Tag Archives: Buy Local

Tackling Plumbing

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Plumbing-stock

There are two things I dread as a homeowner; electrical and plumbing issues. I don’t like the thought of “zapping” myself; the mere thought of water cascading across the floor, or spouting from busted pipes makes my stomach churn.

A week before Thanksgiving, our toilets began “gurgling.” Without being too graphic, there’s nothing worse than toilets not flushing efficiently and as they were designed to. With visitors anticipated, I needed a plumber, pronto.  Of course, the week before a holiday is never a good time to find someone with plumbing skills; in fact, there’s never a good time to find a plumber  (or an electrician) to address a quasi-emergency. Continue reading →

Nostalgia Act

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Alfred Rosenberg photo-from You Know You're From Lisbon, ME if... Facebook page.

Alfred Rosenberg photo-from You Know You’re From Lisbon, ME if… Facebook page.

What is it about the past that we find so attractive? Our desire to return to what we consider “better days” has become big business for marketers and others who’ve found a way to mine this vein for all it’s worth.

An email exchange the other day about the town where I grew up, Lisbon Falls, and the interest that many seem to have relative to a particular page on Facebook about the town that existed when we were kids (but has long ago disappeared) finds me curious about nostalgia, and what lies behind it. Continue reading →

Making it in Maine

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Maine logo

Maine might be open for business, but too often, the business being discussed and the deals cut by our fearless leaders in Augusta bypass Main Street for the malls and retail models better suited for a “Happy Motoring” utopia running on borrowed time. That belief sadly still holds sway, along with the presumption that excess consumption can be maintained into perpetuity.

Don’t get me wrong—consumerism will continue to drive our economy for the next decade at least, but true sustainability and local and regional economies built for the long haul are going to have to be led by locally-owned storefronts and production rooted in Maine, not corporate big boxes. Continue reading →

Looking for a sign

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Signs are ubiquitous. They inform, invite, beckon, and some signs say “stay away.”

From the National Park Services Technical Preservation Services, in Preservation Brief #25, “American sign practices originated largely in Europe. The earliest commercial signs included symbols of the merchant’s goods or tradesman’s craft. Emblems were mounted on poles, suspended from buildings, or painted on hanging wooden boards. Such symbolic signs were necessary in a society where few could read, although verbal signs were not entirely unknown. A sheep signified a tailor, a tankard a tavern.”

Some are familiar and even iconic. They speak of commerce and capital.

Continue reading →