Despite quite a few dim, foggy days and the lingering chilly nights (interspersed with a few oddly hot mornings), the official start of summer was this week. Here on Matinicus Island, the first…

Uh oh. Rhubarb again. But there's still rhubarb to be had out there, and who doesn't like the strawberry rhubarb connection? Not I.

Strawberry rhubarb pie. Yum. I ran into Kate Schwehm…

While I don’t care much for national news, the local stuff I find really interesting and there’s been some stories recently that got me thinking and that’s always a bad thing. There’s a situation…

I went to the opening at the Boothbay Harbor Oceanside Golf Resort (phew, that’s a mouthful – luckily they’re just calling it Oceanside) on May 27.

I met some great people.

I…

I know. I’ve written about lobsters before. But I’m a Maine girl, and it’s summer in Maine (almost).

We Mainers rarely have lobsters in the winter. And I rarely order a lobster in a…

I really, genuinely, seriously love this time of year on Matinicus Island.

There are two reasons for this sloppy excess of gratuitous sentiment. First, these few weeks of spring (well,…

For a long time, running for public office is something I have meant to do because I believe that unless you are involved in some fashion with the decision making process, you have little right to…

Last night I grilled some chicken and made my new favorite salad: Arugula, sliced almonds, blue cheese and my all-time favorite dressing. I’ve made it with fresh grated parmesan in place of blue…

 Mount Battie is in many ways a geographical focal point of Camden. When Camden is described as "where the mountains meet the sea," Mount Battie most literally fits the bill of all the mountains…

So I was walking down Cross Point Road last Sunday morning thinking about this week’s column. I took my phone out of my back pocket to start dictating. It had been left with a text window open…

We’re new at this. Bird watching, I mean. I don’t think they even call it that anymore. I mean, we don’t call it that anymore. Something like that.

My husband and I never really…

God, politics brings out the most peculiar things. I suppose if it were not for the recent appointment of Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court, I would never have stumbled on this story. I’m not…

Okay, we’re going to talk rhubarb again today, so I hope you like it as much as I do. I promise this will be the last rhubarb recipe till next spring.

It does seem that rhubarb is a well-…

The symbol for love of American is respect for our flag. With Patriot's Day passed and Memorial, Flag Day and the Fourth of July coming soon, this article is about various flags that have been…

Lost in the ongoing debate about public school funding is this unfortunate fact: the deck is stacked against rural Maine schools, and has been for a long time.

Teachers in municipalities…

SOUTH THOMASTON — The South Thomaston Fire Department opened its doors April 29 and welcomed the special needs community and their families. Several members of the community came by and had the…

Last week I was thinking about what to write this week's column about. It’s almost rhubarb season, so I figured it’s a good time to make a rhubarb custard pie. Hannaford…

The past weeks have seen a number of environmental anniversaries and traditions; Earth Day, Town Roadside Cleanup Days, discussions on how to maintain a pesticide free lawn, and as always, how to…

Last week I interviewed the pastry chef at the Boothbay Harbor Country Club, Alex Tallen. As she was talking about the absolutely ridiculous French pastries she learned to make while attending a…

So really – does anything sound more appealing than a warm, flaky chocolate biscuit with butter melting on it? Besides an ice cold manhattan with a cherry?

I love biscuits. I wrote about…

On one of the first warm mornings of spring, as I sat out on my back porch watching the mighty Megunticook flow briskly past, a bird flew upriver and perched in a nearby tree. My brain vaguely…

Pot warp. That what it’s called. Fishermen who only call their lobster traps “lobster traps” and never say “lobster pots” still say “pot” warp. It’s rope for lobster pots…uh,…

So this week we’re going to talk about creamed asparagus on toast. Don't stop reading! I say that because I mentioned creamed asparagus at work the other day and the three or four people who were…

I’ve been watching the Great British Baking Show, and it’s killing me. This morning they were making cakes. Ugh. I've been trying to walk 10,000 steps daily, and it really doesn't help when I sit…

I wrote about brunch a few weeks ago, when I celebrated my year anniversary of this column, at the Carriage House…

Sometimes people ask: "What do you guys do for fun out there in the winter?" Out there meaning our beloved Alcatraz of the Willing. Winter is one thing; most people leave and the few holdouts read…

An academic paper published in December by a Seattle-based researcher with ties to Maine sheds some interesting light on the fate of birds in developing suburban landscapes. John Marzluff, the…

When I was a kid baked beans were a pretty common Saturday night dinner. Not B&M, not Bush's, real homemade baked beans. My mother made them fairly regularly for…

I want to tell you about a little something different.today. There were two citizens who had quite an effect on Camden, and lived here most of their lives. One was a lawyer, Job H. Montgomery, who…

Despite my advancing age, I think I’ve kept up pretty well with appliances. Technology, not so much, but appliances, I feel pretty good around. Recently brought the washing machine back to life,…

I know I’ve written about burgers and fries before, but some things never get old. That combination is the most popular lunch in America, plus I had one of the best burgers I’ve ever had last…

On Monday afternoon, March 13, members of the small wintertime community on Matinicus Island took a break from trap work and firewood duty to discuss helicopter landing zone operations and to…

As a self-identified "bird nerd," this is how I enjoy spending my spring vacation:  On a picturesque island, after a lovely seafood dinner with friends, I don my down parka, hat, and gloves and…

Have you ever had clams casino? Have you ever even heard of them?

They’re one of those things that were on every restaurant menu in the ’70s, but that was way before my time :-0

My…

Now that session is well underway, a number of bills that I’ve sponsored will begin to make their way through the committee process. Three bills in particular have…

In Camden we have something that only one other place on the whole East Coast has —Mountains that meet the Sea. The other place is Bar Harbor.

Mount Battie is about 1,000 feet high and in…

Happy new year!

This is the first day of the second year of my food column, “On Eating and Loving Food.”

The first year was a blast, and so far this year has started out the…

I remember when my brother and I got a set of walkie-talkies. We must have been four and five, I suppose; we had not yet started school. We were taught to say “over” after each transmission. That…

There's a common bird I consider the true harbinger of spring here in coastal Maine. This year, I saw one in Belfast on February 2, the earliest date I've ever seen one in the Midcoast (and a full…

Well, football season is over and what a win for the Patriots! Now that the excitement from that is over, we're still in the throes of winter, but thankfully there's NASCAR. The Daytona 500 kicks…

So this food column has been running for a solid year! The first one, “What’s for supper?” ran on Feb. 23, 2016. Man! How time flies. A lot has happened around Boothbay Harbor and the rest of the…

So a couple weeks ago I mentioned ployes. Most of my friends know what they are. If they didn't already, I made sure they heard about them, and tried them. But a lot of people have never had them…

It’s been almost a year since my first food column. After a year you start getting short on ideas – for headlines, and food.

But somehow they keep on coming to me. Either from my own…

Would you let your two-year-old stand on top of a picnic table? If so, does the baby need to be supervised? How close to her would you want some responsible person to stand? If you wouldn't allow…

Anyone who's read any of my stuff probably realizes that I'm a little off. People who really know me understand that the brain inside this head thinks differently than most others. Even though we'…

On Saturday, Jan. 21, I took a walk down Cross Point Road in Edgecomb. It was a warm-ish (for January) day, and I wanted to take some pictures for a short, sweet…

As a sophomore at Camden Hills Regional High School in Rockport, I would like to respond to the recent proposal for a later start time for Camden, Rockland, and Medomak middle and high school…

While the Snow Goose is one of the most abundant species of waterfowl, with a burgeoning world population estimated at more than five million…

 “Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without.”

Did you ever hear that little lecture growing up? That dog-eared expression seems to be lumped into the category of “charming mementos…

I love waking up on a Saturday or Sunday morning. My first thought is about what I'll have for breakfast.

My weekend breakfasts can be a little (or a lot) less healthy than weekday…