When the lights dimmed to sheer darkness Saturday evening at the Brewer Performing Arts Center, it was a strangely comforting feeling — like being wrapped in a soft blanket of pure black. If I’d had to move at all, not just sit waiting for Robinson Ballet’s production of Extensions to begin, I would have probably […]
Darkness pushed at the living room windows as I sank into the couch near the boxy arm. It wasn’t a soft or fluffy couch like my friends’ couches, but it was familiar and comforting all the same. The firm pillows were covered in a scratchy, grey-blue burlap fabric — chosen a few years earlier to replace the […]
The thick stalk is encircled with the green, tightly leafed Brussels sprouts. Dozens of them grow from it, from the crowded top to the more spacious bottom end, where the stalk was whacked away from its roots. How Brussels sprouts grow is something that’s long fascinated me. Who first wandered by a stalk and thought […]
Unexplained happenings are common in the Bangor Historical Society’s historic Thomas A. Hill House. Items go missing and are found, much later, where they should have been in the first place. Lights turn on that shouldn’t. Others work mysteriously. Strange noises are heard. Those are among the ghostly tidbits I learned this past weekend when we […]
Little cups have taken up residence on surfaces around my kitchen. They are of different sizes and shapes, but bear a few striking resemblances: Each cup has plastic wrap tightly fitted on the top, secured with a rubber band saved from my morning newspaper delivery. Each one has little holes pricked in the top with […]
Maybe it was the periwinkles villages my cousins and I would build on the sandbars every summer in Connecticut that made my childhood so special. We’d dig away the warm, brown top layer of sand, revealing the blue-grey, cool layers beneath. And we’d dig it away, piling and shaping and dripping into walls, homes, fortresses and […]
When I opened my door to retrieve the newspaper early this morning, the chill in the air was shocking. After weeks of balmy temperatures, it felt decidedly cool. I’m not ready to break out the sweaters and sweatshirts yet. And when the auto-payment for summer camp was deducted from my checking account over the weekend, […]
Food writer and author Michael Pollan has said that everything he’s learned about health and food can be summed up in just seven words: “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.” The often repeated advice forms the crux of several of his books including “In Defense of Food” and “Food Rules” — and it’s just generally […]
Farmers market meets favorite takeout in this recipe for Vegan Beet Fried Rice. It’s perfect for beet lovers. Last year, in the springtime, I had a conversation with a friend that went something like this: “I only eat fried rice if I make it. I never order it out.” Then I met BDN writer Kathleen […]
Hot dogs with crispy, perhaps even slightly charred, skin. The rich aroma of juicy burgers cooking on the grill. The sizzle of sausages cooking. These are among the textures, smells and sounds of summer barbecues. This past weekend, they were aplenty. As I walked down a road in Southwest Harbor, I caught the pleasant whiff of grills […]
