It’s that time of year again, when summer sighs and slumps in exhaustion, birds fill up on bugs and seeds, and spiders look for places to hang out inside your home, garage, shed or vehicle. Before you scream and grab the poison bug spray, consider this. Spiders eat a lot of insects, many of the same ones that bug you. Psychologists, biologists and other observant people will readily admit that many peopl...

ORLEANS — After over a half century at the helm of the Lobster Claw restaurant in Orleans, what will Don Berig miss after the business’s final meals are served on Sunday, Sept. 13? “The people, I’m a people person,” he says without missing a beat. “I think that was my calling, to meet with people.” Berig, 81, reminisced about his 51 years running the award-winning Lobster Claw with his wife Marylou during a...

World War II in Chatham was reimagined last Thursday night in photos, videos, memories and songs as Dick Kraycir, director emeritus and past president of the Chatham Marconi Maritime Center (CMMC), hosted the last in the Center's virtual Summer Speaker Series. The program, which was Zoomed online to more than 100 participants, began with an evening flag ceremony in recognition of the 75th anniversary of the en...

“Tomorrow will be the pick of the week,” the weatherman said as he grinned through the TV screen at me. “The sun will shine, the humidity will drop and the temperature will be perfect. It may be the best summer day we’ve had and will have.” I took him at his word and gleefully planned my day. Amazingly, I had nothing on my calendar that couldn’t be moved around. I packed my sketching and painting things, m...

Just in time for the 400 th anniversary of the landing of the Mayflower this fall are two books about the Mayflower for young readers. “The Adventures of Plimoth Plantation as Told by the Mayflower Mouse” (iUniverse, 2020) by Marian R. Carlson is a charming retelling of the Mayflower story from the diary of Uncle Sam, an English mouse. Uncle Sam is able to scurry unobserved “through my network of passages” ar...

In times of uncertainty and isolation, connection and self-expression are more important than ever. In the spirit of finding a silver lining around the cloud of COVID-19, the Coop restaurant in North Chatham is hosting an outdoor art show over Labor Day weekend, Sept. 5 and 6 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. featuring the work of the talented artists of Uniting US. Strict social distancing will be observed at the show...

Readers Have Mixed Experience During Unusual Season For some, it was the worst summer. Ever. Others had the exact opposite experience. The pandemic brought permission to slow down, spend time with family and enjoy some of the natural resources the Cape has to offer. With the approach of Labor Day weekend, the official last hurrah of the season, we asked readers to tell us about their experiences durin...

CHATHAM – There was no need to get dressed up, or to drive somewhere, or fight for a parking space, or hope for a good seat last Sunday. The Chatham Historical Society (CHS) joined many other institutions when it held its 64-minute annual meeting, featuring a talk on “Tourism Through the Years,” via Zoom video conferencing. About 75 people watched the presentation. At 3:30 p.m. exactly Ginny Nickerson, CHS out...

BREWSTER – Theaters are still closed, but that hasn’t stopped Cape Rep from coming through with free summer fun for children from the Outdoor Theater, as well as a new musical puppet show that will have kids laughing as well as tapping their toes. First up is Cape Rep’s Story Time Series, in which some of our favorite Cape Rep actors turn their talents to engaging readings of their favorite children’s stories...

Starting in late July, the breeding shorebirds of the treeless Arctic tundra begin streaming south, fanning out across North America. The wading birds characterized as shorebirds are a diverse group of species in the order Charadriiformes, and hundreds of thousands of these birds migrate along Cape Cod’s coastlines every summer through the Atlantic Flyway. For many of these birds, the Cape is a vital stopover ...

Two Local Authors Spin Tough Mystery Stories Fans of Paul Kemprecos’s Aristotle “Soc” Socarides series are in for a big treat — “Soc” is back in Kemprecos’s first-ever short story, “The Sixth Decoy,” which is set partly in Harwich and features a lost decoy carved by Elmer Crowell. The short story is included in “Nothing Good Happens After Midnight: A Suspense Magazine Anthology” (Suspense Publishing, 2020) ...

CHATHAM – Opening a restaurant in a pandemic is not for the faint of heart. In the case of the new Pate's restaurant, the owners knew what they had — a town and a location that was supportive, an iconic beloved restaurant with only two owners over more than half a century, and an experienced and well-regarded chef and management team with deep local roots. Cloyde Pate took over the hamburger and ice cream stan...