Archive for the ‘Nature & Wildlife’ Category

Monday is Labor Day, meaning that the Summer of 2020 will finally, mercifully, be over. So long, COVID Summer. Don’t let the door hit you on the way out. It was the summer of face coverings, cancellations and quarantines, as opposed to concerts, camp and cookouts. Everything was canceled, including local favorites like the Fourth […]


If you thought the local plastic bag ban passed by the town a couple of years ago was bad, take heart. It’s about to get a lot worse. The Massachusetts Legislature is considering a measure that would ban plastic bags statewide. The State Senate is now debating the legislation before it moves on to the […]


Natural history

24May19

I made my feelings known on the topic of bike lanes a few weeks ago. I’m not a fan, but they’re coming, as just one part of a $15 million downtown infrastructure project. Rightly or wrongly, I associate bike lanes with some other obnoxious trends, like the demonization of automobiles and fossil fuels. The internal […]


Lake Quannapowitt is Wakefield’s jewel – an emerald, judging by the color. It’s August, and like the swallows returning to Capistrano, blue-green algae, aka cyanobacteria, has returned Lake Quannapowitt to the color of pea soup. Last week, the town issued a public health warning.


At long last, I’ve seen the light. I’m admittedly a slow learner, but it has come to my attention that some readers find my weekly entries in the space needlessly caustic. Some might say “snarky” or even “mean.” I was deeply troubled when I learned of this. The knowledge that my writing may have caused […]


Bag the ban

30Mar17

It was only a matter of time. A small group of our fellow citizens has decided that they know better than the rest of us and want to dictate how we can carry our shopping purchases out of a store. Ten citizens have signed a petition to place an article on the May 1 Annual […]


The older I get, the more I hate winter. I hate Old Man Winter almost as much as CNN hates the President of the United States. I have no proof, but I’m convinced that winter is a Russian plot to turn the United States into Siberia.


by Mark Sardella (Wakefield Daily Item) One of the Zoning articles that Wakefield voters will be grappling with at the Regular Town Meeting that gets underway on Monday, Nov. 16 relates to open space subdivisions, also known as conservation subdivisions. At a public hearing earlier this week, the Planning Board voted to recommend favorable action […]


Not the Time

21Feb15

Normally, I give topics like Global Warming and Climate Change a good leaving alone. It’s a slippery slope that can quickly trigger an avalanche of supercilious lectures from the Reality-Based Community. But in my reality I have eight feet of snow in my front yard and if the AccuWeather Boston forecast holds true, we’ll finish […]