After the bridge over the Sheepscot River was put in, in 1794, everyone wanted a road. The Rev. David Quimby Cushman writes in his “History of Ancient Sheepscot and Newcastle” that roads began to be cut in different directions.

Fracking — which involves the use of high-pressure fluids to extract oil and gas from subterranean rock — is not safe. It is beyond the power of regulations to redeem it — not that any such regulations are in the making.

Even though we all know that growing old is not for sissies, in my younger years I looked forward to becoming a senior, which guaranteed certain privileges. I even thought I might become one of those eccentric full-fledged sassy old women who wear purple and speak before they think.

With each New Year comes a chance for a fresh start and new resolutions. It seems that the majority of them are doomed to failure because we’re either not fully committed to them, or they’re too different from our normal routine to stick with them for more than a short time.

“Hindsight is 20/20” is a saying coined from the mid-1900s, a phrase meaning the clarity that someone has about their past decisions and/or actions. It’s the act of looking back over something and understanding how it could have been said or done better.

The “12 Days of Christmas” certainly had their appeal in the Middle Ages, with an extended period of celebrations with food and revelry starting on Christmas Day. When Charles Dickens published his “A Christmas Carol” in 1843, he was concerned that this custom was fading from England and gave it a boost for years to come.