Working Waterfront

Prepping like it’s 1885

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, 2000. The world’s computers would all crash and we’d be enveloped in darkness as the grid went down and mayhem… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Caught by COVID, help in escaping

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 from bed. I had identified a ten-day window in my schedule where it would be somewhat less inconvenient to be… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

My wife can’t throw a flatbar

My wife can do almost anything, really, almost anything. I mean mechanical stuff, electronic stuff, and carpentry stuff, plus all sorts of things that involve thinking, like philosophical and ethereal stuff. Further, she’s a marvelous painter and runs her own very successful gallery. She also knows (she reminds me now… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Ferry service studied, users surveyed

Maine plans to spend $1.8 billion on its state roads and bridges over the next three years, and so the Maine State Ferry Service’s annual operating budget of $12.5 million might be seen as a pittance. But for people living on the six islands served by the state ferry, that… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Chris Van Dusen does it again

Big Truck, Little Island By Chris Van Dusen (Candlewick Press, 2022) Review by Carl Little Grandchildren Maria, 9, Serita, 8, and James, 5, are children’s book author/illustrator Chris Van Dusen aficionados. Allow Gahbi (their nickname for this grampa) to boast a bit: they’ve memorized The Circus Ship, made up music… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

An island’s story reveals a life

Autobiography of an Island: A Memoir By Sarah Faragher (2021) Review by Carl Little In 2004, while visiting Great Spruce Head Island, painter Sarah Faragher had the occasion to explore nearby Bear Island. Conversing with a Bear islander, she learned of Birch Lodge, a humble dwelling that could be rented… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

My dumb kitchen

When you read about smart kitchen appliances, what you learn is everything about them except “Why?” My life is blessedly free of smart toasters, coffee makers, voice-controlled faucets, and automatic stirrers. I probably wouldn’t even think about them except a favorite foodie website hawked, “Smart Kitchen Tools You Need Right… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Peter Kilgore’s island poetry

[caption id="attachment_31703" align="alignleft" width="350"] Peter Kilgore[/caption] In some alternate history of Casco Bay, Peter Kilgore is the poet laureate of Long Island. His terse, descriptive lyrics written during the 1960s, ’70s, and ’80s evoke so purely the sights, sounds, and sensibilities of the island as experienced by human beings, if… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

It’s the people

After 17 years on North Haven, some elements of life have achieved a pleasant predictability. After the first heavy spring rain, the peepers will begin their insistent shrieking from vernal pools and roadside bogs. Dandelions and violets will be the first to bloom, followed by strawberry blossoms, thickest in the… SEE MORE

The Cranberry Isles Life-Saving Station photographed in about 1885.

Working Waterfront

When mariners in distress got help

Whether it is for work or play, anyone spending significant time on a boat knows that help is a radio call away, and that other beacons and signals can be relied upon to alert to the need for help. But how would that work if there was no one designated… SEE MORE