“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...

With this week’s spring-like temperatures, people are peeling off layers of clothing and venturing outdoors for some fresh air. And on the bike paths, in the yard and on conservation trails, they’re not alone. Unfazed by the deep freeze last week, ticks are once again active, looking for a mid-winter blood meal. “People think, with that cold freeze, it must be safe out there,” said county entomologist Larry Da...

Kindergarten Registration Registration for all children eligible to enter kindergarten in the fall of 2019 will be held at Harwich Elementary School and Chatham Elementary School on Tuesday, March 5, and Wednesday, March 6. Bring completed registration packet; visit Monomoy.edu for registration documents and requirements. All children who reach the age of 5 before Sept. 1 are eligible for enrollment in ki...

Monomoy Regional High School Congratulations to Jenna Beebe, whose poem, "Inside of Me" was chosen for publication in the American High School Poets anthology, published by the Live Poets Society of New Jersey. On Friday, Jan. 4, Monomoy AP and We the People government students went to the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the Senate in Boston to participate in a day-long Senate simulation field trip. Stude...

Of late a spotlight has been focused on whether or not it’s worthwhile to encourage young people to remain on the Cape — particularly if they grew up here. “A lot of young people hate it here and it makes me cry,” says Angela Thornton, owner and founder of Artisan Skin Care and Artisan Organics in Orleans and Chatham. Thornton, 38, who grew up in Yarmouth, offers a case in point. A successful entrepreneur, ...

CHATHAM —  In the lower level of the Atwood House and Museum on Stage Harbor Road in Chatham is arguably the best collection of documents, artifacts, and other treasured elements of the town’s history. Official records, including some rescued from the town hall fire of 1919, as well as family papers, maps, rare books and historic clothing are preserved for their protection and access by historians and other inte...

Ask a teen about e-cigarettes and the chances are good they will describe them as a safe substitute for smoking. With a fruit flavored vapor smell and the appearance of a thumb drive, they are being used in school hallways, bathrooms and at home. Their use has become cool, according to Bob Collett, Director of the Cape Cod Regional Tobacco Control Program. "Kids believe the false notion that an e-cigarett...

Harwich Elementary School Castle in the Clouds will celebrate its 25th birthday this spring as a landmark playground on Cape Cod. Designed by Robert Leathers and Associates and built by the Harwich community in 1994, this vintage play structure has served our children well. Current HES parents and grandparents remember vividly the excitement of this community build project which has stood as a faithful frie...

Colette Cummings, who co-owns Ducks in the Window on Main Street, Chatham with her husband, Rob Foster, used to have a leisurely routine during these late fall mornings. She had plenty of time to exercise and tend to the needs of the couple’s three dogs before opening the store for customers at 10 a.m. Off-season, Cummings employs two part-time workers, down from the nine-to-10 employees of the summer. But ...

EAST HARWICH — Isabelle Monteleone will become the Cape’s latest centenarian on Saturday, Dec. 15. Earlier this fall, 60 of her family, friends, caregivers, and other acquaintances came to her daughter’s East Harwich home to preemptively celebrate, with displays of memorabilia from the phases of her life and a special a video-recorded birthday greeting from Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, arranged for b...