Boats parked in driveways, fishing gear stowed in cars, kayaks on a vehicle roof, and floatees packed in picnic baskets — they’re all part of the life of Mainers who don’t own lakefront property but can enjoy our lakes and rivers through public access points. More…

Everyone loves a good parade, and one of the best is the July 4 boat parade in Belgrade Lakes. There will be party boats, speed boats, maybe a fire boat, angler boats, rubber boats, boats piloted by dogs (or so it seems), paddle boats, the occasional canoe or kayak, and the spectators’ favorites — antique boats with antique motors. More…

After recent extreme temperatures, local lake residents are finding green scum on their shorelines. Testing by the 7 Lakes Allliance has confirmed that what people thought was pine pollen is actually cyanobacteria, a.k.a. blue-green algae, which can be toxic. This algae is usually not seen until much later in the summer. More…

The Belgrade Historical Society has been given many post cards over the past two decades. These cards give us great pictorial snippets of life at different times. Today I would like to share four recently donated cards showing Great Pond in the early 20^th century. More…

With the early ice out, we figured that we would have an early “chicks in,” but such was not the case! Long Pond has this year’s first chick, and Great Pond’s first hatch was a “double.” With another single hatch, Great Pond now has three chicks for a grand total of four between the two ponds. More…

The Dams Committee has vigilantly kept the ponds around 3″ above full pond, because we still don’t know if we are going to have a drought this summer. For the past 10 days we had 1.07″ of rain, and another 2.11″ is forecasted for the next ten days, so all looks good so far. More…

This winter, I discovered many backyard Maine birds where I live in Menlo Park, CA, which is near where Joy Luck Club author Amy Tan resides. It is a wonder that she took up serious drawing lessons in her 60s and published The Backyard Bird Chronicles full of her beautiful drawings with handwritten stories. More…

Last week was the start of summer vacation for most area schools, and families are showing up on the trails. Almost all of the summer camps and sporting camps are back to an almost normal schedule. It is good to see our friends from away return to take part in the joys of living near a lake in Maine. More…