Pet of the Week- Onyx

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Good day!  My name is Onyx, I am an eight-month-old female kitten.  I am affection and enjoy company.   I like to play and then I also enjoy my naps.  I am a sweet and petite little girl looking for a forever home.

I am residing at the Cape Ann Animal Aid, located at the Christopher Cutler Rich Animal Shelter, Four Paws Lane, Gloucester. This is a beautiful shelter and if you have not visited here, please do.  We have lots of cats and dogs who need loving homes.

I do hope you are looking for a cat and you select me.  On the way home, we can stop by the purchase some toys and treats!  When we get home, we can play with them and then the most wonderful part; I will fall asleep on your lap and dream about my new life of being spoiled and pampered!

Tuesday April 8th , 2014 Cape Ann Weather…

Marine Forecast …
Small Craft Advisory through Tuesday Evening…
Tue S winds 15 to 20 kt with gusts up to 25 kt. Seas 3 to 5 ft. Patchy fog. Rain. Vsby 1 nm or less.
Tue Night W winds 15 to 20 kt with gusts up to 25 kt. Seas 3 to 5 ft.

Tuesday’s Video Forecast…

Hourly Forecast ….

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George Bernard Shaw Quote of the Week from Greg Bover

“The fact that a believer is happier than a skeptic is no more to the point than the fact than a drunken man is happier than a sober one.”

George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950)

Born in Ireland, Shaw was the author of more than 60 plays, including “Pygmalion” on which “My Fair Lady” was based. Shaw also wrote literary and political criticism, novels, short stories and essays, many featuring his thoughtfully humorous outlook on life. An ardent and life-long Fabian socialist, he was a founder of the London School of Economics, as well as an early vegetarian, anti-vivisectionist, and a supporter of eugenics. He is the only person to have won both a Nobel Prize and an Oscar. It was Shaw who observed that “England and America are two countries separated by a common language.”

Signs of Spring from GMG FOB William Dugan

Send us a photo of your favorite signs welcoming spring. Send photos to me at kimsmithdesigns@hotmail.com. The photo need not be a nature-related image, but of anything!

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Thanks Bill–love it–so cheery!!!

 

Waiting for the Ice to Melt on Niles Pond

GMG FOB Sue Ann Pearson from Kettle Cove Studios in Magnolia submits her lovely painting, along with a sweet note to Joey ~

A big thank you to Kim Smith for all of her lovely nature photos. Here is a painting I did of one of her inspiring photos. I call it “Waiting for the Ice to Melt on Niles Pond.”

Waiting for the Ice to Melt on Niles Pond

I am very touched Sue. Thank you for sharing!

 

 

 

Want to save money on concert tickets?

gimmeLivesqOf course you do.  Last week you saved $10 on tickets to The Toasters Concert Cruise because you were part of the gimmeLIVE pre-sale, right?

Well, just in case you missed that, here’s a BIG HINT: We’ll be announcing another pre-sale to our Concert Club members tomorrow that will save you money.  Click here to join and you’ll get the email.  Just make sure vickie at gimmesound dot com and gimmeLIVE get through your spam filter.

 

GREASE comes to Gloucester

Beeman Elementary School 4th & 5th Graders present GREASE directed by Heidi Dallin this Thursday & Friday, April 10 & 11 at 7pm.  Check out this preview by Cape Ann TV:

A Call to Artists. From deb Clarke;

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From deb Clarke;

Hi Paul! so pleased to see that you are doing your ahht!

I tend to not work on an easel, but I have a lot of work in progress.

left to right: small mixed media idea panel based on The Hall of Mirrors at Versailles.

A drawing of a face that I remember, a ‘downtown’ woman that I have not seen on the streets for a few years.

A beginning of a verre eglomise of the tug that was next to the Rockland barge that is working around the harbor.

My messy work space with two verre eglomise in progress. The gold one is of keys, I may change it to a figure panel.

Small mixed media ghost of Versaille.

Another face I remember from working at Bananas.

I haven’t been keeping up with my debbieclarke.blogspot; but may resurrect it as I am now a full time artist.

If folk would like to follow my doings, I keep my facebook up-to-date…err…sometimes minute at http//www.facebook.com/debbie.clarke.5011 where my public posts can be followed.

best,

deb.

 

Parmesan Crisps

 

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Family friend Toby Pett knows just how to get to my heart.  A few weeks ago he stopped by with a huge wedge of Parmesan Cheese and a delicious bottle of wine.  The bottle was gone that night, but a portion of the Parmesan still remains!  Over the weekend I served a small batch of Parmesan Crisps using Toby’s gift of cheese to guest, and they were a huge hit!   Parmesan Crisps are delicious accompaniment to any soup salad or antipasto display, and easy enough to whip up a batch for unexpected guest, while the wine is being poured.  

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Parmesan Crisps

Ingredients

1 cup shredded Parmesan cheese

1 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1 tablespoon fresh oregano; finely chopped (optional)

Step-by-Step

1  combine 1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese and 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese together

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2 fix 1 1/2 tablespoons cheese mixture into 2 inch biscuit cutter, one inch apart on parchment paper lined cookie sheet

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2 combine remaining 1/2 cup shredded and grated Parmesan cheese together; add chopped fresh oregano; mix well; follow step two

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3 bake in 350° preheated oven seven minutes; remove from oven; cool five minutes; before serving

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Question: How many of you have the stitcher app in your car?

The GloucesterCast Podcast is coming to Stitcher for those of you who have it in your car, you’ll be able to listen to it through your car radio.

I listen to the podcast through the auxillary port and a 3.5 mm jack from my headphone jack on my cell phone because I don’t have a radio system in my car with stitcher. You can get a 3.5 mm connector for something like $6 at radio shack. Good for long rides in the car. Yo can also use it to listen to Pandora and any other audio through your cell phone.

Sing Your Heart Out Fella!

Male Red-winged Blackbird Singing ©Kim Smith 2014Male Red-Winged Blackbird

Although Red-winged Blackbirds are spied around Niles Pond during the winter months, spring brings flocks, and the males are an especially welcome sight chortling atop the pussy willow branches along the water’s edge. Red-winged Blackbirds are one of North America’s most abundant birds. If you were a male of the kind, you might be singing your heart out, too. The species is highly polygynous and some males have been known to have as many as 15 mates during a single season!

Female_Red-winged_Blackbird manijith KainickaraFemale Red-winged Blackbird Image Courtesy Wiki Commons Media

The males are glossy black with distinctive red epaulettes and yellow wing bars, which they often puff out confidently when singing from their perches. The females have a streaky brown song sparrow-like wing patterning and stay close to the ground feeding and building their intricately woven nests at the base of cattails and reeds, along the marsh’s edge.

If you have a spare moment, send us a photo of your favorite signs welcoming spring and we’ll post them under a group ‘welcome spring’ post. Send photos to me at kimsmithdesigns@hotmail.com (thanks Lenny).

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I am presenting 2 lectures this coming week, Monday on Butterfly Gardening in Shrewsbury and Wednesday evening on The Pollinator Garden at the Flint Library in North Reading. Please visit the events page of my website for more information.

Thank you Friends of the HarborWalk Cleanup Dream Team!

Thank you Beth, Susan, Jessie, Catherine, George, and Charles–an awesome team and an awesome job well done!!!

We had our first Friends of the HarborWalk cleanup this morning and made great progress. We didn’t get to I4-C2 and hope to next weekend.

If you stop by to have a look, you’ll see the diminutive Dwarf-crested Iris (Iris cristata) just beginning to show their sweet little faces. Dwarf-crested Iris are native to Massachusetts and bloom in shades of sky blue, lavender, and darker blues and purples–the HarborWalk’s iris are are deep purple with gold on their crests.

A Palm Sunday Concert at the Annisquam Village Church

 All Those Hands and Feet!!

A Duo of Players : A Trio of Instruments
Carolyn and John Skelton bring their combined virtuosity to bear on the Gallery Organ, the Chancel Organ, and the Harpsichord at the Annisquam Village Church on this Palm Sunday program, April 13 at 4 PM, in a delightful concert of duets and solos that includes works of Bach, Handel, Buxtehude, Couperin, and Pinkham. From an antiphonal organ piece to a brilliant exchange between the harpsichord and gallery organ, these two expert players will take full advantage of the three instruments built by Jeremy Adams and the lively acoustic of the historic Village Church at the head of Lobster Cove in Gloucester. Contact: Kathleen Adams, Music Director, 978.283.6416
Jeremy Adams Gallery Organ, Chamber Organ, and Harpsichord

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