Down in the mouth Did you know that at the Rite Aid on Union Street in Auburn, if you want to buy Anbesol or any of the feel-good mouth medicines you have to get it from a clerk? Totally true. It’s similar to the way you have to produce a passport and sign your name […]

God help you. There’s an ache in your back that’s like a great, invisible sadist grinding his knuckles into the muscles around your spine. The rest of you doesn’t feel so great, either. Your bones have been replaced by shards of glass. This aches. And that aches. It hurts whether you’re bent over, lying down […]

Hockey is back! Blistering slap shots, dramatic kick saves and center-ice throw-downs will return to the NHL starting Jan. 19. Due to the strike delay, the Stanley Cup is scheduled for two weeks later. The next strike will commence in February. Not that I’m bitter But I think they should start making those big, foam […]

The boy was 10 years old, a fair-haired moppet with a face full of freckles and a gap-toothed smile. He stood knee-deep in fresh-fallen snow, his cheeks as red as barn paint. “There ain’t nothing I like better than building snow forts and sliding down big hills,” he told me. “Winter is the best thing […]

Doppelganger It has come to my attention that stud photographer Daryn Slover was recently mistaken for me in a local grocery store. My thoughts on this are: Ha ha ha! How’d you enjoy that? Fortunately, it was one of the nice grocery store people, not one of the let-me-walk-you-to-you-car-and-follow-you-home-so-I-can-tell-you-all-about-how-I’m-paying-too-much-child-support types. Serling hangover What you suffer […]

When baked goods go bad Sad news in Auburn Wednesday as a cupcake maker caught fire, filling a building with black smoke and forcing the would-be baker to flee. Nobody was hurt, but the confection fire reminds us all that if you’re going to give the gift of cupcakes for Christmas, it’s a good idea […]

Christmas Eve in Lewiston. It’s early afternoon and Hannaford is rocking. It’s elbow to elbow in the wine aisle and there’s a thrashing mob in front of the meat counters. No aisle is safe. If you came for a simple can of tuna, you’ll have to dig your way through a thrashing sea of humanity […]

Last week in this space we had a frank discussion about the end of the world and how if you stay drunk until the new year, you’ll barely notice. It was an unpleasant conversation but we got through it and many helpful ideas emerged.”What,” went a typical email response, “have you been smoking?” There were […]