Visual Stories
INTERVALS
In Eastham, Music, Camaraderie, and HIIT Are Hot
Among the seniors, a class that’s right for the high-intensity types
EASTHAM — High Intensity Interval Training, known as HIIT, isn’t the kind of exercise regimen that one would automatically associate with the over-65 crowd, but the program has been hugely […]
UP IN THE AIR
A Neglected History Gets the Spotlight
Professional juggler and author Thom Wall says the circus is ‘known by everyone and studied by no one’
Thom Wall enjoys holding a knife between his teeth and balancing objects like wine glasses and playing cards on the pointed tip. The trick falls under a discipline called “mouthstick.” […]
THE SCUTTLEBUTT
A Leveling Off of the Steep Right Whale Decline
Births have increased but so have deaths caused by human activities
There is some good news about the population of North Atlantic right whales: after seven years of declining numbers from 2013 to 2020, there has been a small increase in […]
MORNING FLIGHT
Late Fall Brings Rare Flycatchers to the Outer Cape
The cause of ‘vagrancy’ remains hard to discern
It was a warm late October evening — one of those days when summer doesn’t seem ready to leave — when I spotted the rarest bird that I’ve ever seen […]
HOUSING
At the Groundbreaking on Lawrence Road
WELLFLEET — State and local officials wielding shiny shovels officially broke ground at the site of the Residences at Lawrence Hill on Oct. 30. Speaking to a small group of […]
UNDISTURBED
Thoroughly Hyssop-Leaved
A meadow plant that thrives in sandy soil with good drainage, hyssop-leaved thoroughwort (Eupatorium hyssopifolium) will show up at anthropogenic sites with similar conditions. The pictured specimen is a volunteer […]
RARA AVIS
This Week’s Bird Sightings
Confirmed bird sightings on the Outer Cape in the week preceding the Independent’s deadline on Tuesday, Nov. 5 included the following, based on a report prepared by Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet […]
ASTRAL PROJECTIONS
Heroes, You Have a Choice
Be accountable for your mistakes and the universe may give you a do-over
We’re at the height of Scorpio season — or in the depths, depending on how you look at things. The Sun is leaving its trine with Saturn and moving into […]
HAUNTED HISTORY
Beware the Black Flash!
Remembering the leaping, fire-breathing phantom of Cape Cod
It bounds down the alleyways off Commercial Street, its black cloak trailing in the wind, dark laughter bubbling from behind its horrible metal mask. Children dash home in terror the […]
ROAD TRIP
To Edward Gorey, Everything Was a Gem
The Yarmouth Port home of the artist known for his sense of Edwardian macabre is anything but scary
I have an image flaming in my head, and it’s glorious. Edward Gorey (or Ogred Weary, for he often used anagrams) drives up to his house in Yarmouth Port. He has […]
POLISHING UP
Letting Gravestones Speak
Robert Sweetman teaches the careful cleaning of historic markers
“Her toils are past, her apricots down, her scurvy and her love,” Robert Sweetman reads. “No, that can’t be right.” He kneels before the lichen-covered grave in Provincetown’s Old Alden […]
THE SCUTTLEBUTT
Chesapeake Bay Results Are In, and They’re Not Good
Striper spawning success is low for sixth year in a row
The results are in from the annual seine in the Chesapeake Bay to determine the status of the juvenile striped bass population, and the news isn’t good. Samples of fish […]
ANTIFOGMATIC
A Punch From the Past
Uneasy times call for a strong beverage that can be made by the batch
This Halloween, the threat of ghouls, goblins, or ax murderers pales in comparison to the terror of the following week’s presidential election. For me, the key to sustaining, and hopefully […]
ON THE BEACH
The Emotional Comfort of a Go-To Lure
Even scruffy and worn, favorite lures create the confidence necessary for fishing success
Halfway through the upswing of my cast, I heard a snap and watched my silvery popper fly lazily overhead and plop in the fast-moving water a few dozen yards in […]
