Author: Catherine

posted content / cell phone photos mine, unless otherwise credited (thumbnail portrait of Catherine at MFA, Boston © David Cox photo) https://www.cryanaid.com/

Super special offers September 24 Holland America Cruise Ship and Trails&Sails

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How exciting that  Holland America  and Trails and Sails are coming to Gloucester and Cape Ann this weekend! There are many special offers and events to help welcome visitors. This will be the second of three big cruise ships coming into port this month to Cruiseport Gloucester. It won’t leave Gloucester harbor till 11PM.  Last time I expected sight seeing, museum visits and shopping as reasons passengers disembarked. They did that. If you go by the clicker counter, 844 (give or take another hundred), plus 650 who pre-booked excursions, came ashore.

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photo caption: Elizabeth Carey Discover Gloucester greeted and clicked. Peter Webber Cape Ann Chamber photograph.

I was surprised by how many passengers from a seemingly all inclusive cruise opted to take a whale watch trip and dine out. They did that, too. I’ll report back fun facts, but today I wanted to post about the special offers and events.

Working TOGETHER to welcome everyone is a beautiful thing. Thanks to the organizers (with a big shout out to Jeanne Hennessey, Joe Ciolino, Kathie Gilson, Peter Webber, Lorre Anderson, Bob Ryan and Elizabeth Carey):

 

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photo caption: Bob Ryan/CATA, Jeanne Hennessey, Paul Talbot at Cruiseport planning out logistics for Saturday September 24, 2016

CATA created a special map for continuous downtown trolley loops (“frequency is key”) and to Rocky Neck and Rockport. The special pass covers their bus routes. What an incredible deal! They are extending operations until 10PM.  A new addition: Beauport Ambulance Services will be offering a shuttle bus for an Essex/Manchester/Cruiseport route. Kathie Gilson prepared and made hundreds of copies of a lobster roll list (a big common request), special events, and the Gimme Sound music schedule. Kudos to the volunteers, organizations and businesses for their hard work and creativity.

And now for Gloucester downtown Special events and offers. You can click logos to follow links.

Continue reading “Super special offers September 24 Holland America Cruise Ship and Trails&Sails” →

Save the date! Ward 1 follow-up Elementary School meeting Monday 9/26 6:30pm at EGS

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from Councilor Memhard:

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Update: Ray Lamont article “Consensus Sought On School Consolidation” in the Gloucester Daily Times

 GMG post on 9/14/16 school consolidation meeting with links to Cape Ann TV and plan 

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7pm from where I was standing at the cut bridge and Stacy Boulevard (Western Avenue), 9/20/16

The weather had me stop and the special had us stay. Not a bad vista waiting for our ‘two for Tuesday’ buy-one-get-one-free pizzas from  Poseidon’s after a Magnolia soccer practice.

So cool! Sawyer children’s library is closing early because they’ll be on the road visiting the elementary schools for meet the teacher

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How to save for Topsfield Fair: buy discounted ride tickets, don’t forget your kids’ Library Read & Win rewards, note active military and senior discounts

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FREE admission for all active military on Tuesday October 4th, 2016.

Senior Citizens discounted entry on Monday October 3rd, 2016.

You can purchase advance discounted tickets from Topsfield Fair on line or at the fairgrounds. Ace Hardware in Gloucester has discounted admission and ride tickets for sale. Discounted admission tickets are also for sale at the Gloucester Daily Times. And Groupon.  Thank you Gloucester Lyceum & Sawyer Free Public Library for participating in the Topsfield Fair Read&Win summer reading prize packet incentive which contains free entry, 2 rides and 1 yummy meal!

The 2016 Topsfield fair opens September 30th and closes October 10. Discounted ticket sales are limited and stop September 26.

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Gloucester Lyceum & Sawyer Free Public Library one of many that partners with Topsfield Fair Read & Win — great kids reward packet for their summer reading

 

Gloucester schools consolidation

Posted on by Catherine
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Mern Sibley speaking to the Gloucester School Committee Sept 14, 2016 about elementary schools merging

If you missed it, you’re in luck. Busy night of democracy was captured by Dave from Cape Ann TV- direct link if the video isn’t showing below.

The Chair of the School Committee, Johnathan Pope, opened with a power point presentation that went for the first 49 minutes. Questions from the floor began immediately after Pope’s background talk. First question up at minute 50–no surprise –concerned a clarification about the cost of West Parish, quickly followed by Mern Sibley’s remarks at minute 51 which received a large applause as did others throughout the evening. Some residents came prepared to speak. Some were spontaneous. The path to the mike was steady and fascinating. A few residents had more than one take like parent Kylie Mione  who is also by profession a teacher at Veterans.

Here’s a link to the Elementary School Plan Proposal August 2016

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Councilor Ward 1 Scott Memhard Facebook page has several posts about the school proposal.

The audience numbered less than 100 and included Councilors Memhard, Lundberg, Cox and Ciolino.

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Chair Johnathan Pope, School Committee, 9/14/16

Last chance: Michael Mazur, Gabor Peterdi, Gloucester artist Rachel Perry; Lotte Jacobi@Decordova

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Go! “Overgrowth” and  “Lotte Jacobi, Lisette Model: Urban Camera” close tomorrow. Decordova then readies for the Biennial which opens next month.

Mazur loved the Decordova. Nice to see his work with a monumental Peterdi and a dynamite Kollowitz portrait. The Perry is great.

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Timing- rainbow!

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Greening of Gloucester, Tonno, Beauport, Trustees of Reservations featured in North Shore magazine

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North Shore Magazine October issue. The Greening of Gloucester illustration is by Julie McLaughlin.

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“Greening of Gloucester: This seacoast town is recognized as one of the leading clean energy communities in the state. ” By Sarah Shemkus

“Enlightened Italian- Chef Anthony Caturano has a boat moored in Gloucester Harbor named Tonno-– Italian for tuna. So it’s not surprise that when the talented Boston chef opted to open a second seafood restaurant  focused on coastal Italian cuisine, Gloucester was on his mind.” Tonno Restaurant review by Jeanne O’Brien Coffey

“Gilded Age: The new Beauport Hotel recalls the glamour of old-school seaside resorts.” by Jeanne O’Brien Coffey

“Celebrating Preservation: One woman honors the Trustees of Reservations’ 125th anniversary through her personal story of the organization” by Victoria Abbott Riccardi. Her father was its executive director from 1966-84. Ravenswood Park was the 77th property, added in 1993. The Trustees second acquisition,  Mount Ann Park Gloucester, happened in 1897. Magnolia Shore was acquired in 1936 but deeded back to Gloucester in 1959. Two stories to look into there.

Read more North Shore magazine

websites for Trustees of Reservation, Tonno Restaurant, Beauport Hotel

Trails & Sails starts tomorrow! 2 weekends 30 towns 150 free events

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2016 is the 20th anniversary year that Essex National Heritage hosts these back to back Trails & Sails weekends. Get out there and check out all the special Gloucester Cape Ann happenings (considered ‘east’ in the search box)!

In Gloucester you can climb City Hall tower or follow one of the 3 self guided HarborWalk tours. Walk up the Fish Net mural to see City Hall and Sawyer Free WPA murals. The library is also featuring an annual local artists exhibition. Read about extra special tours and events at Cape Pond Ice, Magnolia Library and Historical Society, Maritime Gloucester, Cape Ann Museum, Cape Ann Trail Stewards tour Rafe Chasm, and Babson Boulders.

Mel Brooks, Terry Gross, Elaine Pagels, Wynton Marsalis, Jack Whitten and 20 others to receive highest NEA and NEH National Medals Sept 22. New Smithsonian National Museum of American History opens Sept 24!

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24 NEA National Medal of Arts and  NEH National Humanities Medals will be awarded to artists from our country in a special ceremony on September 22, 2016. NEA and NEH “serve different constituents”. Right. Anyhow, celebrating 24 exciting nominees rather than 12 is great! The event will be live streamed at www.whitehouse.gov/live. Both agencies are celebrating their 50th anniversary and request and receive nearly identical budgets, ie. 146 million FY2015.

Two days after the medal ceremony, the newest Smithsonian museum, the National Museum of African American History and Culture,  will open and I’m told it’s a hot ticket.

NEH National Medal (awarding since 1996) recipients

Rudolfo Anaya (author), Jose Andres (chef), Ron Chernow (author), Louise Gluck (poet), Terry Gross (radio host), Wynton Marsalis (composer/musician- he received an NEA one in 2005), James McBride (author), Louis Menand (author), Elaine Pagels (historian), Prison University Project (San Quentin),  Abraham Verghese (Physician/author), Isabel Wilkerson (journalist)

There are past NEH recipients with Massachusetts ties. A direct Gloucester match includes Hilton Kramer (2004 NEH). I bet Israel Horovitz and Deborah Cramer will be announced one year soon!  Louis Menand to be honored next week wrote about TS Eliot. Prior years there are Gloucester connections like Monuments Men Foundation (NEH 2007/ Walker Hancock.) A wider North Shore net pulls out big names like John Updike/Ipswich (NEH 2003). From the NEH press release: “Since 1996, when the first National Humanities Medal was given, 175 individuals have been honored, inclusive of this year’s recipients. Thirteen organizations have also received medals. A complete list of previous honorees is available at this link:  http://www.neh.gov/about/awards/national-humanities-medals” 

Rudolfo Anaya’s novel Bless Me, Ultima, is a part of the NEA Big Read, grants awarded mostly for one town events with a book that’s pre-selected. Our local  Cape Ann Reads effort will target 4 communities and as Deborah French, Director TOHP Burnham Library comments, “ WE will create one book to be read by four communities!”

NEA National Medal (awarding since 1984) recipients

Mel Brooks (cinema/broadway/tv), Sandra Cisneros (author), Eugene O’Neill Theater Center, Morgan Freeman (actor), Phillip Glass (composer), Berry Gordy (music producer/Motown), Santiago Jimenez Jr (musician), Moises Kaufman (theater), Ralph Lemon (dance), Audra McDonald (singer/actor), Luis Valdez (playwright/film/tv), and Jack Whitten (painter)

Any U.S. citizen or group who, in the President’s judgment, “…are deserving of special recognition by reason of their outstanding contributions to the excellence, growth, support and availability of the arts in the United States.” [U.S.C. Sec. 955b (b) (1)] Have you submitted a nomination? You can- here’s how. And here’s a link to a list of the prior NEA National Medal recipients.

 

 

Today’s papers: Gloucester Police Chief

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Boston Globe  and  Gloucester Daily Times- Updated excerpt:

“I have not talked to them,” Campanello said of the administration. “All I can say is I will cooperate fully with what they have going until the conclusion of it. I will abide by whatever they want me to do. And I look forward to getting back to work.

“I think being in a public position and being thrust into the spotlight in these last 15 months, you have to expect this sort of thing,” he said, referring to the time line of the angel program. “You have to expect it will get the attention not only of supporters, but also of people who want to strike it down and maybe take it personally.”

 

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Roundabout proposal for Tally’s Corner

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Public meeting Thursday, September 15, 6pm.

Rotary  vs. roundabout: The flyer drawing doesn’t convey the look of the 2 big rotaries nor the crazy crazy thrust the vehicle into a giant pin-ball machine experience of Beverly’s recent build. Whether the quaint English village conjuring that ’roundabout’ conveys or classic MA descriptor rotary, any Tally intersection discussions aren’t new. I’ve seen other plans and heard people express variations on a soaring pedestrian bridge as a lift connecting Main to the Boulevard and expansive view of the harbor.

I’m interested in plans and public space and regret that I can’t attend. It’s the same date and time as Open House at O’Maley Innovation Middle School.

How to create pedestrian friendly cities while maintaining necessary vehicular traffic is a challenge. It will be great to hear feedback from the presenters and the community. The flyer and drawing is just that, a rendering. Plans take forever! The boulevard recent reconstruction at the Cut as one example began in discussions pre-1999.

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Here’s a coloring sheet. What would you do? And renderings dated February 2015.

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From a planning perspective: “Does the investment action help to encourage sprawl or does it invest in your community?”

 

Today’s Gloucester Daily Times: Mark Nestor LTE Women Should Not be Afraid to Serve in the Military

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http://www.gloucestertimes.com/

 

Stacy Boulevard construction update: historic Blynman the Cut Bridge

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Gordon Parks. May 1943. “Memorial services for fishermen lost at sea. Citizens gathered on teh banks near the sea.” photograph, Library of Congress FSA collection

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Two hundred feet of canal gravity wall is being reconstructed, extending from the bridge tender’s house around where you see visible in the photographs. This section of sea wall was dry laid granite block. The ebb and flow of tides and wakes took an inevitable toll, pulling debris material–like migrating soil— out from behind the wall. Over time the blocks settled, sidewalks sagged, and ruptures framed views into hollow voids 15 feet deep. Weakened considerably, areas were cordoned off until funding (Seaport Advisory and Executive Office of Environmental Affairs) was secured. The bridge tender’s house is abandoned which is why there is a temporary structure across the street. The state will be rebuilding that at a later date; the control house and the bridge are MassDOT purview and “likely a number of years out until a final plan is done.”

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Edward Hopper. Blynman Bridge. 1923. watercolor. Whitney Museum of American Art. See Edward Hopper All Around Gloucester ©Catherine Ryan

 

The new sea wall is the “mack daddy of building construction” befitting such an iconic locale. DPW is reusing the same gorgeous rugged blocks and materials, but now there’s footing where there never was any. The historic granite face is tied to reinforced steel. There’s a concrete core wall. Mike Hale Director of Gloucester’s Department of Public Works said the City is mindful of retaining the aesthetics and history, pronouncing any new stone “modular, lego-like” build an anathema to the site and residents.

Thanks to DPW for forwarding these details with labeled drawings explaining the infrastructure behind what’s visible:

 

 

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FOX NFL Sunday clever Hamilton Garoppolo Patriots parody

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Week 1 opener Awesome parody of Hamilton– Garoppolo A Second String Musical 

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Dead seal on Long Beach

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Gray vistas spanned the beat of life and death in nature and prompted basic questions about shelter and what do you think happened here?  We stepped over a seagull’s still and headless body and a fury of feathers. Seagulls were fighting over the remains of a sting ray we thought was a horseshoe crab. They didn’t want to see the dead seal. Was it the same seal we saw resting yesterday, the seal my son was relieved to report he saw dip back into the sea? Maybe, I said. A passerby asked if I reported it to a wildlife agency. Enough nature for one morning, my sons turned home to shoot hoops. We heard the sweet sounds from piping plovers, someone raking seaweed, and joyous chatter from a family of 4 swimming before the coming storm.

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Just announced: Gloucester author Deborah Cramer wins major awards for The Narrow Edge! National Academies of Science Best Book Award and Society of Environmental Journalists Rachel Carson Book Award

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Congratulations Deborah Cramer!

Remember her request to share horseshoe crab reports and memories

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National Academies of Science Best Book Award 2016 

National Academies of Sciences press release: “The winning entries represent science communication at its finest and exemplify the ability of science writers to engage, inform, and inspire the public.”

Society of Environmental Journalists Rachel Carson Book Award 2016

15th Annual awards for reporting on the environment press release excerpt:

Judges were impressed by the painful beauty and eloquence of Deborah Cramer’s writing; one saw “The Narrow Edge” as a story of loss and hopeful restoration while another said the book “represents everything about Rachel Carson’s legacy that the book award stands for.” In her book, Cramer follows the 19,000-mile migration of an endangered shorebird called the red knot, which depends on horseshoe crab eggs for survival. So do humans:

Continue reading “Just announced: Gloucester author Deborah Cramer wins major awards for The Narrow Edge! National Academies of Science Best Book Award and Society of Environmental Journalists Rachel Carson Book Award” →

tired seal at Long Beach this afternoon and sandpipers all day

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Everyone is staying far away from the seal and it blends in with the sand from a distance.

This morning there were scores of busy shore birds. (And more bounding dogs off leash.)

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