
Visual Stories
RARA AVIS
This Week’s Bird Sightings
Confirmed bird sightings on the Outer Cape in the week preceding the Independent’s deadline on Tuesday, Dec. 10 included the following, based on a report prepared by Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet […]
ASTRAL PROJECTIONS
Conflict, With Benefits
Revisiting old animosities is one way to acknowledge your mistakes and move on
This week will come with its challenges, especially in the realm of interpersonal conflicts. But we’ll find there are some opportunities, too — if we can just see through their […]
MEET THE MAKERS
Finding Flow and Balance in Metal and Stone
A shop where two sisters sketch, weld, grind, hammer, and polish their jewelry into existence
WELLFLEET — In the sunlit back room of a Bank Street shop are workbenches scattered with loops and lengths of metal and wire; heavy metalworking equipment sits in the corner; […]
FAMILY RECIPES
Abuela’s Arroz con Dulce
A Puerto Rican dessert is well loved by (almost) everybody
First a little history. When the Moors invaded Spain in the Eighth Century, they introduced rice and saffron into the Spanish culinary oeuvre. Delicious, savory paella and sweet arroz con […]
GRAVEYARD SHIFT
The Sea Captain’s Daughter Who Sang Puccini
A once-famous Wellfleetian didn’t seem to merit a grave marker
Many might remember the anxious feeling of being urged by a well-intentioned parent to perform for relatives at a family gathering. For Martha Atwood of Wellfleet, the family gathering was […]
THE SCUTTLEBUTT
A Look Back on the Fishing Season
In 2024, fewer bass and blues on the bay side and the return of fluke
As we wrap up the year, there’s some recent news: the early arrival on Nov. 18 of two North Atlantic right whales. Scientists from the Center for Coastal Studies were […]
MORNING FLIGHT
Not Just Birds of a Feather
In the off-season, mixed flocks of disparate birds work together instead of apart
Winter is not easy if you’re a bird. The abundant food supply you relied on all summer is gone, you use a lot of energy keeping warm, and without leaves […]
GAMBITS
Nauset Chess Is a Winning Tradition
Lucas Wilson-Bevington bests Joey Smith in Miles Tibbetts Tournament
EASTHAM — Few onlookers were surprised when Joey Smith and Lucas Wilson-Bevington sat down across from each other at a table in Nauset Regional High School’s new cafeteria for the […]
BULLY FOR YOU
Cats ’n’ Dogs
There are three species of cattail that one might find around these parts — a meatier one that’s well behaved and local, a slim one from Eurasia and northern Africa that […]
RARA AVIS
This Week’s Bird Sightings
Confirmed bird sightings on the Outer Cape in the week preceding the Independent’s deadline on Tuesday, Dec. 3 included the following, based on a report prepared by Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet […]
ASTRAL PROJECTIONS
Most Everyone Is Mired in Making Hard Choices
A time to react gently and be quick to forgive
The transits indicate things are going to be challenging for the next few days, so the best thing to do is cultivate a can-do attitude as you work through the […]
TO THE MAT
How to Open Your Heart Without Losing Your Mind
The Locust Pose strengthens you to face the stresses of this season
For some people, the gatherings and celebrations of the winter holidays might be a welcome relief after an anxious election season. But for most, the winter holidays aren’t necessarily an […]
THE DAY AFTER
Leftovers Fit for a Diva
With ties to an opera legend, Turkey Tetrazzini is more than a mid-century memory
We ate a lot of convenience foods when I was a kid growing up in the 1970s. There were dinners of Hamburger Helper and Chun King chop suey, but the […]
CYMRU DISPATCH
Of Quakers and Whalers on the Pembrokeshire Coastal Path
Walking in Wales, a Wellfleeter encounters a parallel universe
The way markers were all odd, deceiving us, leading us astray, bending our perception of reality. It seemed like we’d entered a parallel universe. By the time the bulls charged […]