Now that we’ve outlasted another winter and seen the first sunset of a hopefully merciful spring, here are a few final thoughts on the dark season just ended.

Frozen in thought is no longer…

Eat your fruits and vegetables. Choose lean meats and fish. Limit your sugar and salt intake. We all hear these messages daily, and have for many years. There’s only one big problem: It…

The weather has been the major topic of discussion this past week, with a brutal nor’easter dumping 15-plus inches of snow on our peninsula, and as we prepared our column, forecasters were…

Central Maine Power is being investigated by the Public Utilities Commission regarding metering, billing and customer communications after the PUC received hundreds, possibly thousands, of…

Most of us have no idea whatsoever what goes on behind closed doors except our own, and generally tend to mind our own business. It’s not a bad philosophy. Running our own lives is usually…

Leave it to sports to give us something to cheer about when politics local and elsewhere are running hot over referendums, lawsuits and more; and sometimes in the sports arena, there is respite…

The potholes aren’t showing today, as we write this column; it’s snowing. However, the weatherman promises very little accumulation and a quick melt, so we’ll all be able to SEE the potholes…

Here’s a thought: If you are pregnant, don’t smoke cigarettes. If you want to risk shortening or lowering the quality of your life, as long as you avoid spreading the smoke secondhand, that’s your…

Another school shooting massacre, this time in Florida. Let’s wake up, America, and do something about stopping this senseless violence. Even President Trump seems ready to get serious about…

Why is it that so many elected officials, company heads, and others who don’t have to answer to higher-ups,  find it so tempting to waste someone else’s money? If they don’t…

The other day, my mother saw the first robin of the year, continuing that rite of spring or near spring for my mother, my sister and me. We each try to be the first to spot one. We got that from…

February is a good month for thinking. The days are getting longer – yeah – and with 321 days left in the year – as of Tuesday – this week seemed like a good time to ponder over what has…

It’s about time, say many of us, that L.L. Bean will no longer quietly let some unscrupulous customers take advantage of them and hurt their bottom line.The company is discontinuing its long…

I saw a Facebook post this week of an eagle standing on ice and looking down. Its reflection was there, and at first glance I thought the bird of prey was eying its image. But I kept looking and…

I have been lost in the middle.

I’ve known about the “baby boomers,” because I am one, but ask me about who is a “Generation X” or a “millennial” and I am lost. Not that it’s really…

Every time we watch one of the TV shows on hoarders, we breathe a sigh of relief that we’re not that bad yet, but we do feel guilty that we save far more than we should. Some folks can claim…

I’m glad Judy Flanagan addressed Wiscasset selectmen Tuesday night, about the disgusting storefront sign that tried to insult and perhaps shame her and Chairman Judy Colby over their lack of…

It’s Super Bowl week and our beloved (depending on who you talk to) New England Patriots are in it again. For a record 10th time! They’ve won five and lost four — and if it wasn’t for a couple of…

Being a celebrity can have its drawbacks.  Take “The Price is Right” television game show host Drew Carey, who found himself on the floor of the stage a couple of weeks ago,…

I still enjoy watching Punxsutawney Phil prognosticate on Groundhog Day morning to Pennsylvanians. It’s edge of your seat television or radio or computer. Whether you believe he will get it right…

One of my favorite columns, a duty I have done for two and a half years now, was about the various neighborhoods in Boothbay Harbor while I was growing up and the families living in those…

 The next time you’re inching your way from one side of Wiscasset to the other due to unusually heavy traffic, or you’re stopped on Oak Street behind eight or ten cars waiting…

Good for Woolwich for proposing the state pave shoulders while it’s repaving Route 127 this year. It sounds like it would be smart for the reasons Phil Di Vece reports in his story on the town’s…

Turned on the radio before shaving Monday morning and Don Henley’s “Dirty Laundry” was playing. I’ve listened to that song probably 500 times and it still rings true — most of the evening news is…

“Where is everybody? ‘’ We overheard this question last week as a local resident remarked that it seemed to be quiet everywhere – precious few pedestrians on the sidewalks, empty parking…

I doubt anyone except those in Hawaii Saturday morning could fully grasp what they felt after their phones reported there was a threat of an inbound ballistic missile, and that this was not a…

We didn’t have the winning numbers in the Mega Millions, Powerball, or Tri State lotteries this past weekend, which is quite understandable:We didn’t buy any tickets.Lotteries wouldn’t fare…

Heading into the week of Jan. 8, all of Wiscasset’s high school basketball teams, varsity and junior varsity, boys and girls, were still looking for their first wins. And some of the margins they’…

We’re off and running in a brand new year which will, once again, bring changes we may never have imagined, including in the field of medicine. We’re all living longer, thanks in part to…

It has been a long time since I've had any use for snow other than writing about it. But the cold we’ve been having is far worse than snow. If you have to be outside, and we all do, some of us…

Wiscasset’s political plate is filling up fast for 2018. The main course so far is Main Street, as Maine Department of Transportation moves toward its downtown project that near year’s end was…

Happy New Year!

Wow, another year is upon us. Seems like only a few months ago that 2017 began. As we get older, time goes faster and faster. And I can feel those years in my bones and…

2017 has brought lots of changes to our local communities, our state, country and elsewhere around the world.  We constantly have to adapt to new concepts, philosophies and…

I have been thinking all week about what my Christmas message will be and on Tuesday night, it came to me.

I have been trying to figure out why I sometimes get melancholy around Christmas.…

Although it has a religious origin, the message Peace on Earth, goodwill toward men is now a popular saying the world over, especially during the Christmas season when we all tend to be a…

I tried all week to get a picture of Kendall Chick. I wanted us all to be able to see the little girl in life whose death has left a weight on Wiscasset’s heart over the past week.

I…

Hats off to Edgecomb for premiering its Charlie Brown Christmas tree-decorating contest, with “sorriest tree” and other categories that befit the Peanuts classic holiday special so many of us grew…

Christmas decorations hold a special place in our hearts, especially the traditional wreaths, swags, garlands and other greenery offset by bright red ribbons and bows.They’re perfect symbols…

Other than a few smarty-pants who have their Christmas shopping all done, most of us are still at it, trying to figure out what to get for those on our list who pose a challenge.In the days…

I was a David Cassidy fan. I liked his voice and his looks, and I can still hear him singing, “Wah think I love you.” And then there was the theme song that started each episode of “The Partridge…

Oh my! It’s Christmastime!

Here comes the busiest time of the year for many folks. There’s the shopping, decorating, getting and putting up the tree, wrapping gifts, going to events and…

I am thankful for my family and friends every day of the year but on this Thanksgiving week, I would like to thank some other people (some are friends, too!) who contribute very much to getting…

My mother has told me over the years about a train ride to Boston when she was 10, for my Uncle Charlie’s college graduation. Riders seeing television antennae on the roofs of tar-paper shacks in…

On this Thanksgiving holiday, as we sit down with family and friends to share both good food and conversation, let’s not forget the thousands all over the world who are less fortunate.…

Two recent wind storms brought down a tremendous number of trees. Maine is the most heavily forested state in the nation, with an estimated 24.3 billion.Even before the latest blow, we…

While writing this column, the clock was ticking toward the end of another year of my existence. Yes, I turned 61 this week. Not a memorable number, for sure, but birthdays tend to not only creep…

Wiscasset voters elected the school committee and selectmen. Property owners and fee-payers fund the school and town services out of their paychecks, savings and any other means they can. Two…

Arguably the biggest election night surprise in Wiscasset didn’t come at the polls at Wiscasset Community Center. Selectmen delivered it down the road, in their majority vote to go to court over…

Last night I found myself looking at the shadows on the walls and ceilings of my house, cast from the light of four candles glowing in the kitchen, dining room, computer nook and living room. As…

I’ve noticed it for years in Wiscasset and if anything, it seems to only get more so: Whether visitors or residents, when people are here, they enjoy engaging one another.

I was taking…