On the general topic of “Why do people do the things they do?” my neighbor is always curious and never hesitates to ask my opinion. Sometimes, I have an answer ready for him, and when I don’t, I usually make something up. This time I said I thought there were some folks who did what […]

For me, serving in the Maine Legislature is really an extension of my role as a coach, teacher, parent and grandparent. I see the challenges that working families, especially families with young kids, face on a daily basis. At the same time, I want to make sure that older Mainers and retirees, like me and […]

George asked if we were friends, and without a moment’s hesitation, I said, Yes, of course! And then he asked how so, and I had to rely on a definition right out of my two volume Webster’s Universal Dictionary, 1936, which I had obtained through the mail in return for an empty bag of Planters […]

The problem comes about from encouraging young folks to take up activities new to them and about which they know nothing at all. In my case it was my mother, who said she had been talking to Allen’s mother, who lived just down the street from us, who said her Allen had started a coin […]

The grocery store is my favorite venue, because she walks on ahead and lets me follow pushing the shopping cart, while she puts things in it, and I can not only use the cart as a walker to keep from falling down, but command some respect from smaller people, and occasionally have a chance to […]

I’m a retired pastor, but my undergraduate degree was environmental science (Penn State, ’74). Back then, water vapor was considered the prominent green house gas. Several years ago, I wondered, where has it gone? I took an afternoon to read and found articles in Encyclopedia Britannica, American Chemistry Society and NASA. All said, it is […]

The Tommy McNamara Charitable Foundation Wiffle ball tournament is a home run, nine years later. What did Tommy love most about his summers and Kennebunk? Family and friends, of course, and he loved playing Wiffle ball with his best friends in his backyard or at “The Hose.” So, after the tragic loss of Tommy in […]

I was surprised when a friend, who had been reading my guest columns, suggested that I was a very wordy person, and seemed to love using as many words as possible. My first thought was that he was criticizing me for using too many words, and my second thought was that he was complimenting me […]