Author: Marty Luster

This huge nest is over our driveway. Hornets can be real nasty. They can attack in droves and unlike other wasps and bees, live to sting again.

We are going to leave this one alone. They are far enough away from our house not to threaten us. The nest will die out over the winter and the surviving fertile females will not repopulate the nest.

This is an encore of a post first published on June 14, 2011. The response at that time was, shall we say, less than enthusiastic. Nothing much has changed except that now I’ve been plucking around for three years and, as I predicted, I’m still a beginner. I desperately need other uke players to to cover up my mistakes, so again I put out the call.

The ukulele, a diminutive but powerful instrument, has gained immense popularity in recent years.  It, like people, comes in a large variety of sizes, shapes and tones. And, like us, when performing together, can produce joyful, soulful and even inspirational sounds.

I am a beginning uke player. I think I will always be a beginning uke player. However, after nearly a year of self-teaching I now have just enough confidence to want to share my uke enthusiasm with others who may have picked up the bug.

So, if there are any ukulelists out there who would like to get together,  learn from each other, experiment and, above all, play together for fun, let me know and I’ll try to set it up.

BIG TIME DISCLAIMER: I am not a musician, know next to nothing about music theory, can’t sing worth a damn (that doesn’t always stop me from trying) but simply like to strum chords (when they are in front of me) and enjoy the sound of many people playing more or less together.

Marty:  editormard1@mac.com

Originally posted on September 11, 2011. On this day my family and I walked westward across the Brooklyn Bridge to Ground Zero. About midway, there was a brass relief image of the Manhattan skyline.  Where the Twin Towers were visible on the plaque, now there was only sky.

 Lifeguards at Wingaersheek Beach rush to assist a young swimmer who ran into difficulty in the choppy surf near the rocks on Sunday. A minute later he was high and dry and in fine shape.

 To see the Summer Sky
Is Poetry, though never in a Book it lie –
True Poems flee.
~Emily Dickinson

 Tyrone, the winner of the Ned Cameron Cup (medium size schooners).

Music by Glenn Jones and Laura Bird

 Gloucester artist and GMG author, Paul F. Frontiero Jr, poses with one of his late father’s works at State of the Art Gallery. The exhibit of Paul F. Frontiero Sr’s art will continue through September 15.