Year: 2011

Although it may look like it, this is not snow we are getting today.  Today’s weather forecast was for freezing fog and snow mist.  Freezing fog occurs when liquid fog droplets freeze to surfaces, forming white soft or hard rime.  This is very common on mountain tops which are exposed to low clouds. It is equivalent to freezing rain, and essentially the same as the ice that forms inside a freezer which is not of the “frostless” or “frost-free” type. The term “freezing fog” may also refer to fog where water vapor is super-cooled, filling the air with small ice crystals similar to very light snow. It seems to make the fog “tangible”, as if one could “grab a handful”.  Snow mist is frozen ice crystals.  Semantics, I know, but they didn’t call it snow.  If you look closely at what has fallen, it does have a different appearance than normal snow.

E.J. Lefavour

www.khanstudiointernational.com

O’MALEY MIDDLE SCHOOL PERFORMING ARTS DEPARTMENT

Beauty & The Beast, Jr.

4 performances over 2 weekends

Friday, March 4, 2011 at 7:00 PM              Friday, March 11, 2011 at 7:00 PM

Saturday, March 5, 2011 at 1:00 PM              Saturday, March 12, 2011 at 1: 00 PM

Seventy sixth, seventh and eighth grade students are in the cast and crew. (please see the enclosed cast/crew list for names of students in the show, which has been double cast). They have been rehearsing for an hour after school once or twice a week since September to ensure that these performances will meet the standards set by our past productions. You are sure to be impressed and inspired by our young performers as they sing, dance, and act out this heartwarming story. The performances are an excellent showcase of the end product of our Performing Arts Department’s elective after school training programs in Music (Chorus), Dance, and Theatre. The production builds upon the skills and talent of our designers as well – Russell and Melissa Hobbs (set design & construction), Camilla MacFayden (scenic designer/painter) and Linda Stockman (costume designer/builder). They have engaged our students in the technical aspects of theatre.
Tickets ($7 adults/ $5 students and senior citizens) can be purchased at all school lunches and will go on sale a half hour before each show time. We will be collecting non-perishable items throughout the run of the shows to donate to the Cape Ann Food Pantry.

Winter is nature’s way of saying, “Up yours.”  ~Robert Byrne

Henry Allen

Director

www.HenryAllen.org

That there are some women out there who know little about the mechanics of their vehicles?  I am one of them.  I can change an air filter, check my fluids and add as needed, put air in my tires; but beyond that I am useless.  My van (Annie) and I have a good relationship, and she is very dependable and good to me; but on occasion, she needs professional care.  I have always felt a little threatened by car mechanics.  I think it stems from the way their eyes glaze over and then roll back in their heads a bit when I try to mimic the strange sound or behavior my baby is exhibiting.  It makes me feel like they can tell me anything in the world is wrong (at whatever price they feel they can get away with charging), and I won’t know the difference.  After losing my tailpipe in the Callahan Tunnel in Boston one day (a dreadful, scary sounding thing to happen inside a tunnel where you can’t pull over or do anything but keep on going, watching and hearing your tailpipe clanging down the road behind you and then disappear from view in the rearview mirror, all the while hoping no one will hit it and get a flat tire), I discovered Baron’s.  Since I knew what the problem was and could explain it in terms he understood, Baron didn’t glaze over, fixed Annie’s problem quickly and at a very fair price.  I felt secure, knowing I had found a mechanic I could trust. 

Last week after my excursion with Debbie Clarke to visit Masconomet’s Burial site, I stopped at Market Basket.  As I started heading home, I hit my brake and it went down to the floor, with only a bare amount of stopping power if I pushed really hard on the brake pedal.  I crept home over the hilly and winding roads to Annisquam, rolled to a stop and parked.  I immediately called Baron, who was getting ready to go on vacation, was overbooked and couldn’t see her, but did say it was my brake lines that had gone.  He suggested I call Billy next door, who it turned out was also getting ready to go on vacation and couldn’t help.  I didn’t know where to turn, so I asked Debbie for a suggestion.  She recommended Linsky’s Service Station at 159 Maplewood Ave.  I called them and reached Doris who told me to have Annie towed over and they would take a look and give me an estimate.  I called AAA and they sent a couple of sweet guys from Tally’s over to tow her.  Baron had already given me best and worst-case scenario estimates, so I had an idea of what I could be looking at, the worst case not being something I could manage.  Later in the day Doris called to tell me that the two rear brake lines were gone, and very sweetly and almost apologetically told me it would cost $148.00, $2.00 less than the best case estimate Baron had given me.  I was thrilled and told her to go ahead with the repairs. 

My girl now stops, she was fixed quickly and at a price I could afford (and I believe a very fair price), and I felt so comfortable dealing with Doris and Linsky’s Service Station that I had to send out this kudos.  Big up Linsky’s!  And thanks.  By the way, Linsky’s has been around since 1953, longer than me (not much, but still longer), so I’d say they have long proven themselves to many people to be a good, fair service station.

E.J. Lefavour

www.khanstudiointernational.com