At Swan's Island's annual town meeting on March 2, residents reelected Sonny Sprague as selectman to serve through 2018. Sprague announced that this would be his last term, said Donna Wiegle, MIC co-chairwoman. Selectman Dexter Lee, who has served for 40-plus years, also announced that he will not seek reelection when his term expires in 2017.

Ever wonder how the National Weather Service (NWS) is able to report detailed weather data for your local area? Across the country, there are over 8,700 volunteer NWS cooperative weather observers who are truly the nation's weather and climate observing network of, for, and by the people.
The NWS in Gray manages 99 volunteer weather observers across New Hampshire and Western and Southern Maine who record maximum and minimum temperatures, rainfall, snowfall and snow depth readings from equipment provided by the service. NWS also has over 2,200 volunteer weather spotters who report based on event-driven criteria, such as total snowfall from a storm.

Last month a perfect snow fell. It wasn't dry as dust but neither was it slush. It had just enough togetherness to respond perfectly to an effort by three youngsters to roll it into a big ball, a ball so big that Dad had to help move the eventual globe, nearly three feet in diameter, into the place prepared for it, a level piece of ground, swept clear of snow and surrounded by evergreens.

Compiled by Tom Groening

In baseball, the hitter gets three strikes. But when it comes to a 136-foot fishing boat wandering off it's mooring, there is no third strike.

When lobster scientist Diane Cowan heard that friends planned to airlift a box of goodies to her on Friendship Long Island, where she's been stranded since Jan. 30 due to extreme ice conditions, she broke into laughter.

High school basketball is an essential part of island winters. Many times the stands are filled with people representing four generations, some of whom don't even have family on the team. The community becomes very invested in their teams and sometimes that can lead to conflict, hence the hesitation from many people I told about wanting to be a part of the basketball team.

Island schools have varying numbers of students of all different ages, making "traditional" activities and games challenging. A new PE project attempts to address varying needs while working to provide another avenue to strengthen the ties between the six schools involved with the Outer Islands Teaching and Learning Collaborative.

Just about every other year my husband and I travel to Southern California to visit his family for Christmas. We leave the island, which is often covered in snow, or if we're less lucky rain, ice or slush, and take the boat to the mainland and drive to Boston and fly out.

Whether it's a wedding, reunion or holiday celebration, photographers often struggle to get all the key family members in their shots. Imagine how hard it was for Miranda Battiste to capture the family that is the island's year-round population.