As the holidays fade in the rearview mirror, a whole new landscape full of opportunities awaits us. Each day we choose where to focus our attention. A new year gives us a chance to see how we spent our attention last year, and how we might change at least some of that this year. Winter on Cape Cod is a lovely time to consider and contemplate the things that are important to us. There is a stark beauty in leafl...

HARWICH – There's something different about learning at Harwich Elementary School. Once a week it goes to the dogs, and the teachers, students, and even the visiting pups couldn't be happier about it. Each Friday a pair or more of tail-wagging, soft and fluffy therapy dogs trots along just ahead of their owners, ready for quick classroom visits before a longer stop in the school's reading room, where students ...

CHATHAM – When Tim Linnell bought his first fishing boat he brought his six-year-old son Sam to Maine to pick it up. “He was climbing all over it,” Tim remembers, “throwing lines overboard.” Less than 20 years later, Sam brought his dad to Gloucester to see the commercial vessel he was buying. “This is what I love to do. This is how I was always going to make a living,” said Sam at the Chatham Fish Pier ...

Last summer, an octogenarian client at the Family Pantry of Cape Cod reminisced about her days working as a bagger and cashier at a large local supermarket chain. After telling her customers what they owed for their groceries she would ask, “Would you like to make a contribution to the Family Pantry?” Smiling, she would add, “You never know. You may need it someday yourself.” ...

Boston is a center for higher education, sports, government, history, tourism and culture for much of New England. While offering concerts, plays, art exhibits, and other events year-round, during the holiday season Bean Town hosts special programs ranging from a month-long series of concerts by the Boston Pops to presentations like Langston Hughes’ “Black Nativity” and traditional performances of Tchaikovsky’s “...

If you want a real eye-opener, go to the town landfills the morning after Christmas. Dozens of trucks filled with truckloads of trash wait their turn at the gate from the moment the place opens all through the day until it closes. This repeats all week long and into the new year. Some refuse will go into recycling bins but the amount of paper trash that gets bagged in plastic and tossed in the dumpster bec...

The afternoon was fading, but a sliver of golden light reached across my backyard through a network of bare branches into the window next to where I was working. The dog and cats were sleeping, two on the couch and one on the dog bed on the floor (it wasn’t the dog). It was quiet, peaceful, a lovely end to a busy day. Suddenly, bang! Something had hit a window or the wall of the house from outside. The dog...

WEST BARNSTABLE — A student client walks into the Family Pantry of Cape Cod Community College (CCCC) shortly after it opens on Monday morning at 9:30. Inside, volunteers Sherry Greene-Starr and Anne Schulte are busy restocking the shelves with neat stacks of cans, cartons, jars and boxes. After checking in the student, Greene-Starr opens a paper grocery bag on a stool and leads the woman down the first aisle...

ORLEANS — Don’t miss the Academy of Performing Arts production of “A Charlie Brown Christmas.” In this screen-dominated world, the short musical is an antidote for iPhone ennui — or obsession. Directed by Peter Earle from Eric Schaeffer’s stage adaptation of the TV special inspired by Charles Schulz, the play could make even the the crankiest Scrooge nostalgic. Vince Guaraldi’s soundtrack from “A Charlie Bro...

Queen is one of the most recognizable names in the music industry — they have brought to life such classic songs as “We Are the Champions,” “Killer Queen,” and, of course, “Bohemian Rhapsody.” Every member of the band is still alive except for Freddie Mercury, who was the lead vocalist and one of the most flamboyant performers the world has ever seen. He died at the age of 45 from complications of AIDS, and his s...

It’s the classic book “Madeline’s Christmas” by Ludwig Bemelmans come to life! It’s Madeline and her classmates in their distinctive school uniforms of blue with yellow hat and the all-important red scarf singing and dancing with delight on the Harwich Junior Theatre stage. This production is the ideal holiday getaway, because the show will transport you to a different time and place, and fill you with holiday...

One very small cast is putting on one great big play at the Academy of Performing Arts in Orleans this month: “Jacob Marley’s Christmas Carol.” See it, even if you’re not a fan of all things Christmas, because it’s simply a whopping good piece of theater. Directed by Peter Earle, who is the Academy’s executive and artistic director, four superb actors deliver on the literate, witty script by Tom Mula. Dressed ...