The Belfast Marine Institute’s Kayak Mondays is in full swing and going well! On a recent Monday BAHS students were able to get out on the water on an absolutely stunning early evening. The cormorants were active all around and the kayakers were serenaded by a violinist on a moored boat in the Passy river. The upper reaches of the harbor above the bridge were scoured on a flat calm slack high tide. Truly a beautiful evening.

At the end of the fall season of Kayak Mondays, the BMI will let the students who participated the most to individually name each of the four solo and four tandem kayaks

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

I know firsthand how it feels when the very systems meant to protect you instead trap you. Only a year ago, I was caught in endless red tape while trying to secure housing, and now taxpayers across Rockland are experiencing the same pattern of neglect.

Our city went nearly 20 years without a full property revaluation, even though state law requires one every 10 years. The result? Assessments suddenly skyrocketed—residential values up 82%, apartments up 95%, with a median increase of 78%—while residents were told to take comfort in the fact that the mil rate “dropped” on paper. This isn’t

The late afternoon sun lit up the tops of the trees along the street. Most were still green, but the maple at the corner was already showing bright yellows and reds. A tall, brilliant yellow-orange goldenrod at the corner of the porch buzzed with the last furry bumblebees of the fall.

A few massive black turkey vultures careened past, their silvery underwings glinting in the light as they headed for their favorite roost in the trees down along the stream. We could hear a cardinal giving its hard chip call from the tangle of forsythia bushes in the backyard. A crow called and appeared

I enjoyed reading your article about the 49th year of Maine’s Organic Farmers and Growers Common Ground Fair. The large crowds and continued success is a stark contrast to the actions on the environment advocated by the current administration in Washington.

The fair was a celebration of the environment and all it offers, attended by tens of thousands in its 49th year. If you listened to the House Republicans who propose cutting the budget for the Environmental Protection Agency by 23 percent you would think clean water, breathable air, and uncontaminated food was a bad idea!

The EPA has been an

We went to the fair Sunday morning. The only fair I got to this year, the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardners Association’s Common Ground Country Fair.

I’ve been attending since it was held in Litchfield, near the beginning of the whole thing. I remember that first fair at their Thorndike location, when it was just tents in an empty field way back in 1998. The grounds are now lush with trees and gardens.

I have missed very few fairs over the years, turning it into a yearly pilgrimage full of memory. Getting lost at the Litchfield grounds in the late 1970s. Attending with my family, and then

We would like to extend our deepest gratitude to the firefighters and first responders who came to our aid the night of the fire at our Union winery and distillery. Although our facility was a complete loss, their swift response, skill, and tireless efforts over six hours through the night saved our barns and, most importantly, our home. Witnessing so many departments work together with such professionalism and teamwork was nothing short of remarkable.

We also want to thank everyone who has expressed sympathy and offered help to us in the days since. Your kindness and support mean the world to

1. The Weather – How can you not love the weather of September in Maine? Mornings start crisp and fresh with dew on the grass as you watch for warblers in the shrubbery. By afternoon, you’re comfortable in a t-shirt as you scan the incredibly blue skies for raptors. As evening comes, the coolness returns along with the golden sunlight as you watch for nighthawks swooping over the treetops in search of insects.

2. Lesser Black-backed Gulls – These smaller, yellow-legged cousins of the common great black-back gull, which breeds on Maine islands, reach their peak abundance in Maine in September

From September 15–19, the nation will observe Adult Education and Family Literacy Week, a time dedicated to raising awareness about the critical importance of literacy in helping individuals, families, and communities thrive. Across Maine, the week highlights urgent challenges and inspiring opportunities in addressing adult literacy, led by organizations including Literacy Volunteers Androscoggin, Literacy Volunteers of Bangor, Literacy Volunteers of Franklin & Somerset Counties, Literacy Volunteers Kennebec, Literacy Volunteers of Waldo County, and Midcoast Literacy.

According to the Barbara

My older brother Bill recently moved back to town. He retired from his career as a high school math teacher, purchased a little place up on Masalin Road, and plans to offer tutoring for International Baccalaureate students, maybe pick up some carpentry skills, and, of course, find time to harvest blueberries in the summer, his first vocational love.

It’s pretty cool having both brothers around again.  

Bill the Math teacher, with his impressively analytical brain; our younger brother Andy, the journalist and union leader, with sharp- sometimes acid-wit and strong political convictions; and

ROME, Maine — This year, Pine Tree Camp celebrates its significant 80th anniversary milestone. Founded on the heels of the Great Depression, two world wars, and the effects of polio, Pine Tree Camp was built on the belief that access to nature and recreation is essential for people of all abilities. It was an idea ahead of its time and one that has since shaped the lives of tens of thousands of Maine people. 

It’s remarkable that Pine Tree Camp was founded in the heart of Maine’s rustic Belgrade Lakes Region 45 years before the Americans with Disabilities Act was signed into law. It’s even

There are certain birds that really capture the imagination. One of those, for us, and perhaps for many other birders, is the American golden-plover.

The breeding range extends across the top of the world—from the Canadian and Alaskan Arctic region south into the northern portion of the Boreal biome.

After the short northern summer, though, the birds fly south to spend the northern winter in the southern hemisphere summers of southern South America from Brazil to Argentina and occasionally to Chile.

That’s an incredibly long distance to travel. An American golden-plover nesting on Nunavut

It was a blessedly damp Sunday morning. The rain was so very welcome after an extremely dry spell. 

I love a rainy weekend morning. The weekend chores were mostly completed yesterday, and Sunday afternoon football is back on. Autumn in Maine.

I was talking to a transplant from a much more populated part of the nation recently, who marveled about the fact that they find themselves talking to the cashier at the local market. Well, yeah. No one here is anonymous, everyone is your neighbor.

I got to thinking about all the characters we live amongst, and the roles we play. The gregarious, the

Democracy has to be born anew every generation, and education is its midwife. — John Dewey

I am not focusing on the different political choices we made in the last Presidential election that’s history now.  Instead, I am turning the page and looking ahead with grave concern. I am frightened by frequent executive actions declared by President Trump, many challenging the Constitution and threatening our Democracy.

On Friday August 8, 2025, the Camden High School (CHS) Alumni Association held its 119th Annual Alumni Banquet at the Elks Club Lodge in Rockland, Maine. There were 121 alumni and guests who attended the event with classes from 1948 to 1968.

One of the highlights of the evening program was the announcement of the recipient of the CHS Alumni Association Recognition Award. This year the 2025 Camden High School Alumni Recognition Award was presented to William R. Anderson of Camden and a member of the CHS Class of 1965. He taught at Camden Hills Regional High School for 17 years in the Special

Coastal Recovery Community Center (CRCC), along with Knox County Treatment Court, sponsored a fun afternoon of grilling and conversation on the lawn of St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Rockland. Ashlee Herrick, Case Manager with Reg. 6 Treatment and Recovery Court, Knox Maine Pretrial Services, Inc., reached out to CRCC’s co-founder and board president Erin Hustus, for a brainstorming session to plan for the mid-August event.

Herrick and Hustus, along with familiar volunteer faces from both nonprofits, brought an impressive-sized grill, lots of hotdogs, salads, crunchies, sweets, and drinks

We saw a photo of a gorgeous juvenile buff-breasted sandpiper taken a few days ago down on the rocky beach at the Timber Point section of Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge in Biddeford. It got us reminiscing and trying to remember when and where we had last seen one of these striking birds. We remembered the handful of times when we’d seen them here in Maine and at Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge in upstate New York, but the exact last time and place, we could not remember.

Buff-breasted sandpipers nest in the Arctic, about a quarter of the population nesting on Alaska’s North

Most of us who have engaged in foreign relations activities over the past several decades focus on the “hard power” aspects of international affairs.  Hard power includes the military – from weapons procurement or use to arms control agreements; international economics – from international trade to sanctions and tariffs; and diplomacy in pursuit of specific U.S. policy goals. 

On Saturday, August 30, from 10 to 11 a.m., approximately 80 demonstrators gathered in Port Clyde near the summer home of  U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, according to one of the organizers, Nancy Galland.

Midcoast Maine and The Audacity, both citizen groups, had announced Aug. 29 that they would again hold a flotilla of protesters, as they had done July 19, "to bring attention to the far-right decisions by Chief Justice Roberts that have gutted laws once protecting freedoms and funding for the well-being of all populations in the USA."

The groups said in their Aug. 29 news