It probably won’t surprise you to learn I was a huge fan of Jacques Cousteau television specials when I was growing up. I was totally mesmerized by images of huge, gentle whales underwater and dreamed of someday seeing one. I was terribly afraid they’d be extinct by the time I reached adulthood, so when I was asked to be a monitor for a class of middle school students on a whale watch when I was 25, I was beside ...

My early morning walks now occur in partial darkness. The sun rises behind the trees as I make my way through the neighborhood. Tradespeople are already out and about, driving off to pick up other members of the crew. Students grudgingly stand at bus stops, backpacks full, hands stuffed in pockets when not holding phones. Nature has slowed down a lot these days, but she’s quietly busy. A red-bellied woodpecker...

“Into the Realm” (BooxAI, 2022), Todd Forrest Sherman’s debut novel, serves up plenty of Cape Cod atmosphere with just the right dose of Monomoy creepiness. Sherman, 56, a seventh-generation Cape Codder who lives in his hometown of Hyannis, sets his novel in Chatham. Sherman has taken the pseudonym Todd Forrest, dropping his surname. Complicating matters further, his character’s name is Caleb Forrest. So is...

     Halloween season is just around the corner, and fans of the more shadowy reaches of the theater spectrum are in for a treat as The Chatham Drama Guild welcomes none other than “Dracula” to the stage from Sept. 22 to Oct. 16.      We’ve all heard of Dracula, of course. The immortal vampire from the Carpathian Mountains has been a part of our cultural consciousness since Bram Stoker’s novel — which has never...

     On Saturday, Sept. 17 from 4 to 6 p.m. the Addison Art Gallery will hold a reception for Orleans Pond Coalition’s Celebrate our Waters Festival featuring new works inspired by the waters surrounding Orleans, including Town Harbor, Rock Cove, and the area’s many freshwater ponds. The event will feature painting demonstrations by artists Paul Batch and Sharon McGauley.      The weekend of Se...

There’s not a lot of wilderness left on Cape Cod. One could make a pretty fair argument for no wilderness at all, but the sea and dunes might disagree, vehemently in fact. The land may be filled with houses, shops, cars, and parking lots but the sea is still wild and untamed, no matter how many boats float upon her. Our peninsula is small and narrow, curved and mostly flat. Our trees tend to be stunted by slas...

Richard Costello's Bequests Benefit Seven Organizations   by Amy Tagliaferri “Transformational,” “trusting,” “faith,” “a belief in you,” “thoughtful,” “a spirit of living and giving.” These are a few of the words and phrases shared among the organizations and recipients of donations from the estate of Richard W. Costello. Even for those who knew Richard, and knew of his generosity, the magnitude of ...

Late summer is one of my favorite times of year. I find myself feeling somewhat nostalgic watching the flowers fade and the birds gather on wires by the sides of roads. I also find myself thinking ahead to cooler days and longer nights. What I really love, though, is the beginning of the letting go that happens across the landscape. People drive back home over the bridges, leaving us our beaches to enjoy without ...

     September is here, and as we ease into the new season, Galley West Art Gallery in Orleans marks the arrival of fall with a new exhibition titled “Welcome Autumn.” The show, which features the work of 17 artists from the eight towns of the Lower and Outer Cape, will run from Sept. 3 to Oct. 29.      In this sixth exhibition since the gallery’s debut in October 2021, the artwork includes two dimensional art ...

'Cinemagic' To Run Throughout September Typically, the creation of a film festival requires months of planning, and even longer to properly execute. The Chatham Orpheum Theater did it in one month. The brainchild of Orpheum manager Paul Schuyler, the “Cinemagic” Film Festival, set to begin this week, is the first of its kind on Cape Cod. More than 40 classic films, ranging from “Jaws” to “Night of the Hunte...

Anyone who has scoped out real estate in the past few years knows that nobody builds small houses any more. If it's not 5,000 square feet with a half dozen bathrooms and a bonus room or two, it's not suitable for modern living. But is all that space really needed, or just a way to impress the neighbors and hide away from the world? Who stays inside their house 24 hours a day? “To me, life is outside. If we'...

As local and visiting students start to return to school, it seems a good time to remind parents, teachers, grandparents, and friends of young people to include time in nature as part of the year’s curriculum, no matter what level or grade they’re in. As someone who visited almost every classroom in grades ranging from kindergarten through middle school in every Cape town over a period of 25 years, I can attes...