New Years Day

2025 came in with rain and dreary weather.  Late afternoon came and the sun tried to come out.  Gloucester Harbor looked very serene.

Someone please let me know when Charlie’s Place reopens so I can get that clam roll I hear is so good!

I’m not deleting this weekly alarm til I get to experience one.

Anyone else love going to the boat show with 99.9 percent certainty they have no intention of buying a boat?

Love going to this one and the one in Newport.

Bald Eagle Finally Official National Bird

Perhaps you already thought the magnificent Bald Eagle was the national bird of the United States but it wasn’t until very recently. President Biden signed a bill into law designating the Bald Eagle as the national bird only about a week ago–on Christmas Eve 2024. It seems right to start a New Year with a new national bird. According to Smithsonian Magazine:

” The U.S.’s national tree is the oak, and its national flower is the rose. The national mammal has been the bison since 2016, and all 50 states have a state bird. But until this month, there was no national bird on the books.” PS The Massachusetts state bird is the black capped chickadee and its flower is a Mayflower (surprise).

This is an eagle we saw on our recent trip to visit family. He just looks so proud high atop that tree! The Bald Eagle is probably my favorite raptor. (It shouldn’t surprise you to learn I have a favorite raptor)

Screenshot

Author Talk at Sawyer Free: Thursday, Jan 9th

 ~ SAWYER FREE LIBRARY ~ 

Please join the Sawyer Free Library on Thursday, January 9 from 5:30 to 6:30 pm for an Author Talk with Diane C. Bradley.  The Boston-based author Diane C. Bradley will discuss The Summer Before, her gripping novel about trauma, guilt, and the resilience of friendship which explores the shattering impact of abuse and healing journey that follows. 

All are invited, no registration required. The discussion will take place at the Sawyer Free Libraryat 21 Main Street in Gloucester. If you have questions, please contact: lsvensson@sawyerfreelibrary.orgor 978-325-5500.

About The Summer Before:

If the perpetrator is also someone you love, there are no words. 

Madeline and Summer are more than best friends. They might as well be sisters; they’ve claimed the title, anyway-and sisters tell each other everything. But Summer has a secret she’s been hiding for years. Someone’s been hurting her, someone close, and when it comes out, it destroys everything around her with the force of dying stars.

Six years after the trial, Madeline is a haunted young woman trying to build a new life in Boston, but the guilt of her betrayal brings her to the brink of suicide. To let go of the past, Madeline must confront her father, mother, and all those involved with the trial that split her family apart-or continue her descent, finishing what she started to escape it.

About the Author:

A raw, gritty New Englander, Dianne C. Bradley, is a registered nurse and freelance writer. Dianne and her family, both human, furry, and feathered, are firmly planted in a small town north of Boston, not far enough away to lose her city edge. After falling in love with Martha’s Vineyard on a weekend visit as a girl, she returns every summer, reigniting her passion for writing in the magical place that inspired it.

Gloucester Smiles – Family Visit