They have homed in from all points of the compass for Christmas, six of our seven children in our modern American blended family have returned to the hearth to participate in a Nativity scene of their childhood reimagined. I used to do this too, like most everyone else I knew who had left home for
A Historic School Updated for an Island’s Future
The Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Elementary School is a historic gem valued by residents of Great Cranberry Island. Although school operations were suspended in 2000, the building and grounds continue to see much use by the general community. Having housed classes, going back to 1905, for children in kindergarten through eighth grade, residents now seek to
The Light Through Ashley’s Windows
Ashley Bryan might be the most welcoming person I’ve ever met. He is generous with his time in a way most of us could only dream of being. (Or would never dream of being!) When unexpected company calls, Ashley takes it in stride as part of his day, saying he gets energy from his visitors.
A Light in the Dark
In the wake of this month’s great Christmas festivals, you may have missed the recent religious news from Urfa in eastern Turkey. For the past decade, archeologists have been uncovering the ruins of the world’s oldest religious site ever discovered. The site, an enormous temple 11,000 years old, predates the Great Pyramids by over six
NYU Dental Clinic Arrives in Washington County
Leaving behind the flooded and blacked-out facilities of New York University in lower Manhattan, a team of 33 dental students and faculty members arrived in Machias on Sunday, November 5. They set up for a week-long dental clinic that, by the end of the week, was able to serve more than 700 children and adults.
Is a Carbon Tax in Our Future?
When you pull up to a gas station, you might notice a little sticker on the pump that tells you the amount of state and federal taxes that are added on top of the basic fuel price to determine how much you pay per gallon. In Maine, we pay approximately 18 cents in federal taxes
Harpswell Lobsterman Runs First Solar-Powered Wharf
Cutting costs is one key to survival in the lobster industry these days. The unusually large harvest of softshell lobsters and the high cost of fuel have just about driven some Maine lobstermen out of business. One local lobsterman, however, has found an ingenious method of lowering at least one of his bills. Harpswell native
Special Deer Reduction Hunt Is On for December
The junior class at Islesboro Center School is selling blaze orange hats, and the Sewing Circle is adding bright orange mittens and dog kerchiefs to their Christmas sale products in anticipation of the island’s December 10 to 31 Special Deer Hunt. A culmination of a two-year study and plan for reducing the deer herd and
Lobster-Processing Plant Purchase Holds Promise for Gouldsboro
The former Stinson cannery in Gouldsboro has become a symbol of economic frustration for many on the Schoodic Peninsula. After the last remaining sardine factory in the United States closed in 2010, it was bought by the Live Lobster Company and converted to a lobster processing facility with the backing of some $400,000 in public
Empty Nesting
In the midst of the inescapable parental experiences of changing a particularly messy diaper or of trying to comfort a squalling child with an ear infection in the middle of the night, there may be no parent who does not silently yearn for the serenity of the empty nest after the long slog of child