On the winter solstice, Dec. 21, the sun will set here on Cape Cod at 4:14 p.m. after rising about nine hours earlier, at 7:05 a.m. Does 15 hours of darkness in a single day make you feel logy or even depressed? You might be suffering from Seasonal Affective Disorder, or SAD, a mood disorder first named in 1984. When the long nights of late fall and winter close in, SAD sufferers can grow lethargic and find th...

Monomoy High Forms Partnership With Chatham Coast Guard   by Cheri Armstrong With the help of Senior Chief Petty Officer Ross Comstock and Chief Petty Officer Devan Smith of the Chatham Coast Guard Station, Monomoy Regional High School is developing a partnership with the Chatham Coast Guard. Cheri Armstrong, career education coordinator at the high school, reached out to the Chatham Coast Guard in Septe...

EAST HARWICH — Remember when Cape Cod rolled up its sidewalks after visitors went home on Labor Day? Those days are long gone, and increasingly, once-seasonal businesses are trying their luck in the shoulder and off seasons. The Wequassett Inn and Resort will soon be among them. Following a brief closure for maintenance, the Wequassett’s guest rooms, function rooms and restaurants will be open for visitors aga...

Tacked to the wall of Dorothy Raymond’s apartment is a large banner titled “Back in 1922.” In 1922, we learn, a first-class stamp cost two cents and a gallon of gas 25 cents. President Warren G. Harding introduced the first radio to the White House in 1922. The actresses Betty White and Judy Garland were born in 1922. And so was Dorothy, who celebrated her 100th birthday on Oct. 30 with a breakfast out followe...

Massachusetts cities and towns will share 40 percent of the half a billion dollars the state received from the $26 billion federal opioid settlement. According to state guidelines, the money must be spent on prevention, harm reduction, recovery and treatment programs related to opioid abuse. Officials from the Barnstable County Department of Human Services are urging local towns to form substance abuse committ...

CHATHAM – Carol Sherman has created a monster, so to speak. “ I did,” she admits. “But it’s a good monster.” Sherman has owned Monomoy Salvage on Main Street for the past 26 years. The small shop specializes in unique finds and collectibles, most in keeping with the Cape’s nautical theme, and all at reasonable prices. “ I pride myself on my price points,” she said. “I’m not high end, but I’m not Chr...

CHATHAM — Don and Debbie Aikman are one of Chatham’s power couples. If you have appeared before the town’s municipal boards, you have likely met one of them. Debbie currently serves on the community preservation committee, as a member at large, while Don is a member of the Chatham Historical Commission — a board he has served on for the past 20 years or more. Among other things, the historical commission consi...

SOUTH CHATHAM — It’s a reality that’s often too painful to contemplate. But each day, people find themselves having lost their husband or wife, dealing with a range of emotions, confusing feelings and practical challenges. GriefShare, an international faith-based program designed to help people dealing with the death of a spouse, is holding a one-day workshop in South Chatham Saturday. “The thing with grief...

Lower Cape PMC Ride This Weekend The 15th annual Lower Cape PMC Kids Ride happens on Sunday, Sept. 25 from 9 a.m. to 12:30 pm. beginning at Stony Brook Elementary School on Underpass Road in Brewster. The ride, for kids 3 to 12, supports the Dana Farber Cancer Institute. Routes range from short enclosed loops for tricycles and training wheels to longer routes up to eight miles along the rail trail. A pizza p...

Wondering if the time is right to go clamming, or if there is enough water to get your boat through the Stage Harbor cut? The answer lies in the tides: low tide for clamming and high tide for boating the cut. "Tide Guide," an iPhone application with those answers, was created by Tucker MacDonald whose Chatham ties include memories of consulting the tide guides on fishing trips with his grandfather in the water...

People sometimes tell Susan Baur that she ought to amend the name of the group she founded in 2018: Old Ladies Against Underwater Garbage (OLAUG) by dropping the “old.” Baur, 82, disagrees. “When you’re old is a time to be passionate and a time for adventure,” she said during a telephone interview last week. OLAUG has a minimum age requirement of 64. Baur, a retired clinical psychologist who divides her ...

‘Beacon Of Hope’ Event Set For Sept. 10 Do people have misconceptions about suicide? Stephanie Kelly, executive director of the Samaritans of Cape Cod and the Islands, can’t help but chuckle at the question. “Probably the biggest one is that it doesn’t happen on the Cape and Islands,” she said. Thanks to social stigmas, people don’t talk about suicide, and those who do can end up feeling ostracized by frien...