Good friend shows no interest in my 6-year-old daughter
Dear Carolyn: My close friend of over 20 years lives next door. She is single, ...
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Nature
Nature: Unusual bird spotted on the island
‘Summertime, and the living is easy…’ so goes a favorite song of mine, and so ...
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Nature: Summer ‘springs the world anew’
‘Sumer is icumen in…’ So says an anonymous English poet, in an 800-year-old song, thought to be one of the oldest songs ever written. All around us, it is easy to tell that we have shifted from spring to summer. Wildlife families are busy raising their young. Sounds of birds are nice to hear these days, and just this last week, snapping turtles laying eggs have been seen all over …
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Nature: When in balance, it all works fine
Nature happenings this month are many, for it is the time for plants and animals to reproduce in the many different forms nature has given them to do so. Birds are especially vocal now as the males sing their love songs to their lady loves, and frogs and toads trill, croak or do whatever nature has provided them in declaring their love. As a wonderful …
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Nature: Ducks create flap on Jordan Pond
Wildflowers are appearing in woods and fields all over our island. In just a walk up my long driveway in Bass Harbor, bordered by woods and a few small vernal pools, I noted blue–eyed grass, star flower, yellow pond lilies (spadderdock), white violets, wild strawberries and several ferns. Those of you on the Bar Harbor side of MDI see wildflowers and blooming shrubs about a week or more ahead …
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Nature: In the nice ear of Nature, which song is the best?
Right on time this week, rhodora showed its beautiful blooms. June is a wonderful month WHEN, “Then, if ever, come perfect days; then heaven tries the earth if it be in tune, and over it softly her warm ear lays…” As a violinist, I’ve always liked these words of poet James Russell Lowell. At this time of …
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Nature: Foxtrotting to the amphibian symphony
“June is busting out all over…” So say the words of an old favorite song of mine. Nature proclaims this loudly and clearly this month! Bird calls taunt me as I am out in my woods and I try to figure out who is there. Nesting is in ‘full swing’ and nests built, eggs laid and the …
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Nature: Keep bears in mind
A bear stepped into the spotlight in Bass Harbor this week. As of this writing I do not have any information about it, but the video posted on Facebook from a home owner not far from me showed a big black bear on the lawn on the May 22. I’ll be sure to make lots of noise …
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Nature: Keep your hummingbirds happy
Warblers are arriving all over our island and the natural world follows its part in the web of life. Two geese have moved onto my pond for the first time in 50 years. I know geese can be a problem if they are around in large numbers. They are not liked on golf courses and at …
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Nature: Slippery as an eel
‘Slippery as an eel ‘ is an expression often used. How many of us really know what that means? Have you ever grabbed on and tried to hold on? This is the month for eels. All winter long, eels have burrowed under the mud. All eels started in the Sargasso Sea, and that is where the females …
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Nature: Birds and snapping turtles
New bird sightings these early spring days can be very exciting. For some reason known only to Mother Nature, there have been several sightings of glossy ibis in Maine, so inspect any wading bird you see now. In the marsh near Scarborough, this bird was seen on April 17, so there is a great possibility …