Well, this is the one and only thing I really enjoy baking. This will be my last traditional family recipe of 2018.

My grandmother, Evelyn Orne, was a wonderful baker. My brother, sister…

December proved to be a busy and fun month for members with our participation in Wiscasset’s Marketfest, with the decorating the foyer and Christmas tree at the Nickels-Sortwell historic home.…

Survey says ... According to the annual New Year resolutions poll on YouGov Dec. 6 and 7, the top two resolutions for 2019 are: exercise more and eat healthier. These are the top two in any given…

It may not be prudent to wear a T-shirt in the middle of a Maine winter (outside, at least) but that has never stopped birders from giving and receiving various memorable and beautiful versions of…

Nat Porter, from Winchester, Massachusetts, had a place at the end of Kimballtown Road on Barters Island back when we bought our first home there in 1978. Horace Lee of First Federal Savings and…

Not long ago, Steve and Ann Demeranville decided to go bird watching and take a few photos.

After flying most of the way around the world, they wound up in the middle of nowhere sleeping…

Carol was a well-known cook around this little town in the ’70s through the ’90s. She was the strongest woman I’ve ever known. She was a single parent of three kids and always worked two jobs or…

The holidays can be a difficult time of the year. Struggling against high expectations set by ourselves and others can have a huge impact on our holiday season. Working with chronically ill people…

Back in the late 1980s, maybe say ’87 or so, we were trying to do a little better with our fledgling publishing business, CONNECTIONS. We had a small assortment of postcards, note cards and…

A holiday visit to Gardens Aglow was supposed to be a happy time for the Boyd family of Greene, Maine. But it became another stop on their family’s emotional roller coaster ride for 2018.

…

Here’s another tradition in the Orne family, Tourtière: A French Canadian meat pie, also called touché pie by my grandmother Evelyn. The recipe is now is my own, but my Nana Orne gets all the…

If you don’t know what a pine siskin looks like, think of a brown and streaky goldfinch. If you don’t know what a goldfinch looks like then just think of a slim bird, smaller and shorter in length…

Authored by Ray Bradbury in 1962, this dark fantasy novel written about a group of youngsters who face a nightmarish experience with a traveling carnival in their small town and how they learned…

Maybe some things really are not meant to be. New England Patriots fans will know what we mean considering the way the Patriots lost to the Miami Dolphins in Miami last Sunday yet again, despite…

Tom Nickerson and Karen Calhoun Pinkham have been friends a long time.

When they were in school, Tom did an internship of sorts at Elm's garage and Karen worked at the Dairy Freeze, nearby…

When I was growing up, most people ate meatloaf. I was never a real big fan ... But I ate it with my mashed potatoes and corn or peas like everyone else.

Once again it’s right up there…

Ms. Pigette tells me that on weekends, Route 27 carries a steady stream of traffic coming into and out of our town. She should know, as she stands alongside the road holding up a mailbox across…

Many of you may have read or heard mention of an article written for the New York Times magazine a few weeks ago entitled “…

This week, our newspapers, television sets, and computer news feeds were filled with stories and tributes to President George H.W. Bush. Most begin with his prep school upbringing, his service as…

Hope everyone had a fabulous Turkey Day; mine was low key and stress free. My twinners did most of the work and hosted … my oldest took care of our adult beverage needs.

Not sure about…

There’s no other way to say it and I’m sharing the experience so it doesn’t happen to anyone else.

The day after Thanksgiving, I checked my email as I do most mornings. As I scanned the…

Recently, the federal Tick-borne Disease Working Group met for meeting #8, recapping all the work that had been done, identifying gaps and areas needing improvement along with recommendations. The…

Did you go birding on Black Friday instead of shopping through the night? Maybe you watched some evening grosbeaks and purple finches at the feeder? We ourselves were happy to have missed the…

Having the Ernestina-Morrissey (aka Effie M. Morrissey) and the Bowdoin side by side at our local shipyard is like having the Patriots and the Red Sox bunking in…

This is a family tradition in our household, made from generation to generation from as far as I can remember.

My very French grandmother Evelyn Mary Gallant Orne stood barely 4 foot, 11…

Whenever Lyme and tick-borne disease treatment is brought up in conversation, the variety of methods a patient seeks out is never ending. Why? Because we, as a people, are so diverse in how we…

Fifty-five years ago last weekend, John F. Kennedy, the president of the United States, was killed by a sniper’s bullet as he rode in an open car in Dallas.

For most old-timers, like me,…

I smiled all the way home.

I felt relaxed and some of the rhythms that we’d been groovin' to were still in my head.

Before going to the drum circle at River Arts, led by Boothbay…

Tick-borne diseases are a serious public health problem. Lyme disease is the most common tick-borne disease, but there are at least 20 different infections that are transmitted by ticks in the…

The November meeting of the Pemaquid Chapter, DAR was held at the usual place, the Lincoln Home Library in Newcastle on the second Tuesday, Nov. 13. There were 11 present, one associate member and…

As we gather with family and friends to celebrate what has become my favorite holiday, it seems a fitting time to reflect.

Thanksgiving gives us a chance to set down our phones, slow our…

OK folks, here’s the deal … I never … ever … thought I would be writing a food column. My spelling stinks, grammar … forget about it, but here we go again. I am who I am. If I can get a chuckle…

We wrote last week about one kind of birder holiday, the every-other-year invasion of…

In the Boothbay region the holiday season begins with the Early Bird Sale & Pajama Party and Gardens Aglow in mid-November. The holiday lists unfurl as we make our way to our favorite shops…

For birders in the eastern U.S. in particular, it is as eagerly anticipated as Christmas morning is to so many youngsters. But it happens at best only every two years.

We are talking about…

Hello folks, I’m so incredibly blessed with all the positive feedback from my food column. It’s been awesome with phone calls and the private messages from all of you. What makes me really happy…

On Saturday, a dozen old Marines, and a few younger ones, celebrated the 243d birthday of the United States Marines. They sat together in Robinson’s Wharf, ate lunch, told a few fibs, had a few…

From my first visit to Monhegan in the mid ’70s, learning of the island’s “Trap Day” interested me. Such a special event. An entire island population working together to prepare for the opening…

Nothing reminds you of your illness more than when you’re limited by the things that you can no longer do and the places that you can no longer go. And nothing highlights those limitations more…

Doctors, researchers, scientists, patients and advocates all connected this past weekend in Providence, Rhode Island for the 19th annual Scientific Lyme Disease Conference that the National Lyme…

I can still remember the first time I saw an actual painting by Vincent van Gogh. It was 1976-ish during a trip to New York City to visit a friend who was attending Pratt Art Institute in Brooklyn…

We’ve never been to Greenland. We don’t anticipate that we ever will visit there. We’re guessing that the same is true of most Mainers. We don’t know much about Greenland, though we’ve read a…

It is the day after the election, and the world did not end, although you might get an argument in some quarters.

Are you happy? Are you sad? Did your candidate win? Lose? What did he/she…

Mother wasn’t a saint but she hovered in that vicinity. Even if, in my early years, I misunderstood how to behave prior to her morning cup of black Maxwell House coffee and a Camel cigarette.…

Well, with the cooler nights, it’s comfort food time. One of my husband’s favorite dishes is shepherd’s pie.

First thing you do is march yourself up to Pinkham’s Gourmet Market and buy a…

Life is busy. Add spouses, children, grandchildren, friends, work and play and it all gets even busier. Who has time to keep track of what’s happening to those pesky First Amendment rights?

There’s nothing like live theater, is there? Whether you are an audience or cast member it is a most stimulating experience – for different reasons, of course.

Behind the curtain there’s a…

In wooden boat-building circles, the tradition of the “Whiskey plank” is cause for great celebration. And why not? It is a pinnacle event, a milestone — the placing of the final plank and the…

The pages of this newspaper are usually filled with good news.

Glancing through the columns, you will find stories of church suppers, community gatherings, school doings, charity groups,…