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...

“When life gives you eggs, make an omelet,” sings the Academy of Performing Arts ensemble as they close the summer season with “Something Rotten,” which premiered on Broadway in April 2015. Set in 1595 London, brothers Nick and Nigel Bottom find writing plays mentally challenging. Nick needs an idea, just one hit to turn everything around after their father died at sea. How about a play about an omelet spiced ...

CHATHAM – Sour cream and onion crickets and Mexican spiced mealworms. Those were the two items on the menu at the community center Aug. 16. In “Edible Insects, an Introduction to Entomophagy,” Barnstable County Entomologist for Larry Dapsis took the attendees on an unusual journey, explaining everything there is to know about eating bugs.  The presentation started with a bang, as Dapsis informed everyone th...

The Chatham Orpheum Theater, in the nine years since its revival, has been a space for local and local-adjacent filmmakers to show their completed projects. Such screenings are often made into events, bringing in a wide range of interest and attendees from across the Cape. Jay Craven, a Vermont-based filmmaker and film professor, has benefited from the theater’s community orientation more than once. His films ...

An infamous pirate, a witch, forbidden love and more all occurred on Cape Cod in the early 18 th century as portrayed in the world premiere of “From The Heart Of The Wreck” at Brewster’s Cape Rep Theatre. Around the time Chatham was established over 300 hundred years ago, a pirate ship wrecked off the coast of Wellfleet after sailing through the Chatham fog into a violent nor’easter. After hearing the story o...

It’s traditional to applaud the set when the curtain rises on a play. It’s rare, though, for the set to be applauded several times. Yet that’s just what happened at the opening night of Agatha Christie’s classic “Murder on the Orient Express” at The Cape Playhouse in Dennis, where it will run through Aug. 27. Scenic designer Chen-Wei Liao treated a full house of masked theatergoers to absolutely beautiful i...

      A pirate. A witch. A shipwreck. A love story. What more could anyone possibly want?       How about all of that and more in a world premiere on the Cape Rep stage?       “From the Heart of the Wreck,” conceived and written by Cape Rep's Nick Nudler and Kirsten Peacock, explores the fascinating local tale, part history and part folklore, of 18 th century English sailor turned notorious pirate Samuel “B...

      It’s festival time again!       The Creative Arts Center’s 51st annual Festival of the Arts will take place on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, Aug. 19 through 21, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. in Chatham’s Chase Park. This year’s festival will feature 110 juried local and national artisans and craftspeople displaying fine art, pottery, photography, jewelry and uniquely crafted creations of fabric, metal, stone, ...

Back in the day the adage “waste not, want not” was a common saying. Mostly we heard it from our grandparents who had lived through the Depression, but our parents mostly embraced it as well. In my home, as well as those of most of my friends, wasting something or throwing away something that could still be used was frowned upon, if not deserving of punishment. It was a time of using all our dinner leftovers, ...

Becoming a parent is a joy and a lifelong responsibility. You want the best for your kids. Education is paramount. Good schools with excellent teachers are a prerequisite. Horace Greeley is such a school. It’s expensive, but worth it. But you need to listen and then learn from your child also; hopefully a good teacher knows how to do just that. I think one of the greatest joys of parenthood is witnessing when som...

What is the nature of the perhaps-mysterious bond between dogs and humans? After a showing of the film “The Way Home: A Century of Finding Loving Companions for Shelter Animals” on Aug. 18 at the Chatham Orpheum Theater, a six-member panel will explore that bond, each in his or her own way. “The Way Home” is a 50-minute documentary by Geoff Bassett and Kim Roderiques. Bassett manages the Orpheum, and for “T...