My View of Life on the Dock
Yesterday Sista Felicia, the Bean, Snoop Maddie Mad, Nephew BJ and Niece Amandacakes had a Rosa Rugosa jelly making day to support Marilyn Curcuru.
The Bean and Snoop Maddie mad Pick Rosa Rugosa Rose Hips-
Getting ready to jar the jelly-
Sharon posted this from the Gloucester Times a couple of weeks ago-
From the Times–
To the editor:
Being friends of Jim and Marilyn Curcuru for many years, we are writing to ask our community for its help.
Many of you may or may not know Jim and Marilyn, so let me tell you about them. Marilyn was stricken with multiple sclerosis more than 25 years ago. She was employed by the now Shaw’s Supermarket.
Even though Marilyn is in a wheelchair and has been for many years, she was still sitting in at Shaw’s Railroad Avenue once in awhile. She is the person you see smiling and giving out samples.
Jim had his own business, Jim’s Frame Design, and while he continued to maintain his business, he would have to leave whenever Marilyn needed help at home since she was confined to a wheelchair. No one expects such horrible circumstances, but people deal with their problems.
Then, about five years ago, Jim had a major heart attack and almost died. Working miracles, his Boston doctors were able to save him. About two weeks ago, he had more problems and was forced to close his business.
Jim now has a small part-time job and they continue to struggle, but they continue to deal with what comes their way. Life has not been easy.
Recently, they had some problems with their old wheelchair-accessible van and Jim came up with the money to fix it, only to find out that, within weeks of the work being done, the floor of the van had rotted out. No one who had repaired the van had realized that the floor was falling through.
The floor of the van cannot be repaired. They now have no vehicle, and Marilyn is not only confined to her wheelchair, but to her house, too. Local wheelchair vans are only available for doctors and or medical appointments.
How do they keep going? Being the people that they are, they won’t ask for help, but they need it — desperately. Everyone is in tough times and many are out of work. We are hoping that with donations, they will be able to acquire a used wheelchair-accessible van, even though they are very expensive. With the help of the community, we’re hoping this can be achieved.
There are many businesses and organizations here in Gloucester that help people. We are hoping that some of them will come forward and help with donations as well. If there is anyone out there who can help with even a small donation (even a dollar) or knows someone who can help with a wheelchair accessible van that could be donated, they would be helped immensely.
If anyone would like to help, please send any checks made out to Jim and Marilyn Curcuru Van Fund. Any checks should be sent c/o Rockport National Bank, 4 Parker St., Gloucester, MA, 01930.
If you only have a dollar to spare, please feel free to drop any donation off in the afternoons at STUFF, 161 Main St., where there is a cash donation set up. If you have any questions or know of a van that might be available for them, please feel free to call Louise or Joe Palazzola at 978-281-1048, or Anthony and Eleanor Curcuru at 978-281-0874. We want to thank Rockport National Bank for setting up this account for them. Any and all questions will be appreciated.
Sista Felicia thought it would be a good way to raise money by making the Rosa Rugosa Jelly (which is delicious BTW)- the same one she canned for the Topsfield Fair, and sell it to raise money for the Jim and Marilyn Curcuru Van Fund.
So here’s the deal-
You can get a jar of Sista Felicia’s Rosa Rugosa Jelly made with extra love with the help of The Bean, Snoop Maddie Mad, BJ and Amandacakes for $10 per jar. 100% of the money raised will go to the Jim and Marilyn Curcuru Van Fund. If her Rosa Rugosa Jelly wins a Blue Ribbon at Topsfield Fair the price goes up to $12 per jar, so if you let me know you want me to save you a jar before next week when the judging at the Fair is announced you can lock in at the bargain price of $10. 🙂
This is so much better than a raffle or just a straight up donation because when you think of it you definitely walk away with something! Look for Sista Felicia’s Rosa Rugosa Jelly making video Wednesday on The Gloucester Daily Times website.
Leave a comment below and let me know if you would like a jar (or three). You can pick up the jelly at Stuff 161 Main Street Gloucester MA beginning Thursday morning.
Picture from Chris Orsillo’s cameraphone
Bob Ryan is not only a master with his Distillery, but a great ambassador to Gloucester.
The TV Company will be filming a Cooking Show using Folly Cove Rum in the Recipe.
See behind the scenes of Bob being filmed at Ryan and Wood Distillery.
Also includes a little plug for GoodMorningGloucester.
Video Behind Scenes
Abbie Writes-
Joey, your tech posts are great. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if ZD was watching you!
Question: What do you use to edit your video? I’m looking for something relatively simple with basic functionality (and free if possible). Any suggestions?
That’s a great question Abbie. The editing program that I finally found was a godsend.
I’ll share the story of how I arrived at the video solution that worked for me. Keep in mind however that I am not trying to say that the editing solution I use is perfect for everyone. I will say that it is super fast, super easy, can edit today’s HD technology (which is what most new cameras ship with nowadays) and gives you a variety of preset formats for you to save your project in. You can save it as a dvd, you can save your video as a standard definition smaller file size, you can save it in HD, and there’s even a upload direct to YouTube preset which I use 90% of the time.
I’ll start in the beginning of my quest for the right video editing software. In the early stages of the blog I was using the Sony H3 camera which shot standard definition video. It was a bit grainy in low light, it was more square 4×3 in dimension and didn’t have the polished look of widescreen HD video. The newer cameras that were coming out shot in HD, 16:9 widescreen and I wanted the blog to be the best it could be. The desire to shoot interviews and the Gloucester Zen scenes in HD was consuming me so I read every single forum and magazine article I could about HD cameras.
I realized that the new Sony model that had replaced my H3 shot in HD and was pocketable (an absolute must for my blogging needs) The camera needs to be on my person to capture things as they happen and not disrupt work running to the office to set up a dslr or separate video camera.
So I bought the new Sony, the DSC H20, my current camera, which shoots 720p HD and went to edit my shoot first movie and my Vista PC could not push the movie around to edit it. It was a format called AVCHD and most video cameras today shoot in this format. I was horrified. My baby, the H3 that had been with me from the start of the blog and recorded hundreds of great scenes had been sold to a good FOB Brenda Malloy and here I had a new camera that made better qualoity movies but didn’t have the tools to edit them. To say I was frustrated would be a major understatement.
So back to the forums for answers. Vimeo, a video hosting site has a fantastic user community forum with some professional video editors and camera folks that can answer just about anything. A good majority of the people suggested Apple Final Cut Pro or iMovie but I had a PC and switching to a mac was not something I was even considering.
Most of the people on the Vimeo forums that owned PC’s suggested Sony Vegas video editing software. It was $80. I bought it because I desperately wanted to edit HD video and I desperately wanted to create more content for the blog.
Sony Vegas is a bit complicated. It was a good program for someone that needs a ton of different options as far as different transitions and color schemes and trickery and special effects. I consider myself more advanced than the average computer user but I had a very hard time figuring out the right export options and if you didn’t do things just right you would have ugly black bars on the top or sides of the video. It also used a ton of system resources on the Vista machine and many times the video would render without sound. I was ready to tear my hair out (and if you know me you know that the little hair I have left is a rare commodity).
So then someone did something very mean to me. Another Blogger and tech geek like myself Kenny McCarthy from The Cut Bridge Blog let me borrow his macbook for a couple days. It was just a basic one, a couple years old but I fell in love with it. I became obsessed with getting a mac- any mac because you can make a pretty professional looking movie with the editing software that comes with them.
Research began. Going into the Apple store every time I was at the mall, logging onto the Apple online store and configuring just the right model but the prices were going to be over $1000.
Cut to the house. My wife’s laptop shit the bed and it needed replacing. I did some research and because her computing needs consist of A) browsing the internet and B) logging onto the internet to check out her Facebook account I decided that for her needs a 4GB of RAM 500gb of storage computer with the newly released Windows 7 would fit the bill. We spent $550 for a Toshiba Satellite 17 inch laptop with a 12 cell battery that screams.
Not knowing a whole lot about Windows 7 beforehand I set out to set up the new laptop for her and discovered this new suite of programs that Windows 7 ships with.
Microsoft even had a blog explaining each new program. While I used Windows Movie Maker with my first camera on the Vista machine the new Windows 7 shipped with a completely redesigned movie editing program that had a very similar name- Windows Live Movie Maker. I checked out these easy to follow videos on the Windows Live Movie Maker Blog which showed how ridiculously simple it was to make movies with transitions and titles and end credits in mere minutes. The video demo was easy to understand and genius in is simplicity.
Now for MY NEEDS, with such little time to bang out videos and the amount of content I create I didn’t need the complexity of Sony Vegas’ video editing software. I also saved a considerable amount of time with Windows Live Movie Maker’s Auto Movie function over the Apple iMovie.
I can edit a 9 minute HD movie with 20 different slideshow pictures and 3 different movie clips with titles, end credits and transitions in literally less than 90 seconds with Windows Live Movie Maker. I challenge any other movie editing software to be able to do the same in that little time.
Here is a video demo of just how easy Windows Live Movie Maker Works-
So instead of buying an Apple for $1300, I got myself a new gateway desktop with 6GB RAM, 1 Terabyte of Hard Drive Space and Windows 7 operating system for $579.
It does everything I want it to do really well and for blogging I’m convinced I can edit my blog in at least half the time with Windows Live Writer (another free program that ships with windows 7) than I could on any other machine. I also love the snipping tool where I can copy anything on the screen of any web page even if it is a flash movie slideshow or a YouTube Video and paste it into Windows Live Writer and BANG, it’s there! That’s how Abbie’s avatar got into this post up at the top of the page,the snipping tool I captured it from her comment and pasted it in the edit box on Live Writer. No dealing with any url address of where the picture of her avatar was located or code- just a simple capture and paste.
This is coming from a guy who had major Mac lust not even a year ago. I’m just lucky my wife’s old laptop died and needed replacing or I might never have found out how great Microsoft’s new suite of software is. I’ll say it again, I’m shocked that Microsoft isn’t beating it’s own drum more loudly with the clear winner they have in Windows 7.
Footage from the last race of the Bluenose. Racing off Gloucester, Mass. against the Gertrude L. Thibault. Shot by W.R. MacAskill in October 1938.
Filmmaker: W.R. MacAskill
Deeply saddened By My New Yawk Blogging Buddies Who Bailed On What I Thought Was A Perfect Plan For Them To Come Up For Schooner Festival.
But Alas I can still Check Out Their Awesome Blogs-
Will tells me that The Homie In The last picture of this post got lost on his way from G-Town
The Pathways for Children Social Services Department is beginning the annual coat drive. If you have very gently used or new winter coats, please think of the children of Pathways; ages range from birth to 12 years. Coats can be dropped off in Gloucester at our 29 Emerson Avenue location or at Kid’s Closet located at 205 Main Street. For more information, please contact Diana at 978.281.2400 x320.
Fascinating, albeit a wee bit creepy! Have a seat…
A community of health-conscious cardiac survivors here on Cape Ann was deeply saddened by Northeast Health Systems’ decision to shutter the Cardio-Pulmonary Rehabilitation Clinic at Addison Gilbert Hospital. We have all benefited from this program and it is a further degradation of our community hospital that it is being closed. We are writing to put a public face on its impact, as it comes upon us like a death in our collective family.
We have been grateful patients at this Clinic for months and years, based on referral from a primary care physician or cardiologist. Some members of the Clinic have been regularly attending for ten, twelve and more years, forming lasting bonds with medical staff and other patients. The resource that the clinic at AGH has provided, with a qualified exercise physiologist overlooking our exercise regimens, checking blood pressure and heart rates, is a safe, structured environment for us to recover under supervision from heart procedures and other challenging medical issues, rebuilding strength and health. Ages at the Clinic group range from Forties right through Nineties, some needing oxygen while exercising, and others having blood sugar monitored due to diabetes.
Most of us at the Cardiac Rehab Clinic come at the same time of day, with a group of eight to ten others, three times a week for an hour or more of safe, structured, healthy workout. Good diet, reduction of stress, and weight control are all regular goals and topics. Sometime the supervising exercise physiologist will send one of us back home, to the doctor, or right downstairs to the Emergency Room because we haven’t taken our prescribed medications, or our blood pressure, heart rate, or blood sugar level is not on par. Occasionally one in the group has suffered a cardiac event while on the exercise bike or treadmill – Code Red ! – and fortunately the AGH hospital ER staff was close at hand, in the exercise room within minutes.
This clinic truly has been a health community, especially for those living alone or struggling with fading health and aging bodies. It occupies one small room at the hospital, with a dozen pieces of equipment, placed so that we face each other so we can talk as we exercise. An important, life-supporting element of the Clinic has been the friendships, lively conversation about art, music, travel and current events, social activities and performances in the local community, and the personal support, sharing home garden produce and fresh eggs, favorite recipes, and family news, as well as concerns about health care, doctors, flu and coumadin clinics. Such conversations make the treadmill miles fly by more quickly than any TV station.
Why is this beneficial health maintenance program in our community hospital being closed? If only it was because we were all so healthy as we age that we did not need it any longer – but no, it is because of needed "financial efficiencies", and because the doctors and medical professionals don’t have incentives to actively refer candidate patients to the Rehab program, keeping the enrollment up. The hospital consequentially doesn’t make enough money with it, like they do with medical procedures such as coronary bypass surgeries, angioplasty and defibrillator implants. Paradoxically, we live in an isolated cape community where the Cape Ann Medical Center physicians are employees of one health care provider, Partners Community Healthcare, that financially competes against Addison Gilbert Hospital’s parent Northeast Health Systems corporation, undermining financial incentives to promote and maintain our local Cardiac Rehab program.
There was an article in the Boston Globe in January, "The Beat Goes On" by reporter Kay Lazar, documenting how programs like our Cardiac Rehab at AGH really work, significantly increasing patients’ health and survival rates, but are being closed down nonetheless. We posted this article on the wall in our clinic, and discussed it as we exercised. Our staying healthy with this program is an investment in preventative medicine that saves the "system" money in the big picture, but the hospital, health insurance companies, and politics of state and federal government subsidies don’t, apparently, see enough profits to keep us and such health programs alive. It’s a shame to lose it.
Signed:
Scott Memhard, 9 Graystone Road, Gloucester
Angela Libro, 16 Commonweath Avenue, Gloucester
Adele Q Ervin, Manchester, MA
Stanley Feener, 16 Macomber Road, Gloucester
Seraphina Cranston, 9 Brightside Avenue, Gloucester
Norman Hersey, Normand Ave, Manchester
Nancy Rossi, Thatcher Road, Rockport
Lucy Russo, Gloucester
Charlotte U. Smith, Rockport
Oliver Balf, Cove Hill Lane, Rockport
Adam Pool, 16 Story Street, Rockport
Robert A. Walters, Jr, Rockport
Frederick H. Brigham, Essex
Clif Hayes, Rockport
Muriel A Lovasco, 8 High Popplies, Gloucester
Catherine Talty, Gloucester
Bill Chapin, Gloucester
follow up contact:
Scott Memhard, President
Cape Pond Ice Company
aka Bresnahan Ice Company, Lawrence & Peabody Icehouse
104 Commercial Street, PO Box 440, Gloucester MA 01930
Here’s my top picks for the weekend (weekends started on Thursdays when I was in college)-
Thursday Afternoon-
Friday
The Last Weekend Of Trails and Sails
Chill with the coolest guys in town! Enjoy a cool visit to Cape Pond Ice Company, icing Gloucester’s fleet since 1848. We were featured in Sebastian Junger’s account of The Perfect Storm. Tours highlight the history of the ice industry, with vintage film of natural ice harvests. See first hand 300-pound block ice being made – up to 350 tons per day, fishing vessels taking on ice and ice sculptures being carved in our historic icehouse on Gloucester’s working waterfront. www.capepondice.com
Fri 09-17 2:00-3:00pm
Sat 09-18 11:00-12:00pm 1:00-2:00pm
Sun 09-19 11:00-12:00pm
Fri 09-24 2:00-3:00pm
Sat 09-25 11:00-12:00pm 1:00-2:00pm
Sun 09-26 11:00-12:00pm
Saturday
On Saturday, September 25 from noon to 3p.m. Cape Ann TV is having a unique fundraiser event at the Gloucester home of Virginia Lee Burton, a Folly Cove artist and beloved children’s book author. The events will include a sing-a-long with the Plum Cove School children; Jojo from the children’s television show “Jojo’s DreamCart” will lead children in interactive drama games based on “Katy and the Big Snow”; arts activities with Art Haven and Valerie McCaffrey; storytelling with Lucille LePage; scavenger hunts; picture taking with wooden cut outs of Burton’s storybook characters; and a chance to bid on a rare original Virginia Lee Burton linoblock print, printed by the Sarah Elizabeth Shop. No on site parking, parking is available at the St. Paul’s Lutheran Church at 1123 Washington Street, Gloucester where a CATA trolley will pick you up and bring you to the event.
Chickity Check it!
First come First Served so get there early!
Welcome aboard the Schooner Thomas E. Lannon for a 1.5 hour sail about historic Gloucester Harbor. Help Captain Tom Ellis and his crew raise the sails or just relax and enjoy the views of castles, lighthouses, and the working waterfront. Let your imagination take you back 100 years when Gloucester’s harbor was full of working Schooners. LIMITED AVAILABILITY. First come, First Served. No advance reservations will be accepted. Come to the Schooner Sails shed to get tickets before lining up to board the boat. Event capacity: 45. www.schooner.org
Sat 09-25 9:00-10:30am
Sun 09-26 9:00-10:30am
Join the Cape Ann Museum for a walking tour of Fitz Henry Lane’s Gloucester. Stroll through this nineteenth century maritime artist’s Gloucester neighborhood. Walk past some of the views captured in his landscape paintings and learn about Lane’s active participation in the community. Finish at the Cape Ann Museum which is home to the preeminent collection of paintings and drawings by Fitz Henry Lane. Event capacity: 20. www.capeannmuseum.org
Sat 09-25 11:00-12:30pm 2:00-3:30pm
Join Schooner Adventure for a walking tour of Gloucester’s working waterfront during its fishing heydays. Using maps from the 1880s and historic photographs, we will go back in time to visit the former buildings and businesses that once occupied our harbor. Tour will start at the Fisherman’s Statue; walk from the Boulevard, down Rogers St., ending at the Fitz Henry Lane House. Tour will be about 90 minutes. Event capacity: 30. www.schooner-adventure.org
Sat 09-18 10:00-11:30am
Sat 09-25 10:00-11:30am
Sunday
The Gloucester Committee for the Arts will be conducting tours of Gloucester City Hall’s renowned and extensive wall murals, created by the Works Projects Administration (WPA) in the 1930s. Don’t miss the chance to spend time with these stunningly vibrant paintings that add yet another unique flavor and richness to Gloucester’s artistic history.
Sat 09-25 1:00-2:30pm
Sun 09-26 1:00-2:30pm
Til Next week…
Wednesday, September 22nd
Special Guest: Daniel Scott King
Dan King was born in Gloucester, Massachusetts, a fishing town
on the northern rocky shoreline with a strange mix of working
class laborers, immigrants and old money brahmins from a bygone
era. A great escape destination for poets, artists, musicians and
tourists looking for a glimpse at a forgotten America. Dan grew up
in a mostly Portugese neighborhood and attended Gloucester public
schools. His parents were working class, his father was a Navy man
and later became a butcher and his mother was a bookkeeper.
His first memories of music were his father’s Chet Atkins and Glen
Campbell records. ***Read more… http://danielscottking.com/
Dinner with Fly Amero: 7 – 10pm
*I host and perform as always
*Each week features a special, invited musical guest
*Comfort food dinner specials from Dave Trooper’s kitchen
*Sponsored by Shipyard Ale
Great fun!
With “Troop” in the kitchen, the food is never anything but good!
Fred features special discounted entrees with half-off
on a Shipyard every week!
Upcoming:
Next week, 9/29 – Bradley Royds will host while I travel with
the Orleans Trio. Bradley’s planning on having multiple surprise
guests that evening!
As always…
This Thursday night.
Well, folx, I got a new one for you , and I’m really excited: May I indroduce to you Mr. Greg Lutrell? This is the cat behind the great band Michigan Black Snake. This guy is a great glitarist, vogelizer, and songwriter, to boot. It’s his first time, of course, and I’d love to see you-all out there ruminatin’ and catenatin’ to the bloogie beet. Clothing optional. And, as usual, Greg T. and myself will be there strokin’ and smokin’ too. You should go.
Greg Lutrell
Click Here for all our Jimmy T Videos and Pictures From The Past Couple Of Years
Wednesday Night At 8PM
Sat, September 25, 1:30pm – 3:30pm
Jin Shin Jyutsu & Multidimensional Healing with AlLandra
Sat, September 25, 1:30pm – 3:30pm Jin Shin Jyutsu & Multidimensional Healing with AlLandra Jin Shin Jyutsu is a healing art from ancient tradition, focusing on several differnt locks in the body. An expansion of JSJ takes us into different dimensions and times. You will see how to access and heal yourself from all the times and dimensions and experience the joy of the oneness time. Where? Treetop Yoga Studio (map) Para Research Building 85 Eastern Ave, Gloucester Mass Pre-registration is required, Please call to reserve your space now (978) 282-1191 x1 Check out our website for more details http://www.capeannhealingcenter.org
Nellie – Pet of the Week
Good morning Gloucester, my name is Nellie and I am an independent lady. I am a Jack Russell Terrier who is
smart, loyal, happy, determined and yes, okay…… I ‘am stubborn. Although I am
energetic, I do like my nap time. I am looking for a forever home that is cat free.
I truly like the quiet side of life – I am not into the hecticness of young children and
teens; I would prefer an adult home. I would be a great pet for retirees who are
looking for a dog to spoil. I would make a perfect apartment pet
and would love to tag along when you run errands and take walks.
I am at the Cape Ann Animal Aid located a non-profit shelter
located at 260 Main Street in Gloucester.
I am accepting interviews of my new potential owner(s) on all days except
Mondays and Tuesday; as the shelter is closed! I want to let you in on a
little secret – a visitor arriving with toys might win me over very quickly – very quickly!
Here is the video on the Gloucester Times Taste Of The Times on demand video recipes featuring Sista Felicia making the Rosa Rugosa Rose Hip Jelly and Rose Petal Jelly.
Click here for the Article From The Gloucester Daily Times-
Rosa Rugosa is a carefree rose which will grow in salty conditions, shade, full sun, and poor soil so long as it’s well-drained. Its fruits and flower petals can be used to make jelly.
Click The Video Below For The Video
Good Morning Gloucester 