This is the time when pundits and pranksters remind you of milestones you would rather forget.
The same group, queens, presidents and popes usually take a minute to scold you for your…
Columns
The next Senior Center supper will be Wednesday, Jan. 5 at 5 p.m. The menu will be French onion soup, salad, garlic bread, spaghetti and meatballs and, for dessert, rice pudding…
Where It’s At
I just can’t seem to resist a story trail and Boothbay Region Land Trust’s one-mile, family reading trail is just the right length – when it’s 20F!
This read is about a cardinals couple “…
A Bird’s Tale
As we all scurry around to find wonderful gifts for our families and friends this holiday season, we hope that you will also find some time to give back to the birds that fill our lives with joy…
’Round Town
We got our first measurable snow this past weekend. Not a huge dump, maybe five inches here on Southport. It started to snow in the late afternoon, light fluffy stuff. But when it…
Joe’s Journal
One of the great joys of Christmas is a chance to sit in the dark enjoying the dancing lights and sparkling bobbles that turn a small fir tree into an object of wonder.
It gives us the…
From the Maine Senate
The holidays are here once again. After a difficult two years, I find myself appreciating even more deeply all that this season has to offer. The…
The next Senior Center supper will be Wednesday, Jan. 5. Doors open at 4:30; cost is $10 for members, $12 for non-members. Please call to reserve your meal by…
Where It’s At
‘Tis the season to be busy ~ Fa la la la la, fa la la la ~ Run around until you’re dizzy ~Fa la la la la, la la la la ~
…
A Bird’s Tale
A few weeks ago we wrote about a rare ash-throated flycatcher that should have been in Mexico on its wintering range but that had appeared in Biddeford Pool. As we noted, there is pattern of rare…
From the assistant editor
If you have been reading some of our Alna stories lately, say, the last two years, or longer if you count the school choice issue that drew statewide media coverage and which debate arguably began…
’Round Town
Jean Strollo called me the other day from LeRoy, New York, a small town in the western part of the state, about half way between Buffalo and Rochester. This is a place I know a little about. My…
Joe’s Journal
The statistics are staggering.
Mr. COVID is back on the move with the Delta variant hammering us and the next generation is on the horizon.
It is deja vu all over again.
…
A joyful gathering of The Garden Club of Wiscasset members happened on the morning of Dec. 2 in the Morris Farm Learning Center to make holiday baskets for local assisted care homes, libraries,…
Salt ’n Spar
Wiscasset, like most places, has its share of folklore and legends; stories passed down from one generation to another often with nothing lost to the imagination in their retelling. It’s best to…
The next Senior Center supper will be Wednesday, Jan. 5. Watch for the menu in the next issue.
Cribbage scores for Tuesday, Dec. 7 at 9 a.m., 18 players, first place,…
A Bird’s Tale
The holidays are upon us, and that means it’s time for us to remind you of some bird books that we think make great gifts for just about anyone. Yes, these are all books that we have authored or…
’Round Town
Bill Sherman (not famous local fish boat captain) started the Bar Harbor Sherman's in 1886. In 1962, Jeff Curtis's parents bought the Bar Harbor business from Bill Sherman's daughters. Jeff worked…
Joe’s Journal
Score one for the old Dude and his lovely daughter. This year, they found the perfect tree.
No, they didn’t bravely venture into the wilds of the forest behind the homestead, cut it down…
The next public Senior Center Supper will be Wednesday, Dec. 15. Doors open at 4:30 p.m. Serving starts at 5 p.m. The menu consists of minestrone…
Where It’s At
Another December has arrived. The month of Hanukkah, Yule, the Winter Solstice; Christmas, New Year’s Eve ... and shopping. Lots of shopping. And eating – lots of that, too.
And that’s…
A Bird’s Tale
A pure white bird stalking around an open field among brown cows is pretty noticeable. Here in Maine, it’s also surprising—especially in late November.
No wonder that when that when the…
From the assistant editor
Newspapers like ours that still put out a weekly print edition plan their weeks on a different cycle, from Wednesday morning through Tuesday afternoon in our case, than you might do in your line…
’Round Town
I grew up around heavy equipment. John Deere, Farmall, Allis-Chalmers, International Harvester, on the farms. On construction jobs there was Ingersoll Rand, CAT, Euclid, Lima,…
Joe’s Journal
Now that we have survived Thanksgiving and the chaos of Black Friday, Christmas and all its pomp and circumstance have arrived front and center at our house.
I am sure you are pondering…
Cribbage results for Tuesday, Nov. 23 at 9:30 a.m., with 16 players: First place, Ken Colby, 844; second, Catherine Rolerson, 827; third, Nancy Schilke, 821; high hand, 24, Ken Colby; and low…
Since turkeys don't generally fly very high, I thought it might be fun to share a view from air space more frequently occupied by seagulls and other flying objects. This is not a drone-created…
Joe’s Journal
I am not sure who is to blame for the Thanksgiving holiday. Historians say it was George Washington or Uncle Abe Lincoln, or maybe the Pilgrims who were thankful they were able to beg a boatload…
The next Senior Center supper is Wednesday, Dec. 1. Doors open at 4:30 p.m. This supper includes turkey rice soup, corn bread, salad, baked beans, hot dogs,…
A Bird’s Tale
Flycatchers are birds of summer. Kingbirds, pewees, great crested, alder, least, and willow flycatchers arrive here in Maine in May and are largely gone by August. There’s good reason for their…
’Round Town
I have been photographing the Ernestina-Morrissey project for about six years. For those unfamiliar with the project at Bristol Marine (formerly Sample’s Shipyard), the Ernestina-…
Joe’s Journal
Every so often, someone looks at a veteran and says: “Thank you for your service.”
They usually smile and say: “Thank you.”
But like a lot of vets, it puts me in a sort of…
From the Maine Senate
For many, this time of year means gathering with family and friends for a special meal or an exchange of meaningful gifts. But putting food on the table or presents under the tree can be a…
The next Senior Center supper is Wednesday, Dec. 1. Doors will open at 4 p.m. At 4:30, turkey rice soup, salad and cornbread…
Salt ’n Spar
Photography has gotten a lot easier in many ways. We no longer have to deal with processing film, developing negatives into pictures, or having to worry about choosing the right f/stop and shutter…
A Bird’s Tale
Birds are clever creatures. The more you watch them — and the more that scientists study them in detail — the more we learn just how clever they are. Mom Wells has been watching some of the birds…
’Round Town
I mentioned to my wife, “Darling, as long as we feed the birds we will also feed and attract chipmunks, squirrels, and mice, not to mention the occasional skunk, raccoon, turkey,…
Joe’s Journal
By the time you read this missive, we will have changed our clocks back to winter’s time.
Dialing them back is, I guess, mankind’s latest attempt to make Mother Nature conform to our…
Reminder, the next Senior Center Supper is Wednesday, Nov. 17. Doors open at 4 p.m. At 4:30, curried carrot soup, salad and rolls will be…
From the U.S. House of Representatives
As we look towards Thanksgiving, a national holiday that brings people together through food, and is celebrated by many as a time of grateful harvests, I am particularly thankful for the progress…
Where It’s At
The first time I saw Oscar Wilde’s “The Importance of Being Earnest” was on our local public television station in Connecticut in my teens. And I loved it. The witty, rhythmic dialogue, the…
A Bird’s Tale
Glasgow, Scotland is a long, long way from us here in Maine—about 2,800 miles to be exact. Paradoxically, decisions made by people meeting over the coming days in Glasgow will have an impact right…
’Round Town
It has been an interesting fall. Seems warmer and wetter to me than past years at this time. At 9 this morning our weather station (an old Taylor thermometer mounted outside the kitchen window)…
Joe’s Journal
Well, Question One has been answered.
The winners will cheer. The losers will whine and step aside, for the voters have spoken, at least until the next round.
This battle was…
Salt ’n Spar
Once upon a time there was “Cow Island.” It was just north of Wiscasset village, a short walk from where the train station used to be. As the story goes, folks got to calling it Cow Island because…
Garden Club of Wiscasset will have its next meeting at First Congregational Church, 28 High St. on Nov. 4. The flower design class …
The next Senior Center supper is Wednesday, Nov. 17. The price will be $10 for members and $12 for non-members. Doors open at 4:30 with curried carrot soup, salad…
It’s open enrollment season, which also means it’s Medicare fraud season. Eligible beneficiaries have until Dec. 7 to shop for the best deal for their health care dollar. Unfortunately, some of…
Where it’s at
Remember how fun it was to go trick-or-treating as a kid? For me, that time was the early to mid 60s. Walking around in the dark not knowing who, or what, you’d meet on the street ... ghosts,…
A Bird’s Tale
On one of last weekend’s glorious days, we had the pleasure of taking a late-day stroll through the fields and around the pond at the Salt Bay Farm Preserve in Damariscotta. This has been one of…
