hands, but TV no longer hypnotizes me. That feels like a skill I’ve lost. It was the purest meditation. I wasn’t fully paying attention to the screen—there was never anything new there—but I could just shut down my brain and let the river of consciousness flow. Adults thought we were turning our brains to mush or just wasting time. It was both of those things, but I think it was also important. Those unconscious states are when deep connections are made, knitting together stray ideas that will eventually turn into insight or even wisdom.
At least that’s my defense of cartoon-watching now, looking back. At the time I felt guilty for having wasted my Saturday morning. I guess I should have been asleep, like everyone else. I’m not wasting this June. I got up at 4am, thinking that it was already 7. The light is tricky right now. On a rainy morning the sky is the same shade of gray from dawn until noon. I went back to sleep and woke up again at a more reasonable hour. I will not waste this June.
