Perhaps you remember what computers looked like 50 years ago, or perhaps you have seen an old black and white movie showing a giant mainframe computer that takes up an entire air-conditioned room and spits out punch cards. That’s what computers looked like when Helen Gigley of Harwich first got into the field. At that time computer science as a study didn’t even exist. So it was apt that last month Gigley, a p...

Though it was technically eliminated from the United States in 2000, measles is making a comeback. And public health officials say it’s a reminder of the importance of vaccinations. The pages of the Chatham Monitor from the 1800s show many references to measles, both in its coverage of families who reported cases and in the many elixirs and tonics advertised to treat the disease. Before the development of the ...

Middle School 'Empty Bowls, Full Hearts' Fundraiser May 1 On Wednesday, May 1, from 5 to 6:30 pm, Monomoy Regional Middle School will host its second annual “Empty Bowls, Full Hearts” fundraiser to raise money for and awareness of hunger issues on Cape Cod.  For many families, monthly income is used for fixed expenses, such as mortgage or rent payments, insurance, and utilities. What little additional i...

Seth Wilkinson of Wilkinson Ecological Design Inc. in Orleans was recently awarded a patent for an invention that could revolutionize the way eroding shorelines on Cape Cod and beyond are stabilized. U.S. patent number 10,125,462 is for an “erosion control apparatus and methods of using and installing the apparatus.” Wilkinson submitted the patent for approval on Aug. 31, 2016 and it was approved last November...

Beginning at the age of 15 during the Great Depression, for 38 years Vivien Oswell of Harwich retouched black and white negatives of high school students for a professional photographer. “All those years, I was studying faces,” she says. Crossed eyes, acne and scars—she fixed all of these blemishes with a needle-point pencil that she sharpened on sandpaper. “I worked on thousands of faces—it helped me to...

Think teen vaping is just a passing fad? Think again. The trend, which involves the use of electronic cigarettes or nicotine vaporizers by kids as young as 11, is on the rise, and with it a host of health problems. Though the first tobacco vaporizer hit the market in 1963, their use soared after the mid-2000s when the market was saturated with products. The electronic or e-cigarettes are battery operated, hand...

'Phantom' Field Trip Many students may never have the opportunity to step into a majestic, historic theater and enjoy a live theatrical performance, which is just one of the reasons why Monomoy Regional Middle School administrators and teachers work tirelessly each year to plan a whole-school field trip to regional theaters to attend a professional musical production. Three years ago, the school traveled ...

Orleans Elementary School Orleans Elementary School hosted an evening of science fun at STEM night.  Over 200 members of the school community were in attendance to participate in more than a dozen hands-on activities to help students learn about Cape Cod’s waters and how to protect and understand this resource.  This was a program of the Cape Cod Cooperative Extension in coordination with AmeriCorps Cape Cod a...

From 10-pound terriers to Newfoundlands that weigh well over 100 pounds, Hope Fraser of Orleans has walked them all. Fraser, 26, owns Walks & Wags Dog Walking Cape Cod, a small dog-walking business. The idea for the business came a few years ago when Fraser was living in Belmont and working as a nanny. Being out of the house all day, she was forced to put her own yellow lab, Mia, into day care all day, ...

“When I turned 80, I realized I needed to do something more than just face each day thinking about what I had accomplished in the past,” a senior worker at Oz clothing boutique in Barnstable says at the beginning of a nine-minute video featuring three employers given Age Forward Employer Awards last year. Nationwide, nearly one quarter of the labor workforce is age 55 or older. On Cape Cod, that number is high...

CHATHAM —  It’s almost impossible to reach adulthood without experiencing loss. Early on, maybe a grandparent has died, maybe a relationship has terminated. As we age, we lose many loved ones and grieve for them. Just as stress can affect the body by tightening your muscles, clenching your stomach, so can grief. So how do we cope with all this sadness and loss? Talking and sharing is one way to cope. Peggy...

Imagine this scenario: An elderly widow with chronic health problems, whose only child lives in Wisconsin, retires to a house at the end of a 200-yard lane in a rural area of the Outer Cape. Does this sound like an ideal scenario if that woman needs emergency services? If she can no longer drive, how will she obtain groceries, or go to a medical appointment, church or a movie? The point is, if you are going...