The ‘swap shops’ at many Maine dumps and transfer stations offer a constant source of recycled ‘treasures’ and some high-quality socializing in the process. When David Berry bought the old chicken barn on Bowdoinham’s Post Road a few decades ago, he had no idea that one day he’d be looking back on a long-standing career […]

All summer I bring in flowers from the garden and wild ones from the fields. Sometimes they’re in a bouquet, whose bright colors bring the outdoors in. But often they’re just some odd treasure that appeals to me — a handful of daisies picked by a grandchild or one neon-violet artichoke blossom. I’ll stick it […]

My grandson Patrick grasps a carrot’s shoulders and pulls it expertly from the soil. I cut its leafy top, leaving an inch of green, and hand it to his sister, Ella, who puts it in a bowl — and so on down the row until the bowl is full. Patrick is 5, and Ella is […]

My 8-year-old daughter is obsessed with American Girl dolls. She knows every doll’s name, pet’s name and horse’s name. And she’s particularly obsessed with a doll named Kaya, which is short for Kaya’aton’my, “she who arranges rocks.” A fictional character that came out in stores in 2002, Kaya is from the Nimiipuu, or Nez Perce […]

Your snapshots are obviously works of art all on their own — but do you ever want to give them a little boost? Prisma takes the concept of a filter and amps it up another level, transforming your photos according to different art styles. Now you can convert a photograph into a beautiful line-art drawing, […]

WASHINGTON — Revisiting the National Gallery of Art’s East Building, which is reopening Friday after a three-year renovation, is like greeting an old friend. She still has all the same familiar qualities, and conversation picks up as if no time has passed at all. But you also can’t help but notice: She looks good. The […]

My wife, Tish, and I have three kids, and making their school lunches fell to me. I’m a cartoonist, and I wanted to do something fancier than just write their names on the bags. But time didn’t permit; all each child got was a bag full of predictable food, with their name written on it […]

Mike McMillan had a tough decision to make. He was wearing his best suit, driving to a not-too-common business meeting with the mayor of his hometown of Orillia, about 90 miles north of Toronto. But there, on the road near his house, was a skunk with its head trapped in a Coke can. The animal […]