Working Waterfront

Birds on the brain, birds at my window

By Barbara Fernald As I sat at my kitchen table attempting to pull something out of my overloaded-by-too-much-to-do brain for this column, I gazed out through the window, taking in the lilac bush where the blossoms were just opening. Birds were flying back and forth between the bush and the… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Right price, bad memory, but good time had

By Phil Crossman Last year, having seen the Tidewater Motel featured on the Today show, the producers from the The Price is Right called to ask if I could put together an interesting package the show could offer as a prize. I did. I offered them a week's waterfront lodging,… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

My June ‘to do’ list

By Sandy Oliver Plant more lettuce. Plant more spinach. Pick the blossoms off the rhubarb so it will keep sending up leaves. Thin calendula. Plant out the dahlias, for pity's sake. Snap sprouts off the potatoes still in the cellar. These and more are on my June "to do" list.… SEE MORE

This untitled photograph by Kosti Ruohomaa shows Andrew Wyeth and Alvaro Olson at a hayrack.

Working Waterfront

Andy and Kosti meet again

By Carl Little The Andy in the title of the exhibition "Andy and Kosti" at the Farnsworth Art Museum (through Nov. 1) is Andrew Wyeth (1917-2009), one of America's foremost realist painters who found his muse along Maine's Midcoast. Kosti is Kosti Ruohomaa (1913-1961), the photojournalist who gained renown… SEE MORE

Approaching the Fox Islands Thoroughfare.

Working Waterfront

Summer on the island, when work fever takes hold

By Courtney Naliboff When I was a kid, out in the woods of central Maine, summers were a real vacation. My sisters and I swam and canoed, got ice cream at Gifford's, tried to dam up the stream in the backyard, and picked peas and green beans out of the… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Crossing has been essential, symbolic of my experience

Editor's note: Reflections is a monthly column written by Island Fellows, recent college grads who do community service work on Maine islands through the Island Institute, publisher of The Working Waterfront, and AmeriCorps. Maddey Gates has been helping with elder care efforts on four islands. To reach an island, you… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

The faces of My Island tell their stories

Patrisha McLean's My Island is a celebration of summer and year-round Maine island children, with more than 100 duotone portraits. The 160-page book—five years and countless ferry rides in the making, she says—is distributed by Islandport Press and is a follow-up to Maine Street, the award-winning 2010 book celebrating the… SEE MORE

Jon Bolduc votes at Islesboro's annual town meeting on Saturday

Working Waterfront

Islesboro approves step toward building broadband

An earlier version of this story included a wrong first name. ISLESBORO — At their annual town meeting on Saturday, May 30, residents overwhelmingly approved raising and spending $206,830 to begin the process of building a town-owned broadband Internet network. The money will cover the first steps of the project,… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Those Cranberry connections, far and wide

Bruce Fernald recently traveled to the Napa Valley to attend the 17th Annual Worlds of Flavor International Conference and Festival at the Culinary Institute of America. He participated in a seminar with Sam Hayward and Cara Stadler, two Maine chefs, who were cooking lobster in various forms. Bruce was there… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

A perfectly planned memorial

Judy Coffin perfectly, and cheerfully, planned her memorial service and the reception that followed it. All that we her grieving neighbors, friends and family had to do was follow instructions. As she entered hospice, she announced to her husband Jack, "We are going to be happy," and she set the… SEE MORE