As the lazy hazy days of summer fade into the early days of autumn you will be going back to school soon. On behalf of this region I want to wish you the best as you go back to the classrooms.

Are you interested in knowing how AARP and local leaders are working together to create a more age-friendly culture, making Dover-Foxcroft, Milo, Dexter, Guilford, and Greenville more livable for people of all ages? Want to share your ideas? Would you like to know more about how AARP is advocating for older adults statewide? If so, come to the AARP Coffee Talk at Elaine’s Bakery in Milo on Thursday, September 21 from 10 – 11:30 a.m. or join us at The Mill Café in Dover-Foxcroft on Tuesday, September 26, from 10 – 11:30 a.m.

Garlands Days returns this year from Sept. 7-10 with a theme of “Connecting Communities Through the Woods.”

Scuba divers Ryan Robbins and Matt Kane swam along the ship’s railings, descending slowly to the stern of the vessel, more than 40 feet below the surface. The two divers were capturing footage for a historical documentary “Sunken Steamboats of Moosehead Lake.” This summer, the Moosehead Marine Museum received two separate $10,000 grants from the Libra Foundation and the Fisher Charitable Foundation to support production of the film, which will include underwater footage and other imagery, combined with stories told by local residents.

Tuesday night I watched and listened to President Trump's remarks, and the outline for his plan, on tax reform. The President was in Missouri, I was in my living room in Maine. An email arrived from the White House inviting me to watch the President speak live. All I had to do was click a link included in the email and in an instant I could listen to the President unfiltered live or later.

Over the last four years, Foxcroft Academy football coach Danny White has welcomed the challenges playing in Class C North had presented his Ponies. This fall, with its drop to Class D, Foxcroft is going home, so to speak, to the Little Ten Conference.

Exact percentages vary, but news from Texas consistently paints a bleak picture regarding the number of homes protected by flood insurance – with the vast number of homes impacted by Hurricane Harvey reportedly uninsured.

September signals transition.It means back to school for students, back to work for educators, and back to our projects and goals, buoyed by a sense of urgency and clarity that autumn days can bring. Think of the Thompson Free Library as the friend who keeps you grounded and on track as you navigate your transitions.

Truth be known, the bloom is off the rose for me when it comes to upland bird hunting. It just isn’t the same when your favorite gun dog is no longer of this earth. But my memory still works, and the intense pleasure of breathing cool fall air against a color-coated autumn backdrop, while watching my Sally on point, is never forgotten.

A man who helped engineer some of the largest public land conservation deals in state history has died. Alan Hutchinson, 70, died at his Orono home on Sunday, Aug. 26 according to an official at Brookings-Smith Funeral Home of Bangor.