Here it is July and  .... No North Atlantic Blues Festival. What’s a blues lover to do? Well I’ll tell ya. Thanks to festival organizer Paul Benjamin, KISS-FM  will be broadcasting and streaming (…

If an owl hoots in a forest at night but you’re not there, can you still hear it? What if a winter wren sings at dawn outside your camp while you’re still asleep, can you hear that?

When…

It’s been quite some time since a visit to Cape Newagen was much more than an exercise in zen renewal. Standing on the end of the town pier, looking out across the harbor toward Seguin is a truly…

When I was a kid, we celebrated the Fourth of July by picnicking in the back yard in the shade of a huge wild cherry tree.

There was fried chicken, potato salad, lemonade and chilled…

The simple answer is yes, and with that comes the fallout of years of controversial arguments, evidence, advocate and patient abuse. I say abuse because as current times have…

For Father’s Day, I sent Jeff and our son Evan on a fishing adventure Downeast. This is Jeff’s recount of that adventure. —Allison Wells

Once again it was the time of year when…

The modern abstract painting in front of me draws me into its surreal world … An oval mirror near its center draws me in. I see a figure of a woman inside it. I cannot tell if she is standing or…

Anna Christina has been interested in the natural healing properties of alternative medicinals since she was a very young child. This was due, in large part, to a variety of childhood ailments.…

I don’t like wearing a mask.

When the summer sun is shining, I like the way it warms my face. When the gentle ocean breeze blows over the seaweed at Ocean Point, I love the unique smell…

Ticks have one focus and one focus only: find a host and feed. I have people emailing me photos or calling me and asking, “What kind of tick is this?” or they say “I took a tick…

With the need to spend more time at home due to the pandemic, we have taken to doing more of the things we already do around the house—birding, yard work, reading, jigsaw puzzles…and a bit more TV…

Before trailing off into the tall grass in search of new adventures, I wanted to share a tiny bit of post-Father's Day best wishes for dads here and gone. It’s just a small item,…

Last Sunday, Boothbay Harbor looked like summer.

A warm sun smiled as local clergy asked the Almighty to protect our fishermen in the annual blessing of the fleet. A blue and white yacht,…

As summer brings back many of our seasonal residents and many more visitors to our wonderful state, Midcoast Lyme Disease Support and Education wants to make sure that you enjoy your stay and…

It’s been a memorable graduation season this year for several reasons. Most significant to us is our son’s high school graduation at a ceremony over the weekend. For 2020 graduates everywhere,…

OK ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, its time for this year's obligatory lupine photo.

I know that everyone with an image making device is out there…

As the calendar marches towards our summer season, the word in Boothbay, Wiscasset and Damariscotta is hope.

Our communities have a deep history intertwined with the sea, from fishing to…

We are four months into responding to the COVID-19 crisis here in Maine. We are getting used to some of our new norms and adapting as prevention efforts and reopening plans continue to change as…

My review for the back page of Hilary Bartlett’s “The Thistle Inn: A Wee Bit of Scotland in Maine” went like this: “Boothbay locals that frequented The Thistle Inn during the Leonie/T’Donald years…

In the waning days of spring migration and our monitoring of the calls of night-migrating birds, our listening station picked up the loud, characteristic “kill-deer, kill-deer, kill-deer” call of…

Does anyone (other than me) wonder how birds know when the feeders are full? The red squirrels certainly seem to have figured it out! Last year there were very few red squirrels…

I am old enough to know I don't have all the answers. I don't have the moxie to say I have all or even some of the questions. And I am puzzled by recent events.

We are fortunate enough to…

I discovered the sculpture of the late Don Meserve late in my life. Actually, had it not been for the large outdoor works at Studio 53 and the articles I’ve written over the years about sculptor…

While out walking in the neighborhood the other day, we happened to notice a pair of chimney swifts exhibiting some interesting behavior.

Chimney swifts are small, gray-brown tubular-…

I want to extend a huge thank you to all the readers who take the time to not only read my column but to email me with their questions and concerns. I…

It was just about a year ago that we visited Blue Tin Farm on the Cross Point Road in Edgecomb. I knew of the farm and its animals and hoped that Crystal Theall and her family of…

In the last weeks, we logged 100,000 COVID-19 virus deaths and saw more than 40 million citizens file for unemployment benefits.

On top of that, last weekend saw dozens of American cities…

Not long ago I was in the office of the Boothbay Register, which for as long as I’ve known it has been located on Townsend Avenue in Boothbay Harbor. The outside of the building looks about the…

I have a friend who likes to comment on this column. He says the COVID-19 virus is a hoax cooked up by the media and Democrats who want to defeat the incumbent president. He sends me lots of…

Two themes have dominated our backyard natural history observations this week. One of them is specific not only to one particular bird species but to a particular individual bird. We have always…

I love the cool pale green of new growth in spring. It sort of represents the refreshing of things and really never shows up for another year. The birch leaves in particular,…

Over Edgecomb way at Eben Blaney’s Fine Contemporary Furniture studio/showroom, there’s something new, something much smaller scale than his gorgeous, inventive tables, chairs and consoles. Eben…

As the weather continues to warm, ticks are becoming more and more active, eager to find their bloodmeal and we need to be vigilant with our prevention against tick encounters. We’ve covered…

You may remember that most of our birds do the bulk of their migrating at night, which we have written about…

We first bumped into the Johanson-Goranson family at Sheepscot Valley Children’s House in Wiscasset, in the early ’90s. Our children, along with a gang of other area youngsters,…

It is no secret that much of our region's economy depends on tourism, and no one knows this better than Scott Larson.

As the president of Midcoast Hospitality Group, Larson is the boss/…

On a socially distanced Mother’s Day visit to Mom Wells, two bald eagles appeared  as we sat 10 feet apart in the backyard sun. The eagles were far in the distance circling to the south, looking…

Before I step out into traffic today with my weekly adventure, I'd like to comment about an evolving situation in our community.

For many many years I have…

Last week, as we finally got going on our spring chores, Mother Nature threw us a curve ball and treated us with a snowstorm on Saturday.

Here on the coast, it was warm enough to melt the…

As temperatures warm up and ticks become more active, how do we protect ourselves and our loved ones and reduce our fear of spending time outdoors? Here are five simple prevention steps that will…

The home gardening boom underway is “totally unprecedented” in the eyes of Frank Wertheim, who for 33 years has helped farmers and gardeners as an educator with University of Maine Cooperative…

All around the world, May is recognized as Lyme Disease Awareness month. But for hundreds of thousands of patients, it is something that they struggle to make sense of every day.…

We’ve often likened the migration of the billions of birds that move across our hemisphere from south to north each spring to be more like the movements of a living sea that takes place in the…

Over the years I have owned and used many chainsaws. In my younger years, the metal of choice was either Homelite or McCulloch. The McCulloch saw was enormous, heavy and loud with…

Here is the thought for the day: Relax.

We have been on hold for the last two months. Why don’t we slow down for a minute? Take a deep breath. Inhale. Exhale. Relax.

Feel better?…

For most of us in Maine, it’s been another week at home, and another week of helping our friends and families navigate the greatest public health crisis of our time. I know many of us are feeling…

We had some interesting virtual birding experiences this past week that we can say with certainty we’d never had before! One morning we participated in a special Birding Buddy project that was set…

Delores “Lola” deHoyos O’Byrne.

Without even knowing Lola, her “official” name, to me, was a bit of a mystery. Quite a combination of vowels, for all you…

“Stay home. Wash your hands. Practice social distancing. Be safe.” We have all heard this advice over and over and over again from our national and state political leaders and health care experts…

Back in 2014 I wrote a feature story about Richard “Dick” Macdonald whose…