My View of Life on the Dock
I walked out to Eastern Point today and it felt downright balmy compared to yesterday’s biting wind and frigid windchill factor. Today felt more like global warming than a polar vortex. The iced rocks and frozen froth just looks like normal winter to me.
E.J. Lefavour
Generally such a quiet gentle cove. A day after the storm ended, the tide and waves are still high and very cold looking.
E.J. Lefavour
OK technically it is a raft or paddling of buffleheads since they are in the water, but I just couldn’t pass up using badelynge (pronounced bad-ling), which refers a group of ducks on land. Buffleheads are my favorite little sea duck, and I have the pleasure of regularly seeing this group on Smiths Cove from my window.
Buffleheads have evolved their small size in order to fit into the nesting cavity of their “metabiotic” host, the Northern Flicker. Due to their small size, they are highly active, diving almost continuously. They do not tend to collect in large flocks; but are usually limited to small rafts. One duck will serve as a sentry, watching for predators as the others in the group dive in search of food. Buffleheads are among the last waterfowl to leave their breeding grounds and one of the world’s most punctual migrants, arriving on their wintering grounds within a narrow margin of time each year. Buffleheads are monogamous, and the females return to the same breeding site, year after year. (adapted from Wikipedia)
E.J. Lefavour
This being my first winter on Rocky Neck, I thought I might miss how pretty Annisquam is in the snow. In addition to having a fun and active community that doesn’t hibernate in winter, Rocky Neck is as pretty as Annisquam, and cooler. I am very happy being here year round.
E.J. Lefavour
That was one noisy storm – the howling kept waking me up all night. I got up a little after midnight to look out the window and see what the storm high tide was like, but it was too dark and blurred by the snow to see anything, and I wasn’t going out there. I did get out to walk Rocky Neck at high tide today as the storm subsided. We had a lot of snow in some places, and none in others due to the high winds and drifting. The cars in the public lot were blown totally clean, so there was no car cleaning to do. The park was flooding a little, as was Rocky Neck Ave, Madfish and the Railways. I would not want that to be my car sitting up to the wheel wells in salt water in the Madfish parking lot.
E. J. Lefavour
E.J. Lefavour
No one lingered long in the water or on the beach with a stiff frigid breeze buffeting all – except one man who seemed to be enjoying his swim. Kudos to everyone who ventured into the cold water on a very cold and windy day. There seemed to be a good turnout of donations for the Open Door Food Panty, and a good turnout of people at the Cultural Center after the plunge for hot chocolate, delicious clam chower from Sailor Stan’s, and other goodies.
E.J. Lefavour
Happy New Year everyone!
E.J. Lefavour
Niles Pond is beautiful in every season. Because of the leaves being gone from the trees, the first shot of the pond with Brace rock behind was a perspective I had never seen before and looked strange to me, like the rock had moved onto the beach and was nestled in the grasses.
E.J. Lefavour
Always a great time, whether you plunge or just come to cheer on the plungers! The Rocky Neck Plunge will take place on New Year’s Day at 2:00PM at Oaks Cove Beach on Stevens Lane with a body and innards warming after party immediately following at the Cultural Center at Rocky Neck, 6 Wonson Street with chowda and hot chocolate. A perfect way to start the new year – having fun and being part of this unique community. Who says nothing happens on Rocky Neck in the winter?!
There will be a van at the corner of Wonson Street and Stevens Lane to collect non-perishable food donations for The Open Door Food Panty so bring along some goods to help fill it up (checks are also welcome).
E.J. Lefavour
This is the last weekend of the Rocky Neck Holiday Art & Fine Crafts Festival, Saturday and Sunday from noon to 4:00PM with a Pre New Years Party from 2-4:00 on Sunday, December 29. After all the rushing around and shopping for family, friends, and others, this is your opportunity to get something nice for yourself. Our Pre News Years party will feature bubbly and snacks, and will be a celebration of a great holiday festival and year of wonderful exhibits and programming at the Cultural Center. Please join us.
And don’t forget the Rocky Neck Plunge on New Year’s Day 2:00 at Oaks Cove Beach with a warm up after party at the Center. Great fun, whether you plunge or not. Don’t forget to bring some non perishables for the Open Door Food Pantry collection.
E.J. Lefavour
Warning: Grab some Kleenex before watching.
E.J. Lefavour
While walking this morning at Stage Fort Park with Elynn Kroger, we encountered this beautiful snowy owl. A little later, I ran into Peggy Russell from Pop Gallery, who also had seen him, but hadn’t been able to get a shot of him. This is for you Peggy. Merry Christmas. What a special treat on Christmas morning.
Of course it never fails that I encounter something magical when I carry my chumpy little pocket camera. I wish I’d brought the nice one Paul Frontiero gave me, as I had originally intended. Lesson. Never second-guess your first impulse.
E.J. Lefavour
E.J. Lefavour
at yesterday’s Season’s Best Cookie Competition and Solstice Party coordinated so exquisitely by Gigi Mederos and Stevie Black during the Rocky Neck Holiday Art & Fine Crafts Festival at the Cultural Center at Rocky Neck. Attendees got to taste the incredible and diverse array of cookies entered into the competition, and enjoy the antics of the serious but fun loving panel of judges made up of Mayor Carolyn Kirk, Ed Collard and Sister Felicia. Many attendees shopped and got to enjoy the wonderful selection of art and craft items available while checking some people off their lists. The artists got to enjoy selling their creations and knowing that they have made some money this holiday season. We got to enjoy the beautiful sound of Eva DiLascio’s singing group that unexpectedly appeared for an impromptu round of Christmas carols. Mayor Kirk had fun on her birthday and went home with a beautiful birthday cake baked by Karen Tibbetts. There were many new faces at the event, so the Cultural Center wins some new appreciators of the beauty of the space and the great things we have going on there.
The winners of the Season’s Best Cookie Competition (drum roll please) were:
1st place Salted Caramel Cookies by Alison Darnell and Heather Ahearn – winner of the coveted “Got Milk?” hand painted silk cookie scarf by Gigi Mederos
2nd place Savory Cookie by Sydney and Kaleigh Cirafice
3rd place Cranberry Turtle Bars by Diane Stringer
Classic Chocolate Candy Cane Bars by Jessica McGovern
Best presentation Cranberry Cardamom Shortbread Icycles by Two Time Winner, Jessica McGovern
but all entrants were winners because they get to have a group cookie baking class with Sister Felicia!
The Holiday Festival is open today from noon to 4:00pm with the final weekend of the festival being held Saturday and Sunday, December 28 & 29 from noon to 4:00PM with a Pre New Years Party on the 29th from 2:00-4:00PM.
E.J. Lefavour
Spotlight on Marty Swanson
Martha Swanson is an award winning artist who works in watercolor, color pencil, acrylics, oils and mixed media. Before moving to Santa Fe in the late 80’s she enjoyed working in her studio at the Fenway Studios and was Board president of the Cambridge Art Association. She has exhibited in the Boston area and Santa Fe, NM with several one person and small group shows and was chosen for a “New Mexico ‘ 93” a juried exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts in Santa Fe. Her work is in many private collections nationwide.
Marty has extensive experience in non-profit management, exhibition installations and has designed many books and publications including Art New England, and the Boston Globe Sunday Magazine. Now living in Rockport and soaking up inspiration while wandering the woods and beaches of Cape Ann with her canine friend, she works out of her Rockport studio and with the folks at the Cultural Center at Rocky Neck where she was recently elected Artistic Director of the Art Colony.
You can see her work at the Rocky Neck Holiday Art & Fine Crafts Festival, which we co-coordinated. I have really enjoyed working with and getting to know Marty.
Stop by this weekend for our Solstice Party and Season’s Best Cookie Competition, and check out Marty’s work. It is exceptional, and very reasonably priced.
E.J. Lefavour
We have some great cookie bakers, judges and prizes lined up for this Saturday’s Season’s Best Cookie Competition at the Cultural Center at Rocky Neck during our Winter Solstice Party from 2-4:00. This also happens to be Mayor Carolyn Kirk’s birthday, so come by, have some cookies, home made mead and other goodies, and wish her a Happy Birthday.
Our next to the last weekend of the Rocky Neck Holiday Art & Fine Crafts Festival promises to be a great last minute shopping experience and a fun time for all who come to the party and cookie competition, which will start promptly at 2:00PM. The festival runs this weekend Saturday and Sunday from noon to 4:00PM and December 28 and 28 from noon to 4:00PM with a Pre New Years Party on Sunday the 29th from 2-4:00pm.
E.J. Lefavour
If you haven’t had a chance to stop by yet, this weekend will be your last chance to see the Art in the Schoolhouse holiday show at Magnolia Historical Society, 46 Magnolia Ave. There is a great collection of over 90 pieces of work, as well as a great selection of affordable holiday gift items. A great opportunity to check out the new home of the Magnolia Historical Society Museum and Cultural Center. Free admission and plenty of free parking.
E.J. Lefavour
Spotlight on Nina Goodick.
Nina was born and raised in Gloucester and comes from a hardworking family of Sicilian Italian and Portugese Gloucester Fisherman. Her great grandfathers, grandfathers, father, uncles, and brother were all fisherman and she spent summers on the family fishing boat the “Linda B”. From them and the women of the family, she learned hard work, love of family, faith, and of course food. Nina says: “In an Italian family, food is love, and we feed everything.” Family has always, and will always be the most important thing in her life.
Relatively new to the pottery world, Nina has been taking classes for the past few years with Cynthia Curtis and has enjoyed the company of her new fellow potter friends. In 2012 Nina was nominated as a seArts emerging artist, and from there decided to emerge herself into learning more about pottery. Her husband Stephen, who constantly encourages her, built her a studio to work from in their home. Then came the kiln, and lots of clay and learning. Her dear friend Marty Morgan, encouraged her to explore glazes, throwing technique, and to embrace the opening of the kiln – something any potter will tell you is both exciting and terrifying.
Nina enjoys throwing functional pottery, bowls, mugs, platters, things you can use. In addition to these, she recently has been creating wall pieces – Codfish, Haddock and Redfish – which connect her to her family heritage. She has also been making wall crosses which she was inspired to create through her work with a medical mission group from the Holy Family Parish, helping the poor in the Dominican Republic. Most of her inspiration comes from her family, friends, faith, and her sister Theresa who is an artist. Nina has always looked up to her creativity and abilities to capture feelings in her artwork. Nina does not consider herself an artist, but just a person who like to make pots.
This past year Nina was a participant in the Cape Ann Ceramics Festival at Rocky neck, and the Pottery Trail. Having people visit her studio and home gallery was a great experience for her, which she truly enjoyed. She is a member of seArts, and the Rocky Neck Art Colony. Her work can be seen at the Rocky Neck Holiday Art & Fine Craft Festival weekends through December 29th, seArts Wearable Art & Home Décor Show, December 14th & 15th, and Flatrocks Gallery Feast Exhibit through December 28th.
If you’ve finished shoveling out and want to have some fun, come by the Center for Happy Hour from 3-5:00 today and see some of Nina’s work, which is being exhibited alongside some of her sister, Theresa’s work.
E.J. Lefavour
We need a few more entrants for the Season’s Best Cookie Competition during the Winter Solstice Party at the Cultural Center at Rocky Neck on December 21st. We think that some great cookie bakers out there may be afraid to enter because of the judges.
You should know that this is a blind competition, so the judges will not know whose cookies they are judging until the competition is finished.
About the judges.
Ed Collard is one of the most fair and impartial judges I have ever had the honor of working food competitions with. He likes to eat, knows what he likes, but is open to trying anything and everything, and is a master at determining excellent criteria for judging and having fun.
Mayor Carolyn Kirk is also a fair and impartial judge who really likes cookies and wants to have fun on her birthday. She has worked really hard for us and deserves some fun and good cookies to eat on her birthday.
Sister Felicia, now this could be the judge that is striking fear into the hearts of some would-be entrants. But fear not, be brave, creative and bold and enter your best cookie, confident in the knowledge that you can impress even the renowned queen of Sicilian cooking – just don’t bake Italian cookies unless you are really sure you know what you’re doing!
Go for it! Email Gigi at gigimederos@gmail.com or me at khanstudio@comcast.net with your name and the type of cookie you will enter (remember, no chocolate chip). Entrants will be asked to bring their dozen cookies in before the judges arrive on 12/21 at 2:00 to begin judging. They do not have to be holiday cookies. NEWS FLASH: All entrants in the Season’s Best Cookie Competition will be eligible to attend a free group cookie baking class with Sister Felicia!
E.J. Lefavour
Good Morning Gloucester 