Working Waterfront

How to understand Maine’s ‘High North’ opportunities

By Dan Bookham Since 2013 when the Icelandic steamship line Eimskip established operations in Portland, there has been growing buzz around Maine’s ocean-driven connections to our north. Ship calls to Portland’s International Marine Terminal have steadily increased, more and more Maine officials, economic developers and business people have made the… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

In politics, it’s location, location, location

It’s a day in early May, and the TV weatherman on the midday report is practically giddy about the bright sun and unseasonably warm temperatures. But you’ve just ascended the Tableland on Mt. Katahdin, and Portland’s 70 degrees and light winds are irrelevant for you and your hiking party, as… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Thankful for one president, bracing for another

It’s the season of Thanksgiving and I try, as always, to remind myself of the things I’m most thankful for. For the last eight years, our American president has been among those things. Although I now and then disagreed with him or wished he’d done more or less, I found… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Adventures in eating out

A new restaurant that opened up a while back had itself a maitre d’ and its own bartender and everything. They had a lot of live music and as a result the place was quite a draw some nights. They tapped the locals as waitresses and waiters and these folks,… SEE MORE

A map showing tanker routes through the Gulf of Maine.

Working Waterfront

Oil that doesn’t float: Tar sands oil shipped through Gulf of Maine poses threat

It’s hard to imagine a heavy tar sands oil spill in the Gulf of Maine. Not just because of the vastness of the open ocean and our dependence on clean water for our fisheries economy, but also because tar sands oil is mined and steamed from the ground thousands of… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

A love letter to the seasons

Summer To Fall: Notes and Numia from the Maine Woods Dana Wilde/North Country Press 2016 Remember in the film Jerry Maguire when Dorothy says, “You had me at hello…”? Author Dana Wilde had me at the first paragraph of the preface when he writes: “…this book is about the transit… SEE MORE

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Taking back the cellar

Just about once a year, often in the fall, Martha Ballard, the midwife who lived in Augusta in the late 1700s and early 1800s, cleaned her “sellar.” I do, too, usually this time of year before I haul down there the last of potatoes gathered up, the apples and other… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Mainer roots teased out in ‘Salt in Their Veins’

Salt in Their Veins: Conversations with coastal Mainers (As told to Charlie Wing… published by Charlie Wing Books, 2016) Before Salt in Their Veins, Charlie Wing was already a published author of books about “things,” including how things work in homes and boats (and while I’m oversimplifying the topics, those… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Cultural close encounter delights island students

A concern that we sometimes have as educators on a fairly isolated island in Penobscot Bay is how our students will react and behave when suddenly confronted with a new group of people. This could be a group of people from as nearby as Vinalhaven or Rockland—our students are sometimes… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Delight of island life shines through Dutch guests

No matter where you live, it is easy to lose sight of the highlights of your surroundings. You do your job, raise children, make phone calls, pay bills and run errands. In the Cranberry Isles, the boat ride to and from our cars on the mainland forces us to notice… SEE MORE