Soft powder blue skies extend in all directions. The sea is shades of blue as well. Dark steel blue in the distance flecked with lines of white from barely curling wave tops sliced by the wind; aquamarine over sandbars nearer the shore. White sands extend north and south as far as we can see, miles and miles into the distance. The air is warm; the breezes gentle.  

This is not a picture of the Maine coast in October as you can see. We are far away from our beloved home state for a short break to the Gulf Coast of Florida in the Tampa/St. Petersburg region.  

Brown pelicans, looking large and

The other day, we passed an annual milestone. The calendar calls it Columbus Day or Indigenous Peoples Day, but here in Vacationland, it is the traditional end to the summer season. It is the time when our regular summer residents close their cottages and secure their boats as the water district prepares to shut off the summer water service later in the month. The kids are filling up classrooms and sporting fields, and the fans of girls' high school field hockey are cheering their successful season. But traditional traditions are changing. The botanical gardens is getting ready for their uber

A friend from Maryland, not far from Washington, D.C., told me about his drive to Maine on Friday, Oct. 10. It wasn’t pretty!    

He said that traffic on “495," heading north, and possibly into Maine, was the heaviest he had ever seen. The trip took quite a bit longer than expected. He left home at 4 a.m. hoping to get a good jump on the drive but instead found that many others had a similar idea which created bottlenecks all along the way. Oh well, he made it and was happy to be back in time to close up the family cottage before the seasonal water shutdown.

This week will see a flurry of

There’s a ribbon of warm light at closing time that catches the long harvest table through the window of Treats Bakery in Wiscasset. It calls to mind a Rembrandt painting. I mention this to explain why instead of coming out of the bakery last Friday provisioned with scones and coffees appropriate for a late afternoon snack, I emerged only with a photograph I had taken of a young mother cradling her toddler tenderly at the far end of the table, illuminated by that soft light. The bakery counter had closed while I contemplated the beauty of the moment.

Naturally, I had to go back the next

Fraud today is largely run by sophisticated, large-scale operations led by transnational crime groups, stealing an estimated $158 billion from Americans in a single year. This is not just a consumer education issue — it’s a national security threat that demands urgent attention.

That’s why AARP has joined the Aspen Institute Financial Security Program’s National Task Force on Fraud and Scam Prevention. Alongside more than 80 organizations — including financial institutions, technology companies, law enforcement, federal agencies and consumer advocates — we helped launch a proposal for the

Sometimes we birders can be lulled into thinking that once we’ve figured out that the yellow bird on the backyard feeder is an evening grosbeak, not an American goldfinch, we know everything we’ll ever know about the evening grosbeak. But what if that evening grosbeak was hiding something from us? What if there were different kinds of evening grosbeak (beyond female, male, and immature)?

In case you haven’t thought about evening grosbeaks for some time (and you may not have, since there haven’t been many around our area in years), they are a stocky finch with an almost shockingly massive

Congratulations to coach Jax (van der Veen) Hepburn – she recently got married – and her 2025 Boothbay Region High School field hockey team for winning their 10th game of the season. It is quite an accomplishment since it had only been done one other time (2017) in the program’s 50-year history. I was in high school when the program started in 1974 and have seen hundreds of games over the years. This year’s team’s success is special in that it features only three seniors, no juniors and the rest of the team consists of only sophomores and freshmen. Good luck the rest of the way, Seahawks.

Cong

With yet another potential, significant project on Wiscasset's horizon, in the form of Peregrine Turbine Technologies, LLC's would-be research and development campus, the prospects for economic growth for the town continue. And yet an undercurrent is also reason for encouragement.

That is the bevy of small businesses that keep opening here. The town has long attracted commerce that wants the exposure of Route One and/or taps the region's reputation for shops from antiques to art to eateries and fashion. But Wiscasset at the moment appears bursting with a gamut of enterprises; enough so for

It has been a while since I set foot on Burnt Island. The last time I visited was the 200th anniversary of Burnt Island Light, one of the oldest lighthouses on the Maine coast, in November of 2021. There were fireworks and a significant gathering across the bay viewed from the Spruce Point Inn. Everyone was excited to see the Light lit, which it was, as soon as daylight diminished, which it did. Elaine Jones and a devoted group of “Keepers of the Light” made great effortsto bring justified attention to one of the area’s most historic structures.

People from many places joined in the

Last weekend, Mother Nature blessed us with some of the greatest weather we have had in years, so I went for a drive. The air was cool and crisp, the sky clear and bright, leaves turning, giving us a few weeks to enjoy the season before we have to drag the porch furniture into the garage.

On my way back home, I drove past Ms. Pigette, who, as usual, was just holding up her mailbox. But I felt guilty. Well, sort of guilty. So I turned around and pulled into her space and got out of the car. And she started in with a vengeance. “Here,” she said, handing me her phone. “Grab this and put it on

I walked into Boothbay Region Art Foundation (BRAF) last Saturday night for its annual ARTinME opening reception and awards. And, wow. Just wow. I’ll say it now (and probably later as well): This is one of those shows in which each work is an example of each artist’s creative magic.

Just over 100 pieces were submitted for this, the third annual large format ARTinME show and of those only 55 were selected by jurors David Estey, improvisational/abstract artist and contemporary abstract artist Jaap Helder, who chose 55 of those entries for this outstanding exhibition. Of these, here are the

Dear Editor:

Last week The Maine Wire broke the story of 250 blank Maine ballots found in an Amazon order of rice, paper plates and a toy light saber. Last month The Meyers Report examined the voting laws of 36 nations, 50 US states and Washington, D.C. Maine’s score was a failing 41, placing it at 82 of the 87 entities. A score less than 65 makes elections “seriously vulnerable to election fraud.” One of the few plusses in Maine was the use of paper ballots. They make it more difficult to cheat. In theory, blank ballots are tightly controlled using a chain of custody process to prevent

Dear Editor:

Question 1, the voter referendum item up for a vote in November that would require Maine citizens to present photo IDs when they vote, whether in person or absentee, and add numerous other requirements and restrictions for absentee voters, prompts the question: what are the problems the initiative is meant to remedy? 

The right-wing Heritage Foundation went looking for instances of voter fraud in Maine and found two documented individual cases, both in 2010, among millions of votes cast by whatever meansin various elections since 1982. 

The provisions in Question 1 dealing speci

The next public supper will be Wednesday, Oct. 15. The meal will be borscht, salad, rye bread, bratwurst, rotkohl (red cabbage), noodles and German chocolate cake.

The cost is $10 for members and $12 for non-members. Additional meals may be purchased for takeout 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 and join us for a wonderful meal.

Cribbage results for Tuesday, Sept. 30 with 23 players: First place: Ann Pinkham, 826. Second place: Duane Rolerson, 815. Third place: Alice Poland, 803. High hand: Na

October is National Cybersecurity Awareness Month – a great time to remind ourselves just how much of our lives take place online and the potential threats that exist in the digital world. Any device that stores information or connects to the internet could become a target forcybercriminals seeking to steal your data. Here are four important ways to help stay safe online. 

First, always usestrong, unique passwords for each online account you own. Even better, investigate options for getting a free or low-cost password manager such as Bitwarden, Dashlane, LastPass, and others. Newer to the m

We were standing on top of a tall, hill-like jetty near Rockkport, Massachusetts, gazing out at the Gulf of Maine, when we heard a short rattling call from somewhere above us in the blue sky. It was early in the afternoon on a warm September day. The bird diversity was not overwhelming. The expected herring gulls glided by. Far out to sea on a human-made jetty of massive blocks of stone sat a preponderance of great black-backed gulls. A single northern gannet beat its long wings in the distance.

And then there was the rattle call again.

We spotted it then, a high, lone bird. It gave a

Once in a while, especially when a new month arrives (and I don’t know what this week’s column is going to be about), I pop into the National Day Calendar to see what types of celebrations are occurring.

October is a month with several celebrations. Here are a few with personal takes on each.

I’m Just Me Because Month: Accept who you are and it’s not about what people think of you, it’s what you think of yourself.

National Physical Therapy Month: A sore knee, back pain and shoulder problems. Maybe PT is in the cards for me. How about you?

Breast Cancer Awareness Month: An important medical

What's better than looking back at a month of five good things that happened in or near Wiscasset? A fast-paced roundup of 10, covering two months. August and September were full of events and special moments and, as it all flew by like summer does, we did our best to cover and/or share as much as possible.

Wiscasset Art Walk Aug. 28 wrapped another season of attracting people downtown for entertainment, shopping and more in the warm months. Kudos to this classy, well-organized event that has become a Wiscasset classic. 

It takes two: Whether you wanted the school budget that passed Sept. 4 or

Joe Gelarden shared a story, as he often does, with me about his first writing job attempt in his hometown of Indianapolis, Indiana, at The Indianapolis Star.

He had just returned from a tour in Vietnam and was hoping to find work. He had no writing experience and, not unlike yours truly, had not fared well in his five-year college activities. Which is to say, Joe didn’t have much to offer, but he wore his Marine uniform to the interview and was given a one-month probationary tryout. 

At about this same time, Joe interacted with Don Fry, a writing coach associated with the Poynter Institute

How many of you remember radio?

No, not the soothing NPR empathy/classical music kind, the mighty Rock & Roll blasts, country twang, or endless breathless rants from the right or the left.

I mean radio, the way back stuff, where our family gathered around a big shiny wooden box about the size of a small refrigerator and listened to what the guy, and it was always a guy, had to say about current events. One of the biggest stars was a guy named Walter Winchell who always began with the tag line, “Good Evening, Mr. and Mrs. America, and all the ships at sea. Let’s go to press.” Then he would