After one of his days at the beach, Christopher sees nothing wrong with inviting friends to get together for drinks without giving the first thought to what we’ll serve with […]
Visual Stories
MORNING FLIGHT
Whale Watching Is for the Tubenoses
Going offshore for a closer look at seabirds
I’ve always loved visiting nature in ways that make me feel out of my element. We have so dominated nature, so domesticated it, so segregated it from our normal lives […]
THE SCUTTLEBUTT
When Sweet Sea Breezes Are Winds That Won’t Quit
Finding stripers at the Cape’s tip, but bluefish are in hiding
I’m not a scientist, but as a more-than-casual observer of all things ocean-related, it seems to me that it’s been getting windier out here. What I have known since childhood […]
IN VIEW THIS WEEK
The Other Red, White, & Blue
PEER REVIEWS
The Scoop on the Outer Cape’s Scoops
Independent writers give their takes on ice cream
Ice cream is always a good idea. But with so many choices, a good idea can easily become an intense deliberation: where is it creamiest, which flavor to choose, is […]
PINK FLAMINGOS
A Local Rose Has Its Day
The last days of May saw the first beachside blooms of the naturalized Asian species Rosa rugosa, and June was filled with the dramatic, arching white displays of multiflora rose, […]
RARA AVIS
This Week’s Bird Sightings
Confirmed bird sightings on the Outer Cape in the week preceding the Independent’s deadline on Monday, July 1 included the following, based on a report prepared by Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet […]
ASTRAL PROJECTIONS
Seeing the Sky Behind the Fireworks
In a week for celebrating freedom, there’s still work to be done
Fireworks may fill the sky this week, but let’s not forget that behind them always are the stars, trying to express a message for us all. Saturn begins its four-and-a-half-month […]
DUST TO DUST
It’s Getting Easier, Being Green
On the Outer Cape, pursuing a plot to inspire natural burials
Tucked away at the southernmost end of the Truro’s Old North Cemetery, a small tract of land is girded by a split-rail fence where a sign reads: “Old North Cemetery, […]
FOURTH OF JULY
A Not-So-Straight-Up Potato Salad
Comforting yet zingy, a recipe that’s right for whatever kind of party you’re invited to
I attended a swanky dinner party on an early summer night when the weather was still cool enough to ward off mosquitoes and invite indulgent feasting. It was at an […]
GARDENER’S NOTEBOOK
Structure and Color for Every Season of the Year
In Eastham, a collection of maples and conifers grows little by little
Story and drawings by Abraham Storer Keri Thomas and David Smile’s garden comes as a surprise to a visitor arriving on Oak Ridge Road in Eastham, not far from Cooks […]
LIBERATION
On Juneteenth, Speakers Take Up the Question of Belonging
‘We have come a mighty long way, but there’s a mile and a half to go’
PROVINCETOWN — As drummers walked through the crowd to energize a Wednesday afternoon gathering, some 150 people converged on the Unitarian Universalist Meeting House to hear James Jackson Jr., Jordan […]
CAPE COD RAIL TRAIL NORTH
Pedaling an Unofficial Route to Provincetown
It’s possible to avoid the highway, but you can’t get away from cars or hills
Every year since I was 15 years old, I’ve biked the Cape Cod Rail Trail end to end. The tradition started when I was even younger; my best friend and […]
ON THE BEACH
A Fisherman’s Luck
Skill is one thing, but how to explain the hits and hookups that happen on the very last cast?
Knowing a backshore beach’s structures — the deeps, shallows, and river-like troughs between the shore and the first sandbar — is as important to catching fish as knowing the tides, […]
THE SCUTTLEBUTT
Of Flaky Fish and Future Storms
Warm waters in the Caribbean, bonito in the bay
The fish cannot seem to make up their minds about where they want to be for more than a day at a time. It looked like they were settling in […]
