If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen. But sometimes the whole world feels a bit like an oven, and thanks to climate change, days of extreme heat are getting more common. On days like those, experts say it’s time to take special precautions to avoid heat-related injuries and illnesses. “While most people come to the Cape to cool off and do not think of Cape Cod as a place where people suffer from...

CHATHAM – Pine Acres Realty at 938 Main St. in Chatham is celebrating its 75th anniversary as the oldest independently-owned real estate company in town. The real estate firm formed in 1948 by William T. Ohman Sr. and Marjorie Law is still going strong under the ownership of Lori Fanning Smith, 54, and Chris Rhinesmith, 52. (Pine Acres has partnered with Compass for marketing and technology.) “I love that t...

HARWICH – Vivien Oswell has been painting for as long as she can remember, a gift that she credits to divine intervention and a little shop on Main Street in Harwich Port. Oswell, who turned 100 years old this month, was still producing commissions for customers as recently as November. She was a founding member of The Guild of Harwich Artists in 1979 and has a unique method of painting. “God does the paint...

Public Information Sessions, Workshops Planned Ahead Of Fall Town Meeting ORLEANS – Mark Mathison lives in a neighborhood with immaculate green lawns. He also remembers a push among some of his neighbors in the past to have their homes connected to town sewer sooner. Sewering is an efficient method of removing nitrogen and cleaning up the town’s waterways. But so is avoiding the use of chemicals such as pes...

CHATHAM – Chatham welcomes two new business owners — Heather Flueckiger of Heather Rose & Co. and Josh Jenkins of Nickerson Tree and Landscape. The two George Ryder Road businesses, while separate entities, were both recently owned by Joe Nickerson and his son, Tim. Heather Rose & Co. is located in a two-story building set behind a lawn at 136 George Ryder Rd., just a couple of doors down from Chath...

BREWSTER — Show of hands: How many audience members collect Social Security? The majority of hands went up. How many have kids or grandkids that don’t believe it’ll be there for them? About as many hands up. That’s how Robert Blancato introduced himself to his new community last week, calling for a grassroots push to press federal lawmakers to sustain Social Security. A public policy authority who’...

NORTH CHATHAM – Assisted living programs are a great option for seniors who need regular assistance from a caregiver, but they’re not inexpensive. A new partnership with Broad Reach Assisted Living at the Victorian is helping connect certain wartime veterans with a little-known Veterans Administration benefit that can help defray those costs. “It’s helping those veterans who have, of course, done so much for t...

EAST HARWICH – An exclamation of “cookies!!” (someone points out the container of chocolate chip cookies) and a burst of laughter answers the query “what brings you here to knit together?” More responses tumble around the table: “ It’s the company. Definitely the company.” “ And the help, you can get questions answered when you’re reading a pattern. Or, figure out how to fix something you’ve done wrong.”...

BREWSTER — Historic reenactor and docent Mike Reveruzzi of Brewster has clothing for some very particular occasions. Let’s say he wants to dress as the town’s Civil War-era blacksmith. He’s ready with his green vest and blue britches. A British marine fighting in the War of 1812? No problem — he has the red jacket and black top hat. He says he can, in fact, dress as any “ordinary average Joe” of 1774 to 178...

The dangers of Lyme disease are well understood, as are most of its health effects. But a relative newcomer, the fleet-footed lone star tick , can also bring life-changing illness. “Deer Ticks are not the only tick in town,” said Barnstable County entomologist Larry Dapsis, the deer tick project coordinator for the Cape Cod Cooperative Extension.They get the most attention because Lyme disease is so prevalent...

CHATHAM – After 46 years of making battered vehicles look good again, Scott Hagan will be lowering the bay doors at Al’s Auto Body on Enterprise Drive for the last time next month. Al Loring opened Al’s Auto Body near the end of the road’s cul-de-sac in 1975, and Hagan began working there on Aug. 1, 1977 right after high school. The business had a mechanic and Hagan was hired “to do the outside” of vehicle...

Do you ever wonder how easy, safe or pleasurable it might be to live in the mid-Cape area as you get older? Do you have a friend or relative who is over 60? Wise Living Retirement Reinvented is hosting its first-ever Aging Well Expo on Wednesday, April 26 in South Yarmouth, and you might find some answers there for yourself or for a loved one. The expo offers “a little something for everybody,” organ...