While store-bought snowballs, devil dogs and creme pastries were childhood delights that lost their luster, home-baked apple pie, applesauce cake and apple crisp came with flavor, ingenuity and love.

When lung cancer took Nina Rose Mitchell's father, his pledge to build her a tree house fell to a contractor salesman and a carpenter who thought she was a sweetheart.

The 18 cases presented to the pardon board recently were felons' presentations of life lessons painfully learned, Amy Calder writes.

Amanda Brown has made the most of her own experience to help others deal with postpartum anxiety and depression.

Former high school history teacher David Harville details the stories of two Skowhegan men who fought and died in the Battle of Chateau-Thierry in France, one of the first actions of the American Expeditionary Force.

Luxy and Marie LeClair devote hours on end volunteering to support families in need, including stocking the service's resale shop, which funds its work.

The passing of a friend's mother will bring our families back together, awaken memories, and renew friendship in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Amy Calder writes.

The first "first responders," the men and women who take the calls, collect vital information that police and firefighters deal with, from whether a threatening spouse is armed or intoxicated to the details of a woman giving birth.

Funny, unpredictable, romantic, a sure way to make a husband or boyfriend disappear, the prime-time show may be just the antidote when the divisiveness and depressing events in the world get to be too much, writes Amy Calder.

In the midst of today's volatility, Elizabeth LaBua gets up in the morning and goes to a job where people are actually making a difference. It's rewarding, she tells writer Amy Calder.

Although Clifford Perkins works hard, he leaves when he gets stressed out and now sleeps in the woods at Head of Falls; but he does know the first thing he needs: insurance, writes Amy Calder.

While the comedian was talkative enough, he talked about what he wanted to talk about, whether it had any relation to what I was asking or not, writes Amy Calder.

Sometimes prodding from a youthful colleague is just the ticket to writing a column — and coming up with a list to check off in the future.

The 69-year-old was born and bred in the city and has been walking and biking here all his 69 years, writes Amy Calder.

Volunteers working on providing affordable housing, meeting health care needs, creating a social network and making people feel that they are part of the community invite you to join in the effort at REM, writes Amy Calder.

All that time we use to clean out things we've accumulated can be put to better use the less we have, writes Amy Calder.

From childhood to now, the words of the bard of New England have described the world Amy Calder knows and infused it with meaning for her, she writes.

As technology changes how we do things and how we live our lives, does it make us any happier than those who choose to live without it, asks Amy Calder.

When Vaughan Orchard's schizophrenia took over his life, a family and a man were left behind, writes Amy Calder.

While the last vestiges of winter hang on, it's always good to look ahead to the light and warmth of lengthening days, writes Amy Calder.

A story her mother told her about a cat and her father might be just the antidote to the stress ailing society now, writes Amy Calder.

While Oprah has had people talking, Republicans and Democrats in Maine have been grooming women to run for office, Amy Calder writes.

If birds are not flocking to the feeder on the porch, it's because they are finding nourishment in the wild, writes Amy Calder.

With Christmas fast approaching, Amy Calder proposes this year we shoot for zero fatalities during the holiday, five better than last year.

The person who took Ayla Reynolds from home six years ago tops the list, followed by the remains of Pauline Rourke and two dangerous dogs, writes Amy Calder.