Last week, a cousin sent us a photo taken by her husband who was about 12 miles out-to-sea from Boothbay Harbor at the time of the photo. The bird landed on the boat then took refuge inside the…

It’s not often that I roll out to the back field at home very early. Not that 9 a.m. is very early. I always have thought about people like Chip Haggett and Rock Radasch starting…

We drove down to Boston last week and promptly got lost.

Yes, we missed a turn and got caught in a swirl of lunch hour walkers and parkers enjoying the fine fall day on the Boston Common. …

Here in Maine, on the northeastern edge of our great nation, we can sometimes feel pretty distant from the goings on of the rest of the world. But you only have to step outside and spend some time…

Forty plus years ago I met Gerry Gamage on a cold winter night when he was a plowing for the town of Southport. At the time I was house sitting for the Pink Ladies, Mary Harward…

By the time you read this in print, the first presidential debate will be over. Who won?

I guess your answer depends on which candidate you favor. The national opinion polls say most…

Boothbay lost a pal last week. His name was John Druce.

Since the 1950s, he was a fixture in our community, best known as the genial host at the Spruce Point Inn, and smiling man-about-…

Attempting to catch up with Rachel Roberts in person is like hitchhiking on the Autobahn. I had way more luck working the Berkshires back in the ’60s. Traffic was a whole lot…

Cool Canadian air has descended upon us here in Maine this past week, bringing beautiful, sunny blue-sky days but nighttime temperatures dropping into the 30s. Many a gardener has brought out the…

The Garden Club of Wiscasset will be sponsoring a virtual program open to the public on Oct. 1 at 1 p.m. The topic”Bringing Nature Home “ in Maine is presented by Eric Topper, Maine Audubon’s…

The 2020 World Wildlife Fund Living Planet Report that came out two weeks ago paints a dire picture of the state of the world’s biodiversity: a nearly 70% average decline in wildlife populations…

Believe it or not, there are still doctors who claim that Lyme is nothing more than mass hysteria ~ even with statistical data showing confirmation of the rise in new cases. How can this be? How…

I asked my wife the other day where the pills were put that are meant to improve my memory. I'm awaiting her response.

Over the years of doing this “photo…

It has been 27 weeks since our fearless elected leaders told us a terrible pandemic was lingering outside our cabin door triggering the summer of discontent, er, confinement, sort of.

“…

We were wondering recently if it is a particularly American obsession to try to decide on what is “the best” or “your favorite,” or to come up with “top ten” lists. Do other cultures around the…

On Friday, as I drove down Route 96 to the Harbor to begin my morning walk with the OFEB gang, I noticed a woman walking on the roadside.

She was fit, a serious walker. Her bright red…

Back in the late ’70s, Russ Brackett was the Nissen bread man who delivered supplies to the Tugboat Inn at 2:30 a.m. while I was cleaning the kitchen and dining room there. I provided a piece of…

Members have been helping to maintain gardens in Bath, Dresden and Wiscasset throughout the summer.

With events and meetings canceled from April through August due to COVID-19, our…

Why are we not outraged about Lyme disease and in the rise of other tick-borne diseases that inhabit our state? I get emails all the time with people asking, “Why does Maine have a tick problem?”…

It always seems to come so suddenly. One morning you step outside and gone is the oppressive humid 80-degree heat, replaced by dry, crisp 60-degree air. The air conditioner is no longer a…

In my 40 plus years of photographing hundreds of weddings, I’ve met thousands of people from all over the world. It’s been an amazing ride. Walking into an enormous gathering of people with little…

“The whole world is festering with unhappy souls. The French hate the Germans. The Germans hate the Poles. Italians hate Yugoslavs; South Africans hate the Dutch. And I don’t like anybody very…

Every time we visit Monhegan Island there is something new to discover.

Our family members save nickels, dimes, quarters, returnable “CLYNK” money and tooth fairy deposits for a wonderful…

To the north, dark clouds stretched high into the sky. Low rumbles of thunder seemed to make the warm, humid air vibrate. Stepping out from the grocery store, we immediately quickened our pace to…

By the time you read this, most of the 2020 Republican National Convention will be history.

What evolved from a real convention, one peopled by real Republicans arguing over positions and…

“What do you mean ‘the doctor tossed your tick in the trash’?” I asked the caller on the phone, after they reached out to me for help connecting them with a Lyme literate provider. “Well, the…

I was quite shocked recently to read some considerable information regarding the number of children and families in our county without enough to eat. It's very disturbing.

A few years back…

Ladies and gentlemen. For your elucidation and entertainment, the United States of America presents the “Greatest Show on Earth:” The national political conventions.

This week we will…

For those of us who live parts of the world that have a long history of human impacts to the land, it may be hard to imagine that there are still a few parts of the world where the land has not…

I just closed my copy of Lara Tupper’s second novel “Off Island.” I’m thinking about the characters I was saying goodbye to ... Gaugin and Mete, and all of his other women; Pete and Molly and…

According to the University of Maine Cooperative Extension and Maine Medical Center Research Institute (MMCRI), there are fifteen species of ticks identified here in Maine. Fifteen species that…

Over the 45+ years we've lived in the region I've had the distinct honor of photographing at many area shipyards and boat-building facilities. The places I have photographed vary…

Twenty-two weeks ago, our lives changed.

It wasn’t our idea. Here on the coast, we were preparing for another banner summer season welcoming laughing folks from away. As usual, we thought…

Saturday, July 25 was seamless, air-warm, water- flat, destination - perfect. It was a pretty cruise from any port. Several boats chose to cruise through the Thread…

A month or so ago I got a call from a person “out west” with significant ties to the Boothbay region, more specifically, Southport. She apologized for contacting me so late in the game, but asked…

It was a classic summer evening on the Maine coast. After a hot late July afternoon, the air was beginning to cool as the sun lowered in the sky, illuminating the eastern shore of the harbor so…

We live in an amazing state that offers so many indoor and outdoor year-round activities, but not without…

As many of you know, hopefully everyone by now, the Legion has a raffle on going for the beautiful Poppy Quilt shown with this column. The raffle tickets can be…

A strange and mysterious creature is popping up across Maine with increasing frequency this year. It is a bird, a bit larger than a house finch or purple finch but smaller than a robin. The males…

To me, it seems like I am a broken record playing the same message all day long. But the reality is this — not all medical providers are knowledgeable and experienced enough to…

Remember, back when you were a kid (and for some of us teenagers) at the beach on a hot summer day? The scent of salt laced with that of Coppertone in the air … the warmth of the sun on your face…

I didn't want to get out of bed this morning.

I just pulled the sheet over my nose and settled back into this lovely dream of how my bride and I were driving around the countryside in…

I sent this week's adventure photo to a friend in Germany. We met on a flight from Paris to Cameroon. Anette was hoping to adopt a child from an orphanage near Douala. I was doing…

A few weeks ago, we noticed that one of the pair of our resident song sparrows was balancing oddly on the clothesline, struggling to keep its balance as the line swayed in the breeze. A closer…

I met my B-flat metal clarinet in junior high school. We had a very active love/hate relationship. I loved the sounds, hated to practice. My music career didn’t last long.

Bob Mitchell, one of our notable Maine photographers, had a birthday last week.

As with a lot of local artists, you may know his work but may not know him. Too bad, for he is a delightful…

We stopped at one of our favorite freshwater cattail marshes again this week as we often do. The marsh is only a few miles from where we live and has no name that we are aware of.  We stop by when…

I recall having lunch with a friend and we were chatting about ticks and upcoming events, when a woman stopped by our table, apologized for interrupting our lunch and said, “I couldn’t help but…

This is a photo of a familiar face around the Tri Village community!

Everyone knows Rusty Court. Even people who don't know Rusty, know of him. He is a high…

We've all done it. You know, when something goes wrong, we try to shift responsibility to someone else, rather than take the heat. The bigger the error, the harder we try to call attention to the…