There is a meadow in Eastham just off the side of the highway that pulls my attention every time I pass by. The field is the site of the old […]
Visual Stories
CHARACTER STUDIES
Mary Beck Has Seen It All
A lifelong Provincetowner who raised a town at Veterans Memorial Elementary
Mary Beck is sitting on the couch in the living room of her corner house in the West End. She’s a little hidden behind her oversize rectangular sunglasses. Beck is […]
PHOTOGRAPHER’S NOTEBOOK
Treasure Hunting for Rubies in the Bog
An Outer Cape tradition provides a bountiful cranberry harvest and an after-school treasure hunt
There is something wonderfully primitive about foraging food. It feels like the way it should always be. There are no signs or sounds of civilization out in the dunes. Just […]
THE SCUTTLEBUTT
A Look at a New Kind of Ark
Maybe floating open-water fish farming will take the pressure off wild stocks
It’s hard for me to wrap my head around fish farming. I grew up commercial fishing the old-fashioned way, for one thing. Besides, it seems to me fish farming produces […]
THE WHOLE TABLE
A Cake to Please Every Type of Eater
Sometimes being good to your body means baking a (healthier) cake
A few years back, I figured out that I had a slew of dietary sensitivities. But since I really do love food, I have been on a quest to discover […]
MILLION-YEAR PICNIC
Scoping Out Holiday Gifts
Heavenly ideas for the astronomical enthusiast in your life
My first telescope was a surprise Christmas gift. I’ll never forget my delight and also my frustration with early attempts to use it. It took time to acquire the knowledge […]
DITCH DEFYING
Studying the Witch Hazel’s Survival Manual
Should you find that the ground beneath you is no longer sure, that the once stable path you were halfway down is now eroding before your eyes, or that you’re […]
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. 12 included the following, based on a report prepared by Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet […]
ASTRAL PROJECTIONS
Think First, Act Later
Slow down and don’t make hasty missteps
This week, prudence and planning will be required if positive change is on your mind. While the Sun moves through Scorpio, it subjects us all to a transition. How large […]
SEASIDE GARDENER
The Hoarfrost Cometh
Lulled into a false sense of seasonal security, a gardener loses a few favorite plants to the cold
One of the things I love most about living here is being more in tune with nature’s rhythms. Watching tides, Moon phases, storm systems, and bird migrations, I’ve learned to […]
THE ESSENTIALS
The Ottolenghi Challenge
For a home cook, mastering the art of a flavor wizard can be a journey
The pressure was on — an invitation to dinner from a close friend I’ve known since school days. Barbara and I often cook cooperative dinners, but this time I was […]
HALLOWEEN
Tricks and Treats on the Green and the Streets
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 […]
