Talk

letter to the editor

Great America

Dear Editor: America is great. Did I say something wrong? What is so wrong about wanting America to be great? Why does wearing a MAGA hat make one an enemy? These days many are vehemently against...
Where It’s At

Stargazing

The night sky: Who doesn’t enjoy looking up at the stars musing about the distance between them and us? Imagining what civilizations from pre-historic times forward thought when seeing what we know...
A Bird’s Tale

Tree Swallows Wintering in Maine?

Tree swallows are a sign of spring for many of us here in Maine. We eagerly await their return on the first extended run of days with strong, warm southerly winds. Sometimes that can bring birds here...
Out of Our Past

Boothbay's Lost

I wrote the following article in 1989. Any updates are within bracketed sentences. We've all lost or broken family heirlooms. When it happens, it seems a trust is broken and that the link...
Lyme Time

Walking the Talk

This past weekend, I celebrated five years and nine months of being in full remission from late stage neurological Lyme disease complicated by four other tick-borne disease, Babesia, Bartonella, RMSF...
Joe’s Journal

Ms. Pigette’s winter tale

Pigette stands alone,Watching snow plows cover her,Spring can’t come too soon. With all that is going on in Washington and the bitter TV battle being waged for and against...
From the editor

Cheers and jeers

Cheers to the area public works crews for their fine job of clearing the snow and ice off the roads after the several nuisance storms we've had so far this month. Again, as a reminder, motorists,...
From the assistant editor

The u in fun, the c’s in soccer

A lot of words come to mind for winter. For me, “celebrate” is not one. But every year, Wiscasset celebrates Winterfest and makes the coldest, darkest time of year fun, for a couple of days. And even...
’Round Town

Winter

It appears that more winter-like weather has arrived here on the peninsula. So far, since just before Thanksgiving, we have had mixed signals from our well seasoned delivery systems. Which front will...
Live, laugh and love!

Tuscan meatballs

Wicked cold snap … not liking it much myself. Co-ed Saturday morning basketball at the YMCA is done for another year. Watching the growth of all of the kiddos is so awesome to watch. I want to wish...
AARP state scam alerts: Utility bill scams

Winter is upon us and with temperatures plummeting in many areas, keeping the heat on is critical — a fact that scammers try to take advantage of. Each winter, utility scams spike as con artists...
letter to the editor

Words of advice?

Dear Editor: I kept the following for many years. It is from a clipping that my mother, Ann Margaret Petersen Larson, carried in her purse. The author is unknown. Those I read it to in church...
letter to the editor

Be not afraid

Dear Editor: America is great because its people are free. The media's continuous barrage with propaganda to the contrary can be very depressing. But we all know we are far better off today than we...
Show your support for LD 594

Dear Editor: It is a stark reality that on average, working households in Maine have just $2,500 in retirement account savings. As the current AARP Volunteer State President, a Portland resident and...
Lyme Time

Ticks Do Not Discriminate

With new cases of tick-borne disease being reported, more stories of suffering and misdiagnosis are coming to the surface and the common denominator is this ~ ticks do not discriminate. They have one...
’Round Town

Samantha

I’ve realized over many years of photographing that there can be a wide range of reaction to any given subject. One person’s meat can be another person’s poison, to paraphrase an old saying. It’s a...
Joe’s Journal

Pat Farrin: A survivor

I ran into Pat Farrin in East Boothbay the other day. He was riding a powerful yellow excavator doing its level best to buck him off and pitch him down a muddy hillside. Pat and his son Kipp were...
Live, laugh and love!

Pan-seared fresh scallops

Hope everyone is keeping up with this crazy weather. Saturday it was over 50 degrees in January. I was very fortunate to have the time for a nice long walk. It was an absolutely gorgeous day … such a...
Where It’s At

Bob Crink’s ‘Women of the Boothbay Region II’: B&W vignettes

What is it about B&W photos and films that grabs us? I know it’s not just me who adores them. For me it’s because B&W images have a timeless element about them. B&W also adds super shadow...
From the editor

Our schools

For many, many months, I have thought a lot about our area schools. Perhaps it started when Wiscasset shuttered its primary school on Gardiner Road and moved those classes to the elementary school on...
From the assistant editor

Big business times

Three of our stories this week highlight positive moves in the Wiscasset small business scene: a former seafood market off the market and about to enter the restaurant business; a longtime collision...
A Bird’s Tale

Our Mindfulness Maine Birding Big Year Wrap Up

We hope you recall our 2019 pursuit of a Maine Mindfulness Big Year. As of our last report in October, we had found 214 species in the state since Jan. 1. We mentioned then of our hope to get over to...
DAR surpasses one million members since its founding

Last fall the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) surpassed one million total members who have joined the organization since its founding in 1890. The DAR is a women’s service...
letter to the editor

Merry Christmas

Dear Editor: What a delight it was last month to say “Merry Christmas” and listen to so many smiling faces respond with “Merry Christmas.” Edward J. Polewarczyk Wiscasset
Identity theft and fraud

Is the ‘Felony Lane Gang’ in Maine?

The recent news reports about thefts from parked cars makes me wonder if a criminal gang that was active in other states a few years ago has started to operate in Maine. Known as the “Felony Lane...
A Bird’s Tale

Dovekie, Holy Grail of Winter Birding

It is one of the “holy grails” of winter birding. Even if you’ve seen this bird before, it’s a species you hope for whenever you find yourself peering out to sea, eyes tearing up in the icy wind, on...
Lyme Time

Hindsight is 20/20

“Hindsight is 20/20” is a saying coined from the mid-1900s, a phrase meaning the clarity that someone has about their past decisions and/or actions. It’s the act of looking back over something and...
Live, laugh and love!

Sausage gravy

As you’re reading this, I’ll be just getting back from the Bahamas with my twinners. Back to work and back to reality.I want to share a sausage gravy recipe that I do when the kids come over for...
’Round Town

Winter rain

I watch the weather. Not in the same way some of my fishing folk friends do as they track the temperatures, winds, wind directions and weather-related sea activities. They have a lot at stake and...
From the editor

Email, slow down and good luck Y-Arts

As editor, I get story ideas, updates, press releases, letters to the editor, photos, etc. through various methods – email, my personal Facebook page, texts, through the mail slot in the office front...
From the assistant editor

Thank you for the thank you

We don’t do our job for the thanks. We stay in this line of work because it suits our skills, it matters to us, or, ideally, both. That makes the best product, like in any business. But in recent...
Joe’s Journal

News about the news

You might say there was a lot of news last week. I am not talking about the assassination of the Iranian big shot/bad guy that threw the Middle East/Europe and much of the rest of the world into a...
letter to the editor

Monster government

Dear Editor: Having allowed government to grow to monster size, we have produced a cadre of professional, lifetime politicians, most of whom ply their trade by periodically raising their...
Lyme Time

Reflections and Resolutions

If 2019 has taught me anything its that change is inevitable. No matter how much you fight for or against something, at some point, something is going to shift, to give way and change will occur....