Surrendering is not giving up, abandoning or raising the white flag.
Surrendering is not accepting defeat.
Surrendering is not failure.…
Columns
Industrial arts
Our kitchen floor is scattered with bits of the woods out back — twigs, fir needles, and the occasional snarl of pale green lichen, usnea I think, “Old Man’s Beard” — or that’s what I’ve…
I’ve been thinking for a while that I should write about intolerance. It seems that some people are not very tolerant of ideas and beliefs that are not…
Industrial arts
These notes begin aboard the ferry bound for Matinicus. I sit in the cab of my 36-foot U-Haul; in front of me, a fisherman’s ton truck laden with a couple of frighteningly unsecured bait boxes,…
Now is the season for lights: strung up on Christmas trees, along our porch eaves, on the holiday wreaths on the town lampposts, in shop windows, on the shrubbery in the front yard. As we approach…
Down by the sea
Camden always wanted to be a “tourist town,” after James Richards, the first settler sailed into Camden Harbor in 1791. When the population reached 331, the plantation wanted to be…
Throughout my stories, you hear me speak about The Chief. That’s how I address him to this day and that’s how he addresses me.…
Down to the Sea
Pets were always a must with me. It was important that I had a cat, and I never saw one that was not beautiful, in my view. We had “Snooky”…
Down by the sea
Summer or winter,
Spring and Fall,
Camden, Maine
Enjoys them all.
Our hills and…
Meditations
As we approach that time of year when things get a little creepy, it seems appropriate to take a closer look at one of Maine's more charismatic plants—a plant…
A seasonal ceremony of leaving
It’s time for many among us to begin thinking about closing up for the winter. Well—you, maybe; not me. As I write, rocking and rolling on the state ferry vessel Everett Libby Rockland-…
Out of Our Past
The House of Logan has been a fixture in Boothbay Harbor all my life and for the lives of almost everyone now in town. For decades Logan's has been a destinaton for classic clothing. After my…
As I write this the Pink Panther theme song is still running through my head. Why? Because I’m still trying to figure out where it all went wrong. It should have been a simple heist.
I mean…
All volunteer departments have certain traditions as do fulltime departments. How they come about can be very interesting.
At the scene of a…
Meditations
Some new Camden residents moved into the lower Pearl Street neighborhood this spring, and have distinguished themselves by how noisy they are. But the neighbors aren't complaining. Rather, they're…
When Camden burned
People have asked me, ”Do you always tell the truth, when writing your articles?” The answer is “Yes.” But this one is a true historical fiction, that I dreamed up when imagining…
Industrial arts
A few days ago I sat outdoors enjoying the perfect weather on Matinicus. Most of us concur at least roughly on what “perfect” weather for sitting at a picnic table means: warm, bright, dry, and…
No matter how small your town or fire department may be, there are large structures that can burn as large fires and our town was no exception. In the…
The biggest issue for any rural volunteer fire department is water, or lack of it. Unlike urban areas, rural departments have few or no hydrants and if they do have hydrants they usually flow very…
Industrial arts
I have a tiny summer business, a bakery, where for a couple of months each year I put in long workdays producing sugar-based indulgences, fragrant homemade bread, nostalgia, cholesterol, and…
While walking the grounds of Plants Unlimited one recent August day, I was surprised to turn a corner and flush a shorebird. Somewhere near the hydrangeas, I came upon it again: a Least Sandpiper…
Transformations
Kane. The name conjures different thoughts to different people. To some Kane is a legendary professional wrestler who dominated the WWF in the late 90s. To others, Kane is the creator of Batman…
it was usually the classes from the 1940s that loved to dance and stayed until the band wore out
Those who graduated from good old Camden High School, or attended it, have always been welcomed to the CHS Alumni Banquet. In recent years it has been…
opinion
On a summer afternoon, I was working in a neighboring town when their tone went off for a structure fire. Not hearing a lot of response, which is common in small towns during daylight hours when…
Lyme Time
This is one of the more prominent conversations that I have with people every day of every week and there are many variables that play into the answer. The most common variable as to why a…
It takes a village to babysit a pig
Our little story begins back last fall, a few weeks into the school year, when our one elementary school teacher fell ill. A gang of assorted responders came to his assistance as is likely to…
Barbara Dyer
Because the Atlantic Engine Company No. 2 is trying to raise money for thermal imaging equipment, maybe it is time to explain the origin of the fire company, old and new. It has a long history…
On the firefighting front
Fourth of July eve. Is that really a date or should I just say July 3? Around 5 or 6 p.m. I get a call on my personal phone from the State Police telling me that a trooper is in a parking lot…
Meditations
It's easy to feel you've left your everyday life behind on Monhegan Island, located about ten miles offshore and over an hour by boat from Port Clyde. During the long, slow journey to get there…
Lyme Time with Paula Jackson Jones
Summertime is meant for fun, rest and relaxation and enjoying the company of friends and family with all that Maine has to offer. When you go to the beach, you bring sunscreen. You have a plan.…
If you’re the chief officer at a fire, probably the most important thing you want is people who know their jobs. There is complete chaos at most fire scenes and while you’re trying to bring order…
Knox loved Lucy, but disliked her gambling. She lost Friendship and Appleton in poker games
Around this vicinity, there are towns, counties and businesses that have Knox for a name, and it is because of General Henry Knox.
Camden is in Knox county, and many of our first settlers…
Industrial Arts
I missed apple-blossom time this year.
Matinicus Island doesn’t have a lot of hardwoods, and admits to offering a mostly over-mature and decidedly scraggly spruce forest, but the…
On Eating and Loving Food
Okay, this is it. My last column in the Boothbay Register. Kind of a good thing, kind of a sad thing.
I titled it The Last Supper, not for any deep, dark reasons – merely because my first…
On Eating and Loving Food
Do you order onion rings in restaurants? I don’t, unless I’ve seen some there, and I know they’re freshly made, and prepared and cooked right.
There have been too many times I’ve asked if…
On Eating and Loving Food
Okay so I’ve written about lobster before, but it’s spring in Maine, and that means lobster season is coming.
It’s not that you can’t eat lobster in the off-season, but it’s usually far…
THEY SAID WHAT?!
“You’re too sick to have chronic Lyme,” “Once you have Lyme, you can’t get it again,” “You didn’t get the bulls-eye so you’re all set,” “You been treated so any residual…
Down to sea
None of us were here in the year 1880, but Camden was. Some things have not changed but many things are quite different today.
Camden did include what is now Rockport ( then called Goose…
On Eating and Loving Food
I’ve written about tacos in general, but I’m going to get specific here: Haddock tacos. Most restaurant menus list them as simply fish tacos. If they do that, and there’s no description with the…
Lyme Time with Paula Jackson Jones
Fear consumes us and directs our thoughts, words and actions. Knowledge. reduces our fear, the more we know about something, the less we fear because we have some control over how it may or may…
Migratory Bird treaty Act in jeopardy with new federal energy act
Slowly the poplar and maple buds begin to unfurl into achingly green new leaves. Ferns uncoil. Slowly wildflowers emerge from the forest floor: trailing arbutus, spring beauties, Canada mayflowers…
On Eating and Loving Food
So last week I wrote about Thai-inspired chicken soup. The next day I saw that Facebook friend Peter Ross had posted a recipe for Crispy Sesame chicken with a sticky Asian sauce, that called for a…
The fire took off like a freight train
The State of Maine allows open burning. That means that with a permit you can burn brush or grass. It’s a great way to get rid of blowdowns or building lumber scrap or the dead grass in the spring…
On Eating and Loving Food
I have a cold.
Considering the winter and spring that I’ve just endured, this is nothing. Some day I’ll tell you all the details of the winter/spring of 2018, but it’s still too raw, and…
Lyme Time with Paula Jackson Jones
‘Tis the season for ticks and conversations about ticks and hosting year-round, weekly Lyme disease awareness events gives me opportunity to have many interesting conversations.
With the…
On Eating and Loving Food
Sometime last year I made an olive oil cake. I shared the recipe in a column. It was good, but what made it great was the ricotta, whipped up with some sugar and fresh-squeezed lemon juice, fresh…
Industrial Arts
I spoke with Hank Lang last year at the Maine Resource Recovery Association’s conference and trade show. Lang, the Plant Manager at the Penobscot Energy Recovery Company’s trash-to-energy facility…
On Eating and Loving Food
Mark Twain once wrote, "Training is everything. A peach was once a bitter almond; a cauliflower is nothing but a cabbage with a college education."
Whatever that means.
I think…
On Eating and Loving Food
No matter how you look at it, noodles are good. They’re comforting. They’re soft and chewy. They’re fattening ...
Noodles can be a base for pretty much anything. What is pasta? Noodles.…
Maine, once home to the King’s Pines
One of the first steps toward achieving what I like to think of as "natural literacy" about a place is learning the basics. Your understanding of a particular place expands as you become more…
