Green scene: Southeastern Voke engineering generation of students plugged into energy efficiency and conservation

EASTON - Stephen Ceckowski checks the solar voltage and some other particulars that flash in red as he presses the buttons on the converter box for the photovoltaic panels on the new alternative energy center at Southeastern Regional Vocational-Technical High School.

Turkey Day toppers

ATTLEBORO - Main course for Thanksgiving dinner? Check. Side dishes? Check. The pies for dessert? Check.

Women's group cooks up Shabbat dinner in Mansfield

MANSFIELD - The Shabbat dinner offers food for the body, but also for the soul, says Tzivi Kivman.

For the birds

You don't necessarily have to go walking in a winter wonderland - watching will suffice when it comes to seeing birds in your backyard during the cold weather.

Young ones can get in on the winter fun, too

Get the kids involved in creating a backyard birdland.

On top of the world

It's not hard to find fjell, fjords and foss - mountains, watery valleys and waterfalls - when on a Norwegian Arctic adventure. A trip to the stunning west coast of Norway on Europe's northernmost tip, where Norway meets Finland and Russia, lives up to its reputation as having the most beautiful coastline in the world.

Churches learn how to eat the green way

An apple pear pie prepared with locally-grown fruit, potato bread using potatoes grown at Crystal Spring Earth Center in Plainville served with a homemade tomato jelly, and canned dill pickles derived from cucumbers from an area farmer's market were among the dishes shared at a recent potluck dinner in a celebratory conclusion to a local group's six-week discussion series on "Menu for the Future."

Wrentham author has new novel, movie hopes

WRENTHAM - Someday, the story might make a good movie.

Your MIL, your friend

Mothers usually want to pass their wisdom down to their children, but Sally Shields has a bit of hard-earned knowledge she hopes her son never needs.

Raising resiliency

NORTH ATTLEBORO - When you get home tonight, get out a piece of paper and divide it into two columns. In one column, write down words you hope your child would use to describe you. Think, "What have I done in the last three to six months so that it's likely they'll use those words?" Then, in the other column, write down the words you think he or she would actually use in describing you.