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August 11
An outsider’s sharp eye on Maine
Museum features Ruohomaa work this summer
[caption id="attachment_32007" align="alignleft" width="350"] A Kosti Ruohomaa photo from the Penobscot Marine Museum’s collection shows a herring fisherman.[/caption] A herring fisherman or “herringer” of Hugo Lehtinen’s crew pulls on a line from a purse seine while standing in a wooden skiff in Penobscot Bay in the photo featured in this month’s column. A line of seine floats leads the viewer’s…
August 11
Electric vehicles an option for Acadia visitors
Low-speed ‘GEM’ cars offered for rent
A new rental fleet of small electric vehicles is winding its way around the streets of Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park—and it’s an option being pitched as having great…
August 11
James Fitzgerald paints Fish Beach
Observing the bloody work of fishermen on Monhegan
During his life as a painter, James Fitzgerald (1899-1971) knew firsthand a number of working waterfronts. After completing his art studies in his home city of Boston, he took to…
August 11
Wiz chariots and sunken Broncos
Acadia National Park at a literal crossroads
“It's nothing but a big picnic ground for 'Elks,' and 'Spiritualists,' and 'Holy Ghosters.' The whole island is full of campers from Skowhegan, Bucksport, Rockland, and Ellsworth, that don't do…
August 9
Regulators look at increasing lobster reproduction
Larger minimum size considered for Gulf of Maine
There is a great deal of uncertainty facing the lobster fishery. One constant for the last 33 years has been the minimum legal size. Changes to that size are now…
August 9
The finer points of protecting working waterfront
As owners and users change, threats loom
Most Mainers understand and appreciate the need to protect the working waterfront, those access points and infrastructure necessary to make a living on the water. But how, exactly, does it…
August 9
Island doctor reflects on personal costs
Second memoir details commitment to care
Island Medicine: Life, Healing, and Community on a Maine Island By Dr. Chuck Radis (Down East Books, 2022) Review by Tina Cohen Dr. Chuck Radis’s first book, Go By Boat:…
August 9
Looking for balm in wake of violence
Island gratitude list provides beauty, balance
Oh how I wish our country would do what New Zealand did after its last mass shooting, in Christchurch, in 2019. What if our government would reinstate its ban on…
August 9
Prepping like it’s 1885
Setting food aside for bad times isn’t new
Remember 1999 and the big worry about the Y2K bug? Everything civilization rested on would collapse in a heap when the clocks all ticked over to 12:01 a.m. Jan. 1,…
August 9
Caught by COVID, help in escaping
Accepting favors from friends isn’t easy
After two years, two months, and some number of days that I’m too tired to count, I finally caught COVID. Or maybe it caught me. Either way, I’m writing this…
Island Postcards
EPISODE 10: Keep the Light Shining
Two ambitious young women swam around the entire Island of Isle au Haut during the summer of 2019 to raise money for crucial renovations to the lighthouse.
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