I’ve always loved this fishing shack in Bayview, but just noticed the sign on it recently.  If you are looking for an authentic wooden lobster buoy, call Greg Merchant of Ipswich Bay Wooden Buoy.

E.J. Lefavour

“Time is the fire in which we burn.”
Delmore Schwartz 1913-1966

Born to Jewish parents in Brooklyn, NY, Schwartz attended Columbia and the University of Wisconsin before receiving a degree from New York University. He studied philosophy as a graduate student under the great Alfred North Whitehead at Harvard while he roomed with the poet Robert Lowell. His first book, In Dreams Responsibilities Begin, based on his parents failed marriage, gained him widespread notice. He went on to teach writing at a number of schools including Syracuse and Kenyon. Among his many students and protégés was Saul Bellow whose Humboldt’s Gift is based on their relationship. Lou Reed of the Velvet Underground also studied with Schwartz, wrote at least two songs in his memory and named him the “first great man I ever met.” Schwartz died at 52, alone and isolated from the world, from complications of alcoholism and mental illness.

Greg Bover

Gregory R. Bover
VP Operations, Project Manager
C. B. Fisk, Inc
978 283 1909
www.cbfisk.com

After a lifetime of collecting, studying, admiring and climbing on rocks, I have made an exciting petrologic discovery that answers that nagging, ages old question, especially in New England: “Why do rocks seem to multiply and grow?”  I have discovered that rocks, like turtles, hatch from shells.  In the photos here you can see some of them in the process of emerging from their shells.  Also, rocks grow, and like snakes they shed their skin as they grow.  You can also see some of the more mature rocks here shedding their skin.

Rocks mate in the spring and the young hatch in the winter when the cold speeds up their metabolism, after varying lengths of gestation periods depending upon the type of rock (whether igneous, sedimentary, or metamorphic), ranging from 10 to 100 years.  That is why we have more rocks in New England than Florida, for example, where it is warmer year round.  Of course there are rocks everywhere because we had an ice age about 20,000 years ago, which resulted in an explosive birth rate of rock populations around the globe.  Since that time however, the warmer climates have lost and not been able to replace their rock populations, which are now mostly sand, while we in the Northeast always have plenty of fresh new rocks to move around, and build stonewalls, foundations and gardens with.  Cape Ann seems to have the ideal climate for rock propegation and growth.

E.J. Lefavour

In bedroom communities around America people experience lawn envy, and are always trying to make their lawns look as nice or better than the Jones’.  Not so on Cape Ann.  Here I think people are more inclined to experience rock envy, and how much more effectively the Jones’ have beautified their property with the rocks they had available to them.  I think that Annisquam has been blessed with some of the largest, most beautiful and abundant rocks I have seen on Cape Ann, and is therefore probably the target of much rock envy.

E.J. Lefavour

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wiEklMK9HSI&feature=player_embedded

Black Earth Hauler picks up compostable waste in Gloucester, Rockport, Essex, Ipswich, Manchester, Beverly, Salem, Hamilton, and Wenham and brings it to a farm in Hamilton where it is turned into rich, black compost. Food and other organic material naturally break down and decompose to form this nutrient rich substance essential to plant growth and soil health. Participating in food waste pick-up diverts organic waste from landfills and incinerators and returns it to the soil.

Would you like to have your food waste composted and returned to the soil?
Sign up for Curbside Compost.

Feel guilty tossing that banana peel into the trash or down the disposal? Don’t have enough space or time to have your own compost pile?

Black Earth offers two Curbside Compost pick-up services to residents of Cape Ann.
1) Weekly pick-up of your food waste in a five gallon bucket for $4 a week. We have buckets available with a carbon filter.
2) Yard and food waste picked up every two weeks in a tote for $8.

Sign on for a year of service for $200 and recieve a half yard of compost delivered to your house.

Recycling your organic waste is easy to implement because they accept all compostable material including meat, dairy, and paper.

In addition to picking up food waste, Black Earth Haulders also sells and delivers compost to your home.  They also do commercial pick up.  Visit their website at http://www.blackearthhauler.com/index.php for more info, or contact Conor Miller, (c) 262-227-1067
conor@blackearthhauler.com

or Justin Sandler, Sales Manager
justin@blackearthhauler.com
(c) 978-473-2502

While on a recent walk I decided to take a peek down Dorset Drive, almost across Washington Street from Leonard Street.  The road had always intrigued me because of all the huge rocks you can see lining it on either side.  I have always loved rocks of all shapes and sizes, but especially the huge ancient looking ones.   As I walked down the road, I noticed no houses, only massive rocks and morraine until the road came to a fork and there was a Conservation Land Welcome sign.  I walked past the gate and found a lovely pond, brook, beaver’s dam and more rocks.  For anyone who loves to explore and photograph nature, welcome signs are so much nicer than no trespassing signs.  You’d never know there was conservation land down there unless someone told you or you just wandered in – and now you know.

E.J. Lefavour

There is a Public Hearing before the City Council on Tuesday, January 10,  at 7:00 pm at City Hall concerning the East Gloucester Cultural District.  What it’s about:

The Massachusetts Cultural Council is in the process of designating areas of the state’s cities and towns as Cultural Districts.  The City, the Rocky Neck Art Colony, the Gloucester Stage Co., and the Gloucester Writers Center are, in partnership, applying to MCC to have a sizable section of East Gloucester designated as a Cultural District.

In MCC’s words:  Cultural districts can help local arts, humanities, and science organizations improve the quality and range of their public programs so that more local families can benefit from them. They can enhance the experience for visitors and thus attract more tourist dollars and tax revenue. And they can attract artists, cultural organizations and entrepreneurs of all kinds – enhancing property values and making communities more attractive.
One of the distinct attributes of Massachusetts is the authenticity of its communities. From urban centers and fishing ports in the east, to rural hamlets and older industrial centers in the west, the Commonwealth incorporates a wide range of distinctive places.

The Cultural District Initiative will encourage Massachusetts communities to strengthen this sense of place, while stimulating economic activity, improving the experiences of visitors to our communities, and creating a higher quality of life.

The proposes district runs from Cripple Cove to Niles Beach and includes East Main St. and Mt. Pleasant Ave.

Karen Ristuben
Rocky Neck Art Colony

“The statistics on sanity are that one American in four suffers from some form of mental illness. Think of your three best friends. If they are okay, it’s you.”

  Rita Mae Brown  (1944-     )

After obtaining degrees in cinematography, classics and English, Brown went on to doctorates in literature and political science. She began her writing career as a poet but gained much notoriety for her first novel Rubyfruit Jungle in 1973, which dealt with lesbian themes in an unusually frank manner for the time. Since the sixties she has been active in the fight for racial and gender equality, and was an administrator in the National Organization for Women for several years. She continues to write in the mystery genre, to ride to the hounds, and to play polo.

Greg Bover

Gregory R. Bover
VP Operations, Project Manager
C. B. Fisk, Inc
978 283 1909
www.cbfisk.com

Alice Gardner started a monthly Artists and Photographers Group a couple of months ago.  The group is growing and it is fun.  The first meeting of the New Year will be on January 9, 2012 from 9:00-10:30AM (and meets the 2nd Tuesday of each month) at the Pleasant Street Tea House.  This meeting will be a “Show and Tell” meeting, so join us and bring something you are working on.  The group is open to all artists, and is a great way to meet new people, see old friends, share information and stay connected with other artists, especially during the winter when we tend to become more isolated.

E.J. Lefavour

If there’s one thing we have plenty of on Cape Ann, its rocks, and these people used them beautifully in every possible way. 

E.J. Lefavour

That buffleheads are sometimes called butterballs?  This species has a low, swift flight and unlike most divers, they can fly straight up from a watery takeoff.  They are challenging to photograph up close because they dive or take off as soon as they see you lift up your camera.  Maybe they think it is a gun, although I can’t imagine they are hunted, they are so small and incredibly cute. 

E.J. Lefavour

That the Goose Cove Bridge on Washington Street at Goose Cove was built in 1952, which makes it older than me and therefore probably really in need of the stone repair work that is being done to it?  I have been told it is also the landmark that separates Riverdale from Annisquam.  This bridge has a lovely walkway, dedicated in May of 2004 in memory of Stephen Ross, a Gloucester High School freshman who was struck and killed by a drunk driver while walking home.  I have walked across this bridge many times enjoying the views of Wingaersheek, Annisquam and Goose Cove, but just noticed the memorial plaques for the first time.  It never ceases to surprise me when I notice something for the first time that I have walked by repeatedly, and makes me wonder where my eyes and mind were every other time I passed it.  I have a whole new appreciation for this walkway now.

In memory of Stephen, there is also a STEPHEN B. ROSS SCHOLARSHIP.  This scholarship is given to deserving Gloucester High School seniors every year.  To donate, send contributions to Bob Gillis at the Cape Ann Savings Bank, 109 Main St., Gloucester, MA 01930.

E.J. Lefavour

I stumbled upon this throne carved out of a tree in Annisquam.  Has anyone ever seen this before, know who carved it, or how long it has been there?  I envision a forest gnome king holding court there at night surrounded by tree nymphs.

E.J. Lefavour

It was such a perfect day, and a good time was had by all – plungers and nonplungers alike.  What a great way to start the New Year, especially if you said Rabbit, Rabbit first.

Tomorrow is not just the first of the month, but also the first day of the new year, so remember . . . say “Rabbit, Rabbit” first thing when you awake on New Year’s Day (no need to spin around 3 times), or right after you say Happy New Year, if you are up at midnight to ring in the New Year, for a year of good luck.  Happy New Year everyone!  See you at the Rocky Neck Plunge.

E.J. Lefavour

That the Oliver Griffin House c.1761 on Leonard Street is also known as the house at the head of the cove?
Oliver Griffin, son of Samuel and Mary Goss Griffin, was born in Gloucester December 9, 1739 died in June 1815.  Babson’s history says he seems to have been a mariner most of his life, and that the sea took the lives of all six of his sons.  In March 1763 he married Mary Wise who was born in 1742 and died in June 1821.  Mary was a granddaughter of Joseph York, a successful fisherman at Lobster Cove who settled in Annisquam and married Abigail, daughter of Abraham Robinson (of the Dorchester Company).
Mary Wise Griffin herself was an educated woman and strong character, a careful student of the Bible and a faithful expounder of the doctrine of the Universalist church. It was she who discussed theological subjects so forcibly with Rev Dr Ezra Leonard that he converted from the Orthodox Congregational faith to a zealous Universalist, and his conversion was followed by all members of his former church except two families.

(from History of Essex County, MA by D. Hamilton Hurd, 1888)

E.J. Lefavour