Black and white photography has always been a fundamental interest of mine. It’s where my interest in photography began as a child when I discovered my grandmother’s box camera, negatives and a…

Dan Bryer has a problem. A big problem.

The affable Boothbay town manager has a municipal budget of about $2 to $2.3 million, and he had to spend $2.7 to $3 million to repair roads…

Let’s turn our attention to the town of Edgecomb where our neighbors across the Sheepscot River are celebrating their town’s 250th birthday. Mark your calendar: A town-wide birthday party is…

If we really want to keep ourselves - and our money - safe from fraud, we must all come to terms with one thing: our personal information is likely already out there. Many entities have our…

The next public supper will be Wednesday , Feb. 21. Menu will include split pea soup, biscuits, salad, baked chicken, rice pilaf, carrots, and chocolate velvet pie. Cost is $10…

Music. Flowers. Poetry. Candlelight. A sumptuous meal. Champagne. Experience it all in one evening and you’ve got the makings of an unforgettable evening of romance - for Valentine’s Day - or just…

While it’s true that a certain Philadelphia-based football team is on ice after a recent playoff collapse against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the inspiration for this column comes from the real…

Over the years I have had the extraordinary privilege of photographing many great projects in the region. Constructions that have been built, repaired or restored by highly skilled craftspeople…

As the football season winds down with the Chiefs and 49ers set in the Super Bowl, many of us are tuning into sports yakkers yammering about coaching changes, transfer portals, and possible…

Since it was launched last year, the goal of this column has been to raise awareness about domestic violence and its widespread effects on our communities, schools and workplaces. We hope it has…

The next public supper will be Wednesday, Feb. 7. The menu will consist of tomato soup, anadama rolls, salad, baked ham, scalloped potatoes, green beans, and indian pudding a la mode. The cost is…

A watershed in the Canadian province of Manitoba almost half the size of the entire state of Maine and  estimated to support more than ten million breeding birds took a significant step closer to…

Nothing like a few days without water to make a believer out of you!

Just…

We were saddened by the damage Mother Nature inflicted upon us in the last few days when she sent the North Atlantic surging over our shores. Thankfully, no one perished.

Our hardworking…

For about four years now I’ve been checking in with artists during the winter months to see what they may be working on. This year, because he’s in Maine and not Texas or New Orleans, I visited…

On Tuesday Jan. 9, a motion was made in the Maine House of Representatives to establish a House Special Investigative Committee to investigate the Secretary of State to determine whether cause…

One key to shopping online is reading the fine print, including who you’re actually buying from. While we often think of giant online retailers like Amazon, Walmart and Target as a store they can…

Not so long ago, Maine winters were a lot colder. Around this time of year the mercury would plunge far below freezing and stay that way for days, sometimes weeks even here on the coast. Around…

For more than 15 years we’ve been hoping.

We had said the phrase, “This is the perfect place for a short-eared owl,” so many times that it had become a kind of inside joke.

Birders…

It’s kind of odd, isn’t it. To look out at the calm sea after all we have been through this past week. In sort of a weird kind of way it’s like someone out there said “Let’s go to work on the…

Here is a  note from a longtime OP pal.

You know me. 

They used to call me three trees, but Mother Nature culled my two siblings several…

The next Public Supper will be Wednesday, Feb. 7. The menu will be tomato soup, anadama rolls, salad, baked ham, scalloped potatoes, green beans, and Indian pudding a la mode.…

If you’re like a lot of people, you spent a lot this holiday season and you might be in the mood to tackle your debt in the new year. Getting yourself out of debt is hard work. It takes time…

It was Saturday. Grocery shopping needed to be done. Prescriptions needed filling. The floors needed a vacuuming and the towels needed to be folded and put away.

A major snowstorm was…

Three years ago, I was driving down I-95 en route to Boston when I heard something on the radio that almost made me swerve off the road.“They have breached the Capitol,“ said an NPR announcer.…

Well, we finally got it! And maybe then some. At 5 p.m., right now, it is still snowing. I plowed all our roads once around 1 o’clock thinking that maybe the weather folks might have an inside…

The next Public Supper will be Wednesday, Jan. 17. Menu will include chicken soup, salad, rolls, baked haddock, baked potato wedges, vegetable medley, and chocolate bread pudding…

It’s New Year’s Resolution time. Time to make a commitment to be fraud aware in 2024. For the next 52 weeks, like clockwork, scammers will be on the prowl looking to steal our money or sensitive…

Something unusual seems to be happening.

Here in Maine, it started off with the discovery of the western sibling species to our familiar eastern towhee, a spotted towhee, at Fort Foster in…

Without a wintry look right now I thought it might be fun to dig out an image from a winter past. Not that I’m complaining, but there is only so much one can do with fog and rain, especially at…

Months ago, when the world was younger, and we were too, we looked forward to the coming primary election season.

The Iowa caucuses are in a couple of weeks, and Super Tuesday (and the…

The next Public Supper will be Wednesday, Jan. 17. Menu is chicken soup, salad, rolls, baked haddock, baked potato wedges, vegetable medley, chocolate bread pudding with whipped…

If there is one thing we know, it’s that criminal scammers are not stupid. They often use cutting-edge technologies to make their schemes more sophisticated and harder to detect. However, these…

The next meeting of the Garden Club of Wiscasset will be on Jan. 4 in Fellowship Hall of the Congregational Church, 28 High St. in Wiscasset. There is a brief…

Many believe that substance use is an underlying cause of domestic abuse, but this is a misconception. There is nothing in drugs or alcohol that causes someone to believe that they have the right…

There was a time, much to the chagrin of lobstermen, when huge tanker ships laden with fuel oil journeyed up the waters of the Sheepscot River. Their destination was Central Maine Power Company’s…

Here we go – the last column of 2023. 

I am writing this one in advance as my kids sent me an airline ticket so I could be with them over the holidays. I am grateful for their…

Morgan Mitchell’s Creative Flow Circles got their start while she and husband Andrei Bazaiac were living in Portland. Morgan was working at an ad agency and observed how mentally drained her…

The Augusta area Christmas Bird Count took place Saturday, Dec. 16. It was a very mild day for mid-December, another in a series of rather mild days that increasingly have become the new normal as…

The next Public Supper will be Wednesday, Jan. 3. Menu will include vegetable noodle soup, garlic bread, salad, spaghetti and meatballs, brownies with ice cream and chocolate…

The holidays are a time when friends and family of all ages gather together, share updates on their lives and recount cherished memories. One thing to add to that list this year: a conversation on…

This will be the second installment of my season-enhancing attempt. Without the expectation of snow for the foreseeable future it only seemed right to offer a view from winter past. I hope you…

As I sit here at my desk, such as it is, this morning on the 18th of December I can hear the wind gusts in the fireplace flu and get a healthy puff of smoke from the wood stove. The wind was…

Dear Readers,

It has been a tough year for us all, but 2024 has all the earmarks of being even more trying than the last.

We are in the midst of change.

Old guys and gals,…

The next Public Supper will be Wednesday, Jan. 3. Menu will be vegetable noodle soup, garlic bread, salad, spaghetti and meatballs, and brownies with ice cream and chocolate sauce…

It’s the season of giving, and for those in the spirit, telling the difference between a real charity and a con can be a challenge. Legitimate charities make a big push at year-end for last-minute…

Most people find birds beautiful, fascinating, even entrancing. Some recognize only a few that they see in the backyard and neighborhood—chickadees, crows, cardinals, blue jays. These they may…

Years ago, a man we call Luke told us this tale that has been retold for generations.

“And it came to pass that in those days there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that the whole…

The next Public Supper will be Wednesday, Dec. 20. The menu will be black bean soup, rolls, salad, roast beef, mashed potato with gravy, green beans, and mocha chocolate cake.…