We’ve just celebrated the Winter Solstice/Yule on the 21st and our coldest season is noticeably revving up. And here comes Santa Claus with the Baby New Year following close behind. 

Christmas, especially with young children, is an exciting time of year, isn’t it? The magic and excitement of getting that Christmas tree and decorating together; but first (in my family’s case) we had to determine how many books or magazines we needed to straighten our “Tower of Pisa” ... we never had a straight tree! We still laugh about it, too.  

Then there was the stabilizing phase: Tying two to three

It was New York City or bust for us last week when we did a whirlwind road trip to Manhattan for an overnight to pick up our son who lives there along with his girlfriend and two cats. We arrived in time for a late-ish (by Maine standards, less so for New York!) dinner and then stroll about his Midtown neighborhood to enjoy the holiday lights shimmering in a lightly falling snow. The next day it was brunch, a little sight-seeing, then back in the (now rather cramped) car amid the cries of protesting kitties.

But not before a little—very little—birding, of sorts.

Wow, 2024 is almost over! Was it good for you? Did you experience happiness or stress? You probably experienced both.

The presidential election, perhaps a health issue, the weather – those could have been stressors. Happiness may have come with family milestones – a birth, a wedding, a birthday – a financial windfall?

Our work family, the Boothbay Register/Wiscasset Newspaper/Pen Bay Pilot, experienced the highs and lows during 2024. We won over 30 awards in the Maine Press Association Better Newspaper Contest; we hired a local young person as a reporter, Isabelle Curtis, who is doing a fine

May 2025 bring more of the fun, community-bonding experiences that come from friends having ideas and sowing them, like the pet candidate posters in Wiscasset during 2024's election season and, on Railroad Avenue last June, the new event with perhaps the best name ever, Wormfest. 

May 2025 up area meetings' positivity and productivity where needed and lessen the chest-pounding. We all know who is not a fan of this or that official in each town and, while it is right any night to call for better ways of doing things or to bring clarity, repeating yourself about shortcomings, speaking when you

With our crazy, mixed-up weather at the moment, I figured I’d take a flyer and guess that full heavy snowfall may be absent from our near future. And, of course, as always, I could be wrong. But as I sit writing this week’s adventure story, it’s cold and clear with a light dusting of overnight snow, only a few days after temperatures reached nearly 50 degrees. There has been some horrendous snows in other areas of the country, namely Buffalo, New York area, where I once had to tunnel out of the house due to massive drifting. We, here in the area seem to have been overlooked (a temporary

I didn’t buy any Christmas gifts this year. My family and friends don’t need anything. We all have too much stuff anyway, and, if my kids need new underwear and socks, they are on their own.

Instead, I sent a check to Boothbay Harbor Memorial Library. I urge you to do so, too.

For years, other fine local service organizations have tried to figure out when to ask the public for help. Well, this year, it is the Library’s turn to ask you to reach into your wallet and help them help us, our neighbors, our summer residents and visitors, our kids, our grandkids, and our great-grandkids.

The

The next public supper will be Jan. 8. The menu will be carrot soup, salad, herb bread, lemon chicken, rice pilaf, broccoli and cream puffs with chocolate sauce. 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. Takeouts 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 Thursday, Dec. 19 with 17 players were: First place: Marg Pooler, 828. Second place: Duane Rolerson, 822. Third place: Roger Downs, 819

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