There’s nothing like a deadline to get my butt into high gear. Once, upon entering my sparkling clean home, a friend said, “You must be on a serious deadline, your house looks amazing.” She was right. My thesis was due the next day. A few weeks ago, with a draft of a novella a week overdue to my editor, and an academic article due the following day, it seemed like a great time to reach out to the editor of The Lincoln County News, J.W. Oliver, about writing a column.

Granite Hall is kicking off the holiday season with a 20%-off sale starting this Friday, Nov. 29. Granite Hall is open Tuesday through Sunday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and closed Mondays.

The glossy November issue of one of my favorite magazines is ripped and clipped. Words of wisdom on how to prepare the perfect Thanksgiving Day dinner. I ooh and ahh over the pages. I marvel at the pretentious layouts, the slick pages of the perfect gamily gathering in the kitchen with the hostess wearing a sequined apron and holding a sterling silver spoon.

Cats are weird. I’m just going to put that out there right now, in case anyone thought that because I’m an animal lover (and a “crazy cat lady”) I have some sort of rose-colored glasses on that make me not able to see the true nature of cats.

Although Sheepscot was settled as early as 1630 and became a part of the town of Newcastle in 1753, interior Maine was much slower in settling. Trouble with the Indians and the French discouraged new settlers, and the shipbuilders on the rivers and shore and the men who took those ships to all corners of the globe kept people oriented to the sea.