The smooth red-brown buds opening like hatches across from the Methodist Church in Provincetown may belong to Salix discolor, the native pussy willow, or they could belong to an introduced […]
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, April 1 included the following, based on a report prepared by Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet […]
ASTRAL PROJECTIONS
It’s Aries Season. Are You Feeling the Heat?
It’s hard to know when to fight and when to fold ’em
The stars are stirring up a lot of tension and conflict this week. What this means for you might depend on your sign. With Mercury, Venus, and Saturn sitting in […]
UNHINGED NEWS
April Fools Issue
Truro Decides All Can Vote at Town Meeting ‘Period of healing’ brings part-timers and year-rounders together By Paul Benson TRURO — Cape Cod’s smallest town took a giant step toward […]
MORNING FLIGHT
The American Woodcock’s Got the Moves
A peent and a sky dance announce the arrival of one goofy bird
It was a still March evening, and I was watching the sunset along the Pilgrim Spring bike path in Truro. For what seemed like a long while, the marsh there […]
LOGGING IN
Fungi Are Forever
Leo Parent’s carved wooden mushrooms spring from finds on forest walks
Leo Parent takes a hand torch to the top of a large wooden mushroom, and the smoke puffs up, gray and fragrant. The torching technique is called shou sugi ban, […]
TO THE MAT
Awakening Your Body From Its Winter Slumber
In yin yoga, holding a deep gentle stretch brings ease
Spring brings renewal: it’s a time to embrace the vibrancy of a new season. But as those of us on the Outer Cape know, the transition comes only gradually. As […]
WHEN THE WOLF IS AT THE DOOR
Fruits, Under the Circumstances
Re-reading M.F.K Fisher on how to face scarcity with grace
M.F.K. Fisher’s How to Cook a Wolf was published in 1942. This is not a cookbook nor even a memoir, really, but rather a guidebook to feeding each other and […]
CROSSWORD #61
Wally and Friends
ENVIRONMENT
As Right Whales Shift, Cape Cod Remains Safe Haven for Now
With warming, whales follow food to new waters, and a key source declines
[PROVINCETOWN — North Atlantic right whales, critically endangered with a population of only around 370, move widely around our ocean. They have traditionally ranged from below Cape Canaveral, Fla., where […]
THE SCUTTLEBUTT
Gearing Up for the Season
Striped bass catches have been reported in southern New Jersey
Last week, I wrote about all the things boaters need to do to get their boats ready for the season. Now, what if you’re not just a boater, but also […]
WARRIORS WATCH
Nauset Spring Sports Preview, Part 1
Softball, baseball, and lacrosse squads look to make the postseason
EASTHAM — Spring is officially here and with it come the sights and sounds of athletes on the fields, courts, track, and, in the case of the sailing team, the […]
NATURAL SELECTION
A Catkin of Another Kind
In the summer, the speckled alder, Alnus incana, hides in plain sight along the Beech Forest trail in Provincetown; its leaves look almost identical to those of Fagus grandifolia. This […]
ONE FINE DAY
Career Celebration
ASTRAL PROJECTIONS
The Past Is Prologue
Progress may need some lessons from history
With Aries season warming up, it’s time to start making some decisions and planning for the future, with emphasis on planning. There are some big shifts happening in the cosmos […]
