It’s here, finally, that most wonderful time of year when the weather fluctuates between winter and summer, often in the same day. If you love the cold and damp, Cape Cod springs are for you. Throw in an occasional migratory bird sighting, fields of dandelions, and peeping spring peepers and you may become ecstatic. Seriously, though, springs on Cape Cod are predictably unpredictable, often cold and wet, and o...

A pair of talented Nova Scotian sisters will light up the stage at The 204 on Saturday, March 18 with their unique mix of traditional and contemporary Celtic instrumentals and vocals. Cassie and Maggie MacDonald have delighted audiences across North America, the UK, and Europe with their fiddle, piano and guitar arrangements, as well as with their vocal harmonies in both English and Gaelic. Their music has won...

A beautiful and historic building in Orleans is receiving a well-deserved makeover. The Academy of Performing Arts, built in 1873, has withstood a lot of weather outside and witnessed many years of theater magic and education inside. Now the time has come to give the iconic building on the hill a loving restoration, thanks to the Orleans Community Preservation Committee and the Orleans Historical Commiss...

As I walk along the beach on the first sunny morning of the week, I note that the wrack line is filled with clumps of seaweed and glittering rocks and shells. The tide is receding but the sea is active and there’s plenty of white water cresting the waves as they near the shore. The water is that deep blue-green we get in March and the tang of salt water is strong in the air.  I note that the wrack line is full...

     Gail Tilton has an affectionate nickname for the students in her Artful Living class. She calls them her Wellness Warriors.      If the nickname sounds heroic, there’s good reason. Let’s face it. Finding ways to stay healthy, active and engaged throughout the winter season can be challenging, and the pandemic didn’t make things any easier. Exploring new methods of keeping fit and learning new things among f...

     As springtime approaches, everything prepares to burst into bloom. This includes our local art galleries, in which plans are being made and calls for art are being prepared for the first exhibitions of the 2023 season.      At Galley West Art Gallery in Orleans, director Sue Sasso has announced that the call for art submissions for the Spring Show will take place from March 17 to April 17. The exhibition w...

The other day I attended my oldest grandson’s final high school sports event at the same high school I attended. My daughter, his mother, also had graduated from this school. As we watched the game I became aware that members of our state title basketball team from 1972 were sitting high up in the bleachers taking in the game as well.  Sneakers squeaked, players ran and shot or blocked baskets, and spectators ...

     Romance is in the air as the Wequassett Resort and Golf Club celebrates its reopening as a year-round hotel with a Revel In Romance Literary Weekend Feb. 24 to 26.      Meredith Goldstein, podcast host and Love Letters advice columnist for The Boston Globe, will moderate the weekend, including chats with New England-based romance novelists Kristan Higgins and Lucy Keating. The weekend will include welcome ...

     There’s the family you’re born into. There’s the family you choose. And then, for many, there’s the comfort of a church family.      The Unitarian Universalist Meeting House (UUMH) in Chatham has found a unique way to celebrate all of the ways we define our families while sharing their talent, their stories and the keepsakes they’ve shared with us along the way.      What makes this art show unique is...

Although we are technically still in winter until mid-March I think it’s fair to say some of us are already suffering from a touch of spring fever. Add this to the bout of COVID that finally departed our house, and we simply had no choice but to get outside even if it was sprinkling. Seven days of being stuck inside was wearing thin for someone used to being outdoors every day. I write this column a little mor...

How did Peter Pan become Peter Pan, the clever, crafty boy who never grows up, and can fly? Based on the novel by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson, playwright Rick Elice gave us “Peter and the Starcatcher,” with music by Wayne Barkera, play that shows us how an abandoned orphan matures into a confident leader while remaining a child. The Cape Cod Theatre Company/Harwich Junior Theatre embraced this tale with a mu...

Two students at Monomoy Regional High School are among the photographers whose work is currently on exhibit in the Creative Arts Center’s 26th annual Photography Exhibition, which continues through Feb. 23. MRHS Performing Arts Department Chair Amanda Schuermann teaches AP art, photography and graphic design. In the beginning of the 2022-2023 school year, sophomores Neva Salta and Robert Mitchell were bo...