After the wind and rain of a winter storm, the beach was quiet and empty. Seaweed and seashells had been tossed about and gulls in dull winter plumage watched me warily from their spots on the upper beach as they waited for the tide to turn. There wasn’t a sound except the slush of the waves against the sand. The sky was full of fat clouds tinged with lavender and the raw, damp cold seeped in though every openi...

They start chattering long before the sun comes up. Their roost is outside my window and I know they are plotting the best ways to raid the feeders the minute the light rises in the sky. Down the street and across the way, another group is restlessly waiting, their whines a little more subtle in the dawn than they will be later in the morning. By the time the sun is up, my feeders are humming with...

Can you dance a classical ballet and still abide by all the COVID-19 protocols? The Reaching Heart School of Ballet in West Harwich was determined to give it a try for their headline production of a perennial Christmas favorite, “The Nutcracker.” The result is a fully costumed 90-minute virtual production complete with movie-like effects premiering online Christmas night. Like many ballet schools and compan...

Walking the beach after a storm full of wind is always interesting. Add a surging high tide that pushes beyond usual boundaries and you never know what you might find where. There are the usual piles of seaweed, driftwood, shells of all kinds and the broken shells of horseshoe crabs as well as true crabs. There may be a dead fish or two, even dead sea birds half buried in wet sand. There could be feathers and odd...

With wintry weather upon us and many in-person holiday events canceled, the opportunity to spend a screen-free evening enjoying quality original family-friendly entertainment is something we're all fishing for. Look no farther than Cape Noir Radio Theater's “The Starfish And The Fisherman,” an original and entirely charming fable which weaves magic, wonder and Greek myth into a story of adventure and danger in wh...

NORTH EASTHAM - For nearly two decades, Nauset Regional High School teacher Lisa Brown has made annual visits to Haiti’s capital city, Port-au-Prince, with members of the school’s Human Rights Academy. Once there, the group boards a ferry and travels roughly 10 miles to the island of La Gonave, where they are greeted by locals with access to transportation. Depending on the size of Nauset’s traveling party, th...

On the afternoon of Nov. 13, a Friday, Jan Hopkins of Harwich logged into a Facebook group called “Chatham Spread the Word,” and made an unusual offer. She said she would make “memory bears” from a lost loved one’s clothing as keepsakes. She would not charge for her services but she asked that the recipient donate time or money to the Chatham Angel Fund or the Chatham Food Pantry. The reaction to her offer ...

The spirit of giving is going strong this year at The Family Pantry, and Executive Director Christine Menard couldn't be more pleased. “I'm so psyched!” she simply said, expressing what every Family Pantry supporter feels as the generosity of the season ensures access to healthy, nutritious meals will continue for those in need in our community. Just as November's generous $20,000 matching donation given by a...

Rob Ritchey of Chatham, who has just released his debut novel, “Marriette” (West Barnstable Press, 2020), has an unusual background for a novelist: he is a podiatrist who recently returned to painting portraits. “I grew up in the Boston area being an artist, but then life pushed me along other paths,” he said in an email interview last week. “I was a machinist for a while after college and then on to medical s...

On a recent Saturday, John Morgan drove his battered red F350 pick-up onto a long dirt road that runs along the Chatham Municipal Airport. The bed of the truck was full of lobster trap line of varying thickness and colors; a lobsterman getting rid of some of his old gear from a storage spot there had helped sling it aboard. The gear, no longer fit for a life on the ocean, travelled to Sandwich where it join...

As the turkey leftovers become grandma’s best soup ever, many thoughts are turning to the December holidays. Houses and yards are getting decorated with lights, greens and ribbons and gift giving has become the priority for those with the means to do so. As I spread bird seed on the ground for the sparrows, doves and squirrels this morning I found myself thinking about the gifts we give and receive, many...

This year has been challenging for everyone, especially our local theaters, dance studios, and anyplace where groups of people come together. As we've all learned to work around restrictions on gatherings, some organizations and individuals in the community have risen to the occasion and shone, finding ways to keep the give-and-take between audiences and performers, between instructors and students alive and kick...