Who else wants to get on the positive train?

First, the ground rules: No becoming Pollyannas, burying our heads in the sand or telling anyone to smile or worse, to turn that frown upside…

Sports celebrities, well-known musicians and fans of both are heading to the Boothbay region this weekend for an established event and a first-ever event.

The Boothbay Charities Classic,…

Think ahead.

We are weeks from the first anniversary of the windstorm, and two weeks past some damaging late summer thunderstorms along the Midcoast. You can hope along with me for a quiet…

About two decades ago or so, Mary Brewer and I worked together on a lengthy feature for this newspaper on the possible demise of Seahawk football. Boys soccer was introduced as a new sport and…

Water Street without the 1916 Haggett building will look different. It would, no matter the demolished building's age. One less building on any street leaves a void filled only by the memory of it…

How was your Labor Day weekend? Mine was the worst ever, thank you.

We learned that our 6-year-old female Labradoodle, Ruby, had a uterus infection that spread throughout her body and she…

Don't we just love September?!

The temperatures (hopefully) drop to a level where you can enjoy the outdoors more and there's still some time to enjoy some mid-summer activities without…

Thank you, Mr. Lincoln County Sheriff's Deputy — sorry, I didn't get your name — for pulling me over last Thursday morning. And thank you for just giving me a warning. Believe me, it has stuck in…

I used to look down at distance learning, taken online, by snail mail, or both. How could you learn if you weren't there?

Then I took a distance course, and many more after, for the…

Our 15-year-old Pomeranian Sadie died this week and our other dog, 7-year-old Labradoodle Ruby, is finding it kind of rough without her “little sister.” Ruby had Sadie from the first day she…

I began this one a couple months ago, after Wiscasset learned it was losing three more officials – its longtime code enforcement officer and another police chief and harbor master, all a couple…

Can you believe it? The Red Sox have been as hot as this summer’s temperatures. They are on pace to set a new franchise record in regular season wins. Even if they don’t set that record, they have…

Everyone I've talked to this summer about this summer has had the same take on it: It has been fast. It's a refrain this time of year, but louder this time around.

One person figured it…

Yes, I have done some stupid things in my life. I will admit it. But not on the scale of some of the more recent ones I've read about.

Other than bragging about it to your friends later, I…

In the 10 years since I started at the Wiscasset Newspaper, Wiscasset, Westport Island and Alna have gotten into a school unit together, and Wiscasset has gotten out and gone from three schools to…

Wiscasset’s lack of a planner and the impact of that have become a refrain at some municipal meetings. That’s understandable. This was a downsizing: The town eliminated a department. Voters’…

After a sad week last week with our matriarch, longtime co-worker, boss, mentor and friend Mary Brewer passing away so suddenly, I decided I need a few laughs this week.

One of my favorite…

Now that newspapers have websites and social media accounts, reporting happens on a different timetable than in the print-only years. Our work phones are essential for interviews, emailing and…

Cha-chunk, cha-chunk, cha-chunk went the sound of the printing press in the basement of the Register office at the corner of Union Street and Townsend Avenue. That's how long ago I met Mary Brewer…

Ten years ago this week, July 11, 2008, is a day I won't forget and I'm sure many others who were around to witness one of the greatest fires the region has seen won't either.

It was a…

Wait.

The pedestrian crossing equipment said to, when I pressed the button at Routes 1 and 27 in Wiscasset Monday. The voice was a surprise. I had been on the world’s second longest…

“Excuse me, can we help you?’’ a homeowner inquired of a couple wandering around the yard with a flashlight late one night a few weeks ago. It was a bit unnerving, to say the least, but it…

Most any week brings some stories that make us proud of Wiscasset and its neighbors and proud to be part of them through the articles, photos and more that chronicle them on these pages and online…

How do you read the local news? Do you read it mostly online or do you wait for the newspaper to arrive from the printer on Wednesday afternoons? Ever since we went fully online six years ago, I…

It’s next to impossible to wrap your mind around the many changes right here in our own country during the past 200-plus years. This was foremost in our mind a few days ago when we heard…

We’re halfway through 2018 and I officially began my 32^nd year as an employee of the Boothbay Register last week – three months as a reporter, three months as assistant editor and the…

Who will be grand marshal of Wiscasset’s Fourth of July parade? You might know by now, but as of Tuesday, the suspense was building.

Whoever gets the honor, we will know, as always, they…

We’re smack dab in the middle of what is traditionally the height of the summer tourist season in the Boothbay Region, with a jam-packed week of Windjammer Days activities followed closely…

I often like to think back to my early days here at the Register, circa the late ’80s. Life was much simpler then and it seems work was easier. And back then, right about now in the calendar year…

We enjoy watching the TV series “North Woods Law,” highlighting the everyday activities of Maine and New Hampshire wardens, as well as Alaska State Troopers. You never know what they’ll…

I saw a firefly Saturday night.

It said summer. So did the people fishing and swimming in a nearly still Sheepscot River past Alna's Head Tide Dam Saturday.

So did the great blue…

Our publication day this week coincides with Flag Day, and while most communities do very little to mark its observance, it is a day of parades and special celebrations in some towns, such…

I know I wrote being melancholy last week, but this week was a roller coaster of emotions.

Wednesday, after the paper had been sent to press, we learned that Dan Gagnon of Brunswick, who…

Taking a deep breath this week. Melancholy for sure. Good memories but getting a bit frustrated as well. What is happening?

Well, first, by the end of this month, the newspaper will be…

For someone who likes as few syllables as possible in the average sentence, I oddly am pleased as punch when people describe those they are with as their significant others.

A number were…

What’s good for the goose is good for the gander. This old-time philosophy is the rule many of today’s females live by, and they’re striving to see that it’s the rule of the land in one…

Vacation. I almost forgot what it was.

After years of hearing about others' vacations, seeing photos of people enjoying themselves on beaches, on cruise ships, hiking near beautiful…

Our vastly white towns produce little news about racism. But prejudice on race, religion and more finds its way everywhere in the world. And it can be homegrown, just as kindness can.

One…

Memorial Day 2018 is now in the record books. Thousands of towns and cities all across the country celebrated in their own special way, some with elaborate parades and ceremonies, others…

Entering late May, we are midway between Thanksgiving Day 2017 and 2018. So, a little like Christmas in July, here are some things to be thankful for:

–To American Legion Post 54 for…

Can anyone go anywhere in Lincoln and Sagadahoc counties and not walk into a conversation about ticks? I cannot. And as creepy as those creepy crawlers are, which is highly creepy, the fact ticks…

Cheers & Jeers is a feature I remember from the days of reading TV Guide. TV Guide, for those born after the advent of cable TV and the internet, is a small, bi-weekly magazine which lists…

Twenty-nine years ago next month, a jury in Wiscasset  convicted a career criminal of manslaughter for killing a Lewiston police officer, and of the attempted murder of two other officers. Nicolo…

Saturday, the Boothbay region once again demonstrated why it is such a very special place. This time, it was Rebuilding Together that deserves the credit for making us all so very proud to…

My first employment was working for farmer Errol Clark, “the vegetable man” for a few hours each week during July and August in the latter part of the 1960s. Clark sold vegetables grown on his…

Ford Motor Company made a dramatic announcement this past week: They’re phasing out production of all but two of their passenger cars. They’re not alone. Other auto manufacturers have…

In most Maine communities, this is the season for town meetings. Some towns have already held theirs, and others are scheduled in the next few weeks. In addition to acting on a number of…

You can't find Wiscasset’s Nancy Roby on our pages every week, but few consecutive editions seem to go by without her in a photo.

Roby isn't photo-bombing, although with her good cheer and…

I scrubbed this week’s editorial written before Wiscasset’s big vote Tuesday night. I wrote about a town being more than its politics, and how, as passionate as the downtown debate has gotten,…

As editor, I read thousands of words each week. I have learned to read copy — written material produced by and submitted to this newspaper and for online – quickly. It is part of my job to get the…