As the year winds down, our work with individuals affected by domestic abuse continues to positively impact midcoast Maine residents. The influence of this public health crisis filters into all aspects of society. Addressing it requires a multi-prong, coordinated effort.

Our work begins with careful listening that evolves into safety planning, a dynamic and collaborative process between the client and our trained advocates. Victims and concerned others most often initially connect with us through our 24/7 helpline where they can speak with qualified New Hope staff members and volunteers. All

On Saturday, we celebrated the start of the holiday birding season: the first day of the official National Audubon Society Christmas Bird Count (CBC) period! From Dec. 14 through Jan. 5, tens of thousands of people (more than 80,000 last year) participate in the thousands of official Christmas Bird Counts that take place across the U.S., Canada, Latin America, and the Caribbean.

Here in Maine, there are 36 CBCs taking place this year that are scheduled sometime in the three-week period. At least a third of them took place on the first weekend of the count period as did the Augusta CBC.

Our

This year’s sweet and spicy Gingerbread Spectacular has come and gone and with it some very memorable creations to add to Spectacular history.

Every year the baker artists impress and amaze us with their imagination. Baker artists enter at all skill levels. For instance, while I was at the dazzling Christmas-dressed Opera House Thursday night when the judges were, well, judging, Kevin Kiley told me Heather Malone and Joshua Paashaus, whose entry “The Cuckolds Light” would be voted Most Spectacular, were first-time ginger builders who had attended the annual gingerbread “workshop” led by Kevin

This column was originally published last December but I am revisiting it again here just before Christmas because I feel it has a good message.

Christmastime, as a kid, is an exciting time. We used to manhandle the Sears Wish Book every year to see what new toys were being offered and we let our parents know how much we wanted, or “needed” this or that. Nowadays, Amazon and many other websites keep kids scrolling for hours to find that perfect toy, video game, etc., etc.

As adults, we have other dreams and wishes during this time of year. We hope our children will be happy with their gifts

What can I tell you of Christmas that has not already passed through your smartphone, your TV set, or something called a Podcast?

All your favorite Christmas movies are running - it seems - 24 hours a day on channels I receive, but never watch. The TV yakkers on all sides are still trying to figure out why the presidential election went their way, or not.

Mostly, they search for a nugget of news that might, just might, urge viewers to click on their shows. For all their posturing on the right and the left, they work in a business that needs to attract eyeballs attached to wallets used to

I was putting the tractor back in the shed the other evening (by evening I mean, 4:30!) after hauling some firewood and noticed a bright light in the eastern sky. I thought perhaps one of the New Jersey drones had gone astray and was scoping out our stock of foreign imports. 

But, alas, the bright object was our most recent full moon! I could hear the coyotes howling and feel the hairs on the back of my neck beginning to curl. It's been a while since my semi-annual visit to “Heads of the Harbor” for a buzz cut with Lora.

The moon and I have a love-hate relationship. I am mesmerized by the

The next public supper will be Jan. 8. The menu will be announced as soon as possible. The cost is $10 for members and $12 for non-members. Additional meals may be purchased for take-out at the same cost when reserved. Take outs should be picked up at 5:45 p.m. For more information or to make a reservation, call 882-8230. Please join us for this delicious meal.

Cribbage results for Tuesday, Dec. 10 with eight players were: First place: James  Kip Kelsey, 841. Second place: Nancy Perry and Roger Tappan, (tied) 813. Third place: Roger Tappan and Nancy Perry, 821. High Hand: Duane Rolerson, 18

Sometimes life is a romcom. This was an "Under the Tuscan Sun" year for me. I had plumbing problems. In her charming but ramshackle villa in Tuscany, Diane Lane confronted an ornate, centuries-old, bone-dry spigot. In my case, my well was becoming more unreliable with each shower. And no one seemed to know the well’s location. Each day new theories emerged as friends, tradesmen and neighbors called upon their collective memory for clues to the well’s whereabouts. Naturally, I found my life revolving around these relationships. Folks stopped by for coffee while I was still in pajamas. They

Here in Maine, come winter, most of the smallest birds leave us. Ruby-throated hummingbirds are long gone (although a rare rufous hummingbird has been surviving at a hummingbird feeder in Port Clyde). “Smallest birds” includes the warblers leave, too—they leave us, except for the few hardy yellow-rumped warblers and the occasional lingering individual of one of a number of other warbler species.

Larger birds have a general advantage when it gets cold. Compared to smaller species, they have a lower ratio of surface area to volume, so they lose heat less quickly. In other words, it’s

For those who do not know what the Hot Stove League, as it is called, is about, it is the discussion about the off-season trade and free agent signing possibilities, mostly through the press and mostly about Major League Baseball. The league (not actually a league) is starting to heat up with the New York Mets signing Juan Soto, formerly of their cross-town rival, New York Yankees, in a free agent move. The Boston Red Sox were in the bidding war with the Mets and other teams but paying Soto nearly $765 million for 15 years was not what the Sox bid – and to me, it is ridiculous to pay any

Last week, Alna selectmen stopped their in-person and Zoom meeting about an hour and a half in, because the Internet went out. Monday, when Wiscasset's planning board chair could not get Zoom going, that in-person and would have been Zoom meeting proceeded in person and all the night's business got done. Both boards made the right call.

How's that?

For one thing, neither panel had a public hearing that night, so that removes a potential issue of the public's participation in one. The planning board had applications to decide on, and in Alna the selectmen and the public, in person and over

This is one of my most favorite times of year, but not for the reason one might think. 

For 24 years, we have published our “Around Boothbay Harbor” calendar. In that time, we have sold, shipped and donated over 40,000 copies to lovers of this paradise.

We have shipped calendars all over the world — to the UK, Ireland, China, Spain, Alna, California, Africa, Switzerland and Houlton, to mention only a handful. We have donated calendars to nursing homes, veteran facilities and to local military members in the Mediterranean. The affection and connections to the Boothbay region and to Maine run

Dear Editor:

On July 10, 1911, North Bridgton Maine set a record high of 105 F. A headline, two days later, noted that 221 people died from heat in New York that month. On Aug. 12, 1936, Seymore, Texas set a record of 120 F. An earlier headline noted that 3,000 had died in that U.S. heatwave. Both records still stand.

Little has changed after another year of warming headlines. Twelve Maine towns and cities have high temperature records of 100 degrees and above. Seven of the records were set in 1975 including Newcastle at 101 F. The remaining five were set in 1897, 1935, 1955, 1955 and 2011.

Well, here we go with a column that is guaranteed to honk off the Democrats, the leftovers from the old Republican party, the MAGA crowd, and the rest of Rabbit’s friends and relations.

I believe Grandpa Joe Biden did the right thing when he issued a presidential pardon for his son Hunter.

I can visualize my liberal friends clutching at their pearls and gritting their teeth when they say: But he promised he would not pardon his son. He lied. That is terrible. As if politicians never skirt the truth.

My FIM (Friends in the Middle) pals point to how Hunter was convicted and awaits sentencing

If you’re reading this column, you probably don’t need any convincing that interest in birds and birding is skyrocketing. Take, for example, the seemingly increasing use of bird-related clues in the popular game-show, Jeopardy, in recent years (they misidentified a bird at least once). And just this weekend we got a little rush during a rerun (from May, 2024) when one of the quizzes on the popular National Public Radio show, “Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me” was all about birds.

You know something’s hit the big time when it cracks into pop culture, even the slightly nerd version of it.

That also

Larry Brown could not have picked more worthy honorees to blow whistles to start the Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving morning.

Longtime area residents Dave Parkhurst, Mike Harrison and Clayton Pottle have officiated more basketball games around the state than most of the current officials now lacing up the sneakers and putting on the black-and-white striped jerseys. But their dedication to area youth doesn’t end on the basketball court.

I have known these men for over 50 years and all are well-respected members of the community.

Dave and Clayton put in several years as volunteers with the

Every year in Maine's Prettiest Village, one of the warmest moments comes on a cold or somewhat cold evening: the tree lighting. For small town or any town nostalgia and holiday and community spirit, it is hard to beat the countdown to the lighting, and before that the schoolchildren's caroling on the steps of First Congregational Church at the top of the common.

The old church, with its columns and height and its place in Wiscasset history, is such a beautiful backdrop, one of those sights that could not be more perfect for gathering as darkness falls and lights help make the mood. 

Also

Give Don Viens a cocktail napkin and a ballpoint pen and he can sketch an idea for just about anything. In fact, I’d put money on a Don plan that doesn’t even require hard copy. Need a piece of furniture or an ornate item for your roof peak, a garden shed, or an entire house? Don can make it happen.  And, quite possibly, he can make it happen in a way that you may never have envisioned using unusual materials from a 150-year-old barn stored under a tarp next to his shop. It’s as if wood has been waiting for Don’s next unique project, waiting for it to arrive. The more irregular, in many

Did you have a good Thanksgiving? Get enough turkey and dressing? Did you overdose on football or reruns of old programs? Did the family behave and play nice for the oldsters?

I hope the answers to this quiz are yes, yes, maybe, and yes.

The next question: Did you survive the weekend without being overwhelmed with ads plugging hot deals on Black Friday through Cyber Monday? Again, I hope the answer was yes.

Now, we are into the official Christmas season, the make-or-break time for our merchant friends. In the words of Tom Lehrer: “God rest ye very merchants. May ye make the Yuletide pay