Talk

• From the editor

  View from my desk

  

  At least I’m not staring at a wall all the time – as was the case during my time working at home when the pandemic struck. For the most part of my three-plus decades here at the Register office, I...
• From the assistant editor

  Fall is the new summer

  

  Did you feel it? Not the icy reception selectmen’s and other boards’ decisions in any of our towns receive sometimes. That can happen any time of year. This was the other night. A cold wind blew...
• A Bird’s Tale

  What’s So Special About a Forest

  

  Forests are incredibly important for birds. Most of us probably know that intuitively. Common species like chickadees, nuthatches, and woodpeckers that visit our backyard bird feeders, even those...
• Salt ’n Spar

  ’Tis the season to watch Dark Shadows

  

  Over the past month, my wife and I have been spending our evenings watching the original “Dark Shadows,” the old television series featuring ghosts, witches, and the vampire, Barnabas Collins. The...
• Joe's Journal

  The FBI failed us all

  

  Last week, it was hard to keep up with the news. The TV/newspaper universe provided lots of fodder for the nation’s anger and argument society. Here are a few highlights. We saw COVID-19 overwhelm...
• ’Round Town

  Alpacas

  

  During a recent wedding at Newagen Seaside Inn on Southport Island, while photographing with a newly married couple, out of the corner of my eye, “when what to my wandering eyes should appear but, a...
• From the Maine Senate

  Working to protect and strengthen our democracy

  

  Mainers take our duty to participate in our democracy seriously. Maine consistently leads the pack in voter turnout, with about 78 percent of eligible Maine voters casting ballots in the 2020...
• Where It’s At

  Brad Betts’ Santa Barbara series

  

  I haven’t written about the art of Brad Betts for a very long time. I realized this when I was at his Down East Gallery to interview Cilla Alden about her featured show there. Brad’s paintings are...
• Boothbay Region YMCA: Community Catalyst for Good

  Why We Love the Y

  

  This summer the Y asked members, seasonal visitors, donors, and people of all ages who came through our doors to list their reasons they love the Y. The inside wall was dotted with over 70 responses...

• AARP state scam alerts: ‘Smishing’

  

  As more of us catch on to scam calls to our smartphones and block them or don’t answer them, scammers have taken to texting. “Smishing” is the term of art: SMS + phishing. Just as scammers phish by...

• Wiscasset Senior Center

  The next Senior Center supper is Wednesday, Oct. 6. Doors open at 4 p.m., vegetable soup and salad bar are available starting at 4:30, and the entree of pot roast with mashed sweet potatoes, broccoli...
• From the U.S. House of Representatives

  Fair access to the ballot box

  

  Democracy is at stake. In the United States of America, more than a dozen states have enacted laws to make it harder for Americans to vote. As of today, over 400 voter suppression bills have been...
• Where it’s at

  Travel through nanoseconds and forests

  

  The autumn equinox is Sept. 22, at approximately 3:21 p.m. We will welcome a new season and bid farewell to summer. And with summer’s passing, we will also be saying goodbye to a few of our seasonal...
• A Bird’s Tale

  Mystery Hummingbird: Piecing Together the Clues

  

  Cousin Lisa, who lives in Boothbay, has sent us some interesting bird photos of late. She sent one of an albino common raven that a friend had seen in northern Maine. That must have been a ghostly...
• From the editor

  Being positive

  

  I was going to write another “serious” column this week – about the Delta virus and what I read in a New York Times article about the variant of COVID-19 – but I chucked that idea out the window...
• From the assistant editor

  Tightrope

  

  Another round of outdoor events in the past week and a first week of full-time school accomplished, Wiscasset is forging through the change of seasons and, where it can, moving nearer to normal amid...
• Joe’s Journal

  A quick history lesson

  

  In the aftermath of the Civil War, Congress adopted a trio of Constitutional amendments granting full citizenship to four million former slaves.The 13th banned slavery. The 14th granted them equal...
• ’Round Town

  Mornings

  

  Generally, I'm not a morning person, nor am I a late night person. Not sure what you call someone like me? A midday person maybe, among other things! However, on occasion, I do get out early in the...
• letter to the editor

  Emergency housing assistance

  Dear Editor: The Covid-19 pandemic has put a financial strain on many Mainers, and for some that means struggling to pay rent and utility costs. On Aug. 26, the U.S. Supreme Court blocked the Biden...

• Wiscasset Senior Center

  The next Senior Center supper will be Wednesday, Oct. 6. Doors open at 4 p.m., vegetable soup, rolls and salad bar at 4:30, pot roast, sweet potatoes and broccoli at 5, followed by apple squares for...

• A Dramatic Behind-the-Scenes Story of the Return of Bald Eagles

  

  Conservation success stories are always cause for grand celebration. Here in Maine, we think of the return of wild turkeys, the restoration of Atlantic puffins and other seabirds, and, of course, the...
• From the editor

  Violence, Labor Day and a Sox swoon?

  

  We still seem to be on edge 20 years after America was attacked Sept. 11, 2001, perhaps more so because of the homespun violence rather than a foreign plot. Chicago’s violence numbers, alone, are...
• From the assistant editor

  Lights, masks, schools!

  

  How was your summer? Did you weather Wiscasset traffic and find, sometimes, at least, it flowed better than you expected for that time of day or week? And did the opposite also happen? As I and...
• ’Round Town

  Sunflower

  

  Considering the messes of late, i.e., fires, storms, floods, COVID, etc., I thought it might be nice to share something a little less troubling. We, as a family, are not over the top incredible...
• Joe’s Journal

  Problems and solutions

  

  The tail end of Hurricane Ida deposited 1.8 inches of rain in the rain gauge hanging off my back deck. That is a lot of rain in a day, but it was nothing compared to the deluge that Mother Nature...
• Where It’s At

  Ancestral connection through weaving

  

  I’ve written about the tapestries of Priscilla May Alden a few times over the past nine or 10 years. And there’s a reason for that: I love her art and I love to write about it. All that warp (...
• letter to the editor

  Retroactive laws - Ex post facto

  Dear Editor: Ex post facto laws are prohibited for the federal government by Article 1, Section 9 and for state governments by Article 1, Section 10 of the U.S. Constitution. The Constitution of the...
• letter to the editor

  Pleased to read ‘Horn-Decker’ articles

  Dear Editor: I want to thank you for printing the “Horn-Decker” stories in recent issues. When I was a young teenager, growing up on the Birch Point Road in Wiscasset, I was visiting a friend who...

• Wiscasset Senior Center

  The next Senior Center supper will be Wednesday, Sept. 15. Dinner needs to be by reservation at 882-8230 by 5 p.m. on Sept. 13. Door opens at 4 for payment of $9 for members and $11 for non-members....
• A Bird’s Tale

  What are These Boobies Doing in Maine?

  

  Many of you probably have seen or know of the bird called the northern gannet. Just last week we were at Pemaquid Point watching dozens of the massive birds skim over the ocean. Gannets are large,...
• From the editor

  Rudeness is not cool

  

  You can be assertive without being rude. We’ve all seen or heard it – restaurant customers being demanding over a certain meal serving, being loud and obnoxious, letting children run around a dining...
• From the assistant editor

  School zone

  

  Even before school starts next week, I have found myself slowing down to 15 mph in school zones. No matter how old we get, September always feels like school, because that’s what it was for our early...
• Joe’s Journal

  Hope

  

  I confess. I am a news junkie. To those who know me, especially the East Boothbay native who somehow agreed to spend her life with me, this is no secret. The first day I walked into a newspaper city...
• ’Round Town

  Stinson

  

  I missed the Rear Admiral portion of David Stinson's life. Back in the 1980s, he was mostly the Reverend Joseph David Stinson and good friend, even though we were not members of his flock at the...
• Letter to the Editor

  Free to choose?

  Dear Editor: "My Body, My Choice.’ No longer the case. The governor dictates. You will comply or be punished. Edward J. Polewarczyk Wiscasset

• Wiscasset Senior Center

  Cribbage scores: Tuesday Aug. 24, 9:30 a.m., 16 players: First, Marge Pooler, 842; second, Sally Grover, 821; third, Ruth Gilbert, 810; high hand, Flo Dunham (20); low score, Stuart Wyman, 694....
• Salt ’n Spar

  News from the homefront

  

  Not long ago, Nancy Roby of Edgecomb was going through some old papers and found something of a historic nature she thought I’d enjoy seeing. It turned out to be an original copy of the Wiscasset...
• Letter to the Editor

  Grateful for Nathan’s Pharmacy

  Dear Editor: I love these people! We met while they were just beginning to organize their new pharmacy, and I asked Andrew if he would consider partnering with The Community Center to help supply...
• Letter to the Editor

  Do no harm

  Dear Editor: The Boothbay Register’s column, “A puzzlement,” in Joe's Journal Aug. 26 was a thorough, thoughtful and gentle nudge to encourage all non-vaccinated resistors to reconsider getting...

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Recent Blogs

• 

  Wiscasset calms down

• 

  Climate Change is Here. Here’s How It’s Affecting Birds

• 

  Briard-a-palooza

• 

  A day at the Windsor Fair - what we saw

• 

  Greatest of All Tomatoes

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