Listen to this beautiful EP, released yesterday by Sarah Kelly and her brother Daniel Dye. Sometime GMG contributor, and all around most talented of women, Sarah sings beautifully, too!!!
Author: Kimsmithdesigns
Documentary filmmaker, photographer, landscape designer, author, and illustrator. "Beauty on the Wing: Life Story of the Monarch Butterfly" currently airing on PBS. Current film projects include Piping Plovers, Gloucester's Feast of St. Joseph, and Saint Peter's Fiesta. Visit my websites for more information about film and design projects at kimsmithdesigns.com, monarchbutterflyfilm.com, and pipingploverproject.org. Author/illustrator "Oh Garden of Fresh Possibilities! Notes from a Gloucester Garden."
Last Day to Vote for Me for Essex Trailblazer Recognition
Please Vote for Me!
Essex National Heritage is celebrating their 20th anniversary. To mark this special occasion, Essex Heritage is recognizing organizations and people that make the Essex National Heritage Area (Essex County) so exceptional and I have been nominated in the category Connecting People to Place. The 130 nominees are all stellar and most are businesses and very large organizations, for example, the Peabody Essex Museum, Mass Audubon (statewide), and Parker River National Wildlife Refuge, so it is really quite an honor to be nominated.
The voting process is very simple, you don’t have to provide your email address or any other personal information. Please vote for me in the second of four categories, second Connecting People to Place (center column, halfway down). Here is the link to vote:
surveymonkey.com/r/TrailblazersVote
Voting ends today, March 14th. Thank you for your vote!
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#blizzard2017 UNDERWAY!
Blizzarding! I hope everyone is keeping warm and cozy indoors ❤ 
Ten Pound Island with Common Loons and Eiders
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WONKA JR AT EAST GLOUCESTER ELEMENTARY: MEET THE CAST!
Lisa Smith shares: The fifth graders are performing Wonka Jr. at East Gloucester Elementary School, this Friday, Saturday and Monday! Come and enjoy this sweet musical. Tickets are $10 and are available at the door.
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VERY EXCELLENT SUGGESTIONS FROM MAYOR SEFATIA IN PREPARING FOR A POWER OUTAGE
From Mayor Sefatia:
Customers with power outages with operable phones should report to NGRID at 1-800-465-1212, if you have trouble and I have not posted! They might not be aware of it.
Thank you.
Preparing for Power Outages.
1. Purchase light producing objects.
Gather all the things that may provide light, such as a flashlight, candles, glowsticks, etc., and place them in an easily accessible area.
Attach iridescent or glow in the dark stickers on flashlights so that they can be easily located in little or no light.
Keep glowsticks in the freezer. The cool temperature in your freezer will slow the rate of reaction in the glowstick and make it last for 4-5 days instead of one or two.
Stick candles in pots that are deeper than the candle is long. That way, the light will reflect off of the side of the pot, creating more light, and will lessen the likelihood of a fire.
2. Keep a first aid kit handy. You never know what emergency might happen during a power outage, so it’s wise to stay prepared with a few days’ worth of medication.
Your first aid kit should include bandages (various sizes), gauze, tape, scissors, antiseptic solution such as hydrogen peroxide, antibiotic ointment such as Neosporin, and pain medicine. You can buy first aid kits at various drugstores or assemble your own.
Keep a stash of batteries. Make an inventory of the different kinds of batteries your electronics use instead of assuming they all run on double-A or triple-A. Buy batteries in bulk — more than you think you’ll need — so that you’ll have a good amount in case of a prolonged outage.
3. Have your power company’s number stored. If and when the power outage does occurs, inform them (once will do) and they’ll give you an estimate of when you can expect to get electricity back. Knowledge is power.
Continue reading “VERY EXCELLENT SUGGESTIONS FROM MAYOR SEFATIA IN PREPARING FOR A POWER OUTAGE”
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BOSTON SYMPHONY CELLIST MAKES CAPE ANN SYMPHONY DEBUT IN ROMANTIC MASTERS CONCERT ON MARCH 26
CAPE ANN SYMPHONY
THE 65th ANNIVERSARY SEASON
Yoichi Udagawa, Music Director
BOSTON SYMPHONY CELLIST MAKES
CAPE ANN SYMPHONY DEBUT IN
ROMANTIC MASTERS CONCERT ON MARCH 26
BSO Cellist Blaise Déjardin Performs Saint-Säens Cello Concerto
Cape Ann Symphony’s 65th Concert Season continues on Sunday, March 26 at 2 pm with the Romantic Masters Concert featuring the CAS debut of Boston Symphony Orchestra cellist Blaise Déjardin at the CAS performance venue at Manchester-Essex High School Auditorium on 36 Lincoln Street in Manchester-by-the-Sea, MA. TheRomantic Masters Concert brings to life the humor of Rossini withLa Scala di Seta, the power of Dvorak with Symphony No. 8 and the elegance of Saint-Säens Cello Concerto with BSO cellist BlaiseDéjardin, while celebrating the richness and beauty of great music from the Romantic Era.
According to Cape Ann Symphony Music Director and Conductor Yoichi Udagawa, “The Romantic Masters program for March 26thfeatures the music of Rossini, Saint-Säens and Dvorak. The Rossini is energetic and fun-full of high spirits. The Saint-Säens is work of perfect proportion and balance. Virtuoso BSO cellist Blaise Déjardin will be the soloist. He is an amazing musician, and it is his first appearance with the Cape Ann Symphony. We are very excited to be working with him. The Dvorak Symphony No. 8 has one gorgeous melody followed by another and then another and then another! During the concert, we will take a few minutes to show the audience some incredibly intricate and beautiful details that are in the music, in the hope that it will add to their appreciation and understanding of the music.”
Born in Strasbourg, France, cellist Blaise Déjardin made his orchestradebut at age fourteen, performing Haydn’s C Major Concerto at the Corum of Montpellier, France. He was a member of the European Union Youth Orchestra and the Gustav Mahler Jugend Orchester, as well as a founding member of A Far Cry. A dedicated chamber musician, he spent two summers at Ravinia’s Steans Institute for Young Artists prior to joining the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 2008. That same year, he gave the US premiere of Les formes du ventfor cello solo by French composer Edith Canat de Chizy. Continue reading “BOSTON SYMPHONY CELLIST MAKES CAPE ANN SYMPHONY DEBUT IN ROMANTIC MASTERS CONCERT ON MARCH 26”
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PHOTOS FROM THE BEST PASTA-MAKING DAY WITH THE GROPPO FAMILY AND FRIENDS
Sophia and Luca
St. Joseph pasta-making day began with Franco and the gentlemen heading over to Gloucester Fraternity to make huge batches of pasta dough with the Fraternity’s new mixer machine. Thanks were given to the club’s Mario for making it possible. Back at the Groppo’s kitchen, Nina and Fina were making steamy hot vats of homemade ricotta on the stovetop to serve for breakfast to all the helpers. Friends and family arrived in waves throughout the day and all were there to lend a hand making pasta.
After all the St. Joseph Day pasta that was needed was made, an extra batch of pasta was made for we pasta-makers. Nina heated up her divinely delicious tomato sauce that she had canned over the summer, with tomatoes from her garden. We had a wonderful lunch feast and as I looked around the table at the many generations gathered, I thought of the memories being made that will be cherished by all, created from this very special community tradition of honoring Saint Joseph each year at the welcoming home of the Groppo Family.
Geri, Jaclyn, Nico, and Giada
Rolling Pins!
Rosaria and Nina
Al working hard
Kathy, Marissa, and Enza
Last batch, fini!
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BEST PASTA-MAKING DAY!
When you get to spend the day with these wonderful friends. Lots of photos to post later ❤
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Enza and Layla
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VIVA SAN GIUSEPPE!
Beautiful tribute to Saint Joseph
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KEEP HOPE ALIVE! – HEIDI WAKEMAN IN THE PULPIT
What? Wakewoman is in the pulpit? Come, come whoever you are to an hour of power at the UU Church in Rockport!
Sunday morning (March 12th) Heidi will be leading the service at the Rockport UU. Musical accompaniment by Rockwell & Kerwin.
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SAVE THE DATE FOR CAPE ANN SUSTAINABILITY FAIR
TownGreen 2025, a program of the Gloucester Meeting House Foundation, presents its second Cape Ann Sustainability Fair on Saturday, April 29, 2017 at O’Maley Innovation Middle School, located at 32 Cherry Street in Gloucester, MA, from 10 AM to 4 PM. Admission is free.
Enjoy live music, speakers addressing clean energy technology, carbon neutrality, locally relevant impacts of climate change, and personal carbon footprint reduction and have enlightening conversations with our expert youth ambassadors about climate change concerns on Cape Ann. You can even test drive an Electric Vehicle!
The Cape Ann Farmer’s Market will be on site from 10 AM to 2 PM.
Bring your broken bicycles to be repaired by volunteers from the Cape Ann Timebank and your unwanted bikes to be donated for refurbishing by Bikes not Bombs.
For more information, visit our website at http://www.towngreen2025.org.
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WHEN YOU’RE OUT FOR A WALK IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD AND YOU RUN INTO THESE TWO FUNNY KIDS
Happy Spring Smiles
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MARCH’S TEMPESTUOUS SKY
Gloucester Harbor Saint Peter’s Square Pier
FV Still Kicking Gloucester MA
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Cape Ann TV Lunch and Learn Series: “Green Screen 101”
Cape Ann TV’s Lunch & Learn Series continues on Tuesday March 21 at 7PM with “Green Screen 101”. Presentation and demonstration by Ted Reed, professional video producer.
Think of all the times you’ve wanted to battle with Vikings, dive deep beneath the ocean waves and fly to the moon and beyond. Well, now you can!
Join us for our first Lunch and Learn After-Hours, starting at 7pm on Tuesday March 21st when we explore the basics of shooting on green screen. We’ll cover the basics of what you need for cameras, lighting, and software right here at Cape Ann TV’s studios. Find out how to make your own special effects—special!
WHAT IS GREEN SCREEN/CHROMA KEY?
Chroma Key or Green Screen is a fantastic tool for filmmaking that opens up so many storytelling opportunities. It isn’t too difficult provided you know the basics and is easy to use for your films whether you are making an independent low budget film or Hollywood Blockbuster.
Green screens are a key tool in a technique called chroma keying. In a basic scenario this may involve a person/subject being filmed standing in front of a green (or blue) screen. Then using an editing program the green color is digitally removed from the video file leaving the person/subject. A new image/video is then layered behind them. If done well it should look as though the person is actually standing in the scenario that is happening in the background.
The ability to chroma key opens up an array of options for filmmakers. For example if you are filming a news story and you need your presenter to look as though they are standing out the front of the Taj Mahal, then you could use this technique instead of ACTUALLY taking a news reporter to the Taj Mahal. It saves a lot of time and money.
Join award-winning local video producer Ted Reed on Tuesday March 21st at 7PM at Cape Ann TV for Lunch & Learn After Hours “Green Screen 101”.
Space is limited for this event; please RSVP to rtober@capeanntv.org to reserve your spot.
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RAISING FUNDS FOR THE GLOUCESTER DOG PARK
Linda Brayton and Tom Schauer share the following information about the Gloucester Dog Park ongoing fundraising efforts:
“If people would like to donate to the Gloucester Dog Park, the address is P.O. Box 6, Gloucester, MA, 01931 or go online at www.gloucesterdogpark.org. You don’t need $1000.00 to be able to help this project. Every donation will help it get done! Thank you for your support!!!”
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GREAT NEWS FROM THE MAYOR FOR GLOUCESTER’S PIPING PLOVERS!!!
PIPING PLOVER UPDATE FROM THE MAYOR’S OFFICE
PIPING PLOVERS NESTING AT GOOD HARBOR BEACH
The City of Gloucester and Mayor Sefatia Romeo Theken will be working closely during the 2017 beach season at Good Harbor Beach with the Essex County Greenbelt Association and the MA Division of Fisheries and Wildlife to manage Piping Plovers if they return again to nest on the beach.
“For generations, Gloucester’s citizens have existed in a delicate balance with our coastal ecosystem, from the open ocean, to the rocky shorelines and of course to our beaches,” Mayor Romeo Theken said. “We are committed to making every effort possible to protect nesting Piping Plovers at our beaches but we will do so while maintaining public access to these amazing areas. Please help me and the City by cooperating with any short-term restrictions imposed at our beaches in 2017.”
In 2016, Piping Plovers, a small shorebird, were observed nesting for the first time at GHB, and the City acted quickly and responsibly along with Greenbelt and MADFW to protect the birds and their nesting areas. The City is preparing more proactively now for the 2017 beach season.
BACKGROUND:
Piping Plovers are a small shorebird that was placed on the US Endangered Species List in 1986 as a threatened species. Piping Plovers nest directly on the sand at beaches throughout MA, typically on the upper beach just below the outer dune edge. Statewide the Piping Plover population has been increasing over the past 20 years and the population reached about 650 pairs in MA in 2016.
In Gloucester in 2016, 4 pairs of Piping Plovers nested at Coffins Beach and fledged 10 young. A single pair of Piping Plovers nested at GHB, hatching 3 chicks but none survived to fledge. The Piping Plovers at GHB nested later than normal in the season which may have contributed to the lack of chick survival. Better early season protections could help eliminate this problem in 2017.
Good Harbor Beach Piping Plover making a nest scrape for his lady love to inspect
The US Endangered Species Act requires public and private landowners to take necessary measures to protect listed species like Piping Plovers. MA also has guidelines and laws for beach nesting bird management. The city is making every effort to be compliant with all regulatory guidelines.
Piping Plovers typically arrive from their southern wintering areas to our local beaches in late March or early April. Males and females quickly form breeding pairs that begin the process of courtship and nest site select throughout April and May. During April and May, it is important to limit disturbance to the birds and their habitats. Chicks can hatch from nests in late May and are immediately mobile and move out of the nest in search of food. As chicks grow older and larger, they will roam from the dunes to the water’s edge in search of food. Chicks are very vulnerable to human disturbance and are susceptible to predators like gulls and foxes.
One day old Piping Plover chick
PLAN OF ACTION FOR 2017:
Gloucester officials have directed City staff to collaborate with Greenbelt and MADFW to development management strategies to protect Piping Plovers found nesting on any Gloucester beaches.
Beach Scraping – Limiting beach cleaning activities like beach scraping with a tractor and mechanical rake is very important once Piping Plovers arrive at GHB. This could start in April and last though June in certain areas at GHB.
Fencing – It is also important to strategically select areas for temporary closure with single strand fencing and signs. These fenced areas allow a refuge for Piping Plovers to begin their nesting season normally in May, before the busy beach season. fences could be installed in April and be in place through June in certain areas at GHB.
Monitoring – Regular monitors from Greenbelt, MADFW and theCity will visit GHB in March/April to determine if PipingPlovers are present and to ensure that any nesting Piping Plovers are well protected. Monitoring will continue as long as Piping Plovers are present at the site.
Public Access – GHB will remain open to the public during the beach season. Only selected small areas may be closed to the public to protect Piping Plovers. Mayor Theken encourages all beachgoers to respect the closed areas and to consider Piping Plovers as an important part of Gloucester’s rich and healthy coastal ecosystem.
Dogs – Unleashed dogs can pose a very real threat to Piping Plover adults and chicks. Dogs owners are responsible for controlling their dogs and may be legally responsible for any adverse impacts to Piping Plovers and their habitats.
For more information, please contact Greenbelt Essex County Trust at dwr@ecga.org or (978) 768-7241 x14
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ORDER YOUR SPECIAL SAINT JOSEPH ALTAR BREAD, ROLLS, AND SWEET TREATS TODAY!
Preparations for St. Joseph celebrations are well underway throughout the City and our local bakers are baking up a storm. 
Saint Joseph rolls are available from Virgilios at 978-283-5395.
Maria and her Mom and Dad, Nina and Domenic, at Caffe Sicilia are now taking orders for the special Saint Joseph altar bread, zeppole, sfinci, ravioli, and cassata cake, and they can be ordered by calling 978-283-7345.
Can’t wait for Caffe Sicilia’s ricotta-filled St. Joseph Day doughnuts, or sfinci in Sicilian ❤
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GLOUCESTER HONORS INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY
The following is Mayor Sefatia’s message from this morning and tonight, the light at City Hall tower is shining red in honor of International Women’s Day.
“Today, March 8th, is International Women’s Day, a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. The day also marks a call to action for women to take action helping to show unity and strength, with many also participating in “A Day Without Woman” which asks women take the day off from their job.
Here in Gloucester, we ask people to wear red to show support and for those of us who cannot afford to take the day off, we will be sounding the bells at Gloucester City Hall at 12 Noon and lighting the tower red. At that time, we will be taking a moment of silence to honor all women. If you are with another woman at 12 Noon, please show appreciation directly. Though many are asked not to shop today, if you are, please shop locally today and support businesses owned by women. By recognizing the enormous value that women of all backgrounds add to our socio-economic system and taking actions in solidarity with other community, we are proud of all women and we remind all in our community to cherish one another today. Thank you!”
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TODAY I RISE
Where are you, where are you?
The world is missing what I am willing to give
My sweetness
My love
And my hunger for peace
I rise and shine
and I’m ready to go on my quest
Today I rise without doubt or hesitation
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SHE’S WEARING A DEAD BIRD ON HER HEAD
Excerpted from Sanctuary Magazine, by John H. Mitchell
In honor of Women’s History Month, these excerpts were first posted on the Mass Audubon blog. It is the story of the two women who founded Mass Audubon.
The Mothers of Conservation
One of the seminal events in the history of environmental activism in this country took place in a parlor in Boston’s Back Bay in 1896. On a January afternoon that year, one of the scions of Boston society, Mrs. Harriet Lawrence Hemenway, happened to read an article that described in graphic detail the aftereffects of a plume hunter’s rampage—dead, skinned birds everywhere on the ground, clouds of flies, stench, starving young still alive in their nests—that sort of thing. The slaughter was in the service of high fashion, which dictated in those times that ladies’ hats be ornamented with feathers and plumes, the more the better.
Harriet Hemenway
Harriet Hemenway was properly disturbed by the account, and inasmuch as she was a Boston Brahmin and not just any lady of social rank, she determined to do something about it. She carried the article across Clarendon Street to the house of another social luminary, her cousin Minna B. Hall. There, over tea, they began to plot a strategy to put a halt to the cruel slaughter of birds for their feathers. Never mind that the plume trade was a multinational affair involving millions of dollars and some of the captains of nineteenth-century finance; the two women meant to put an end to the nasty business.
…[Harriet] and Minna Hall took down from a shelf The Boston Blue Book, wherein lay inscribed the names and addresses of the members of Boston society. Hemenway and Hall went through the list and ticked of the names of those ladies who were likely to wear feathers on their hats. Having done that, they planned a series of tea parties. Women in feathered hats were invited, and, when they came, over petits fours and lapsang souchong, they were encouraged, petitioned, and otherwise induced to forswear forever the wearing of plumes.
After innumerable teas and bouts of friendly persuasion, Harriet and Minna established a group of some 900 women who vowed “to work to discourage the buying or wearing of feathers and to otherwise further the protection of native birds.” Hunters, milliners, and certain members of Congress may have found the little bird club preposterous.
But the opponents of any regulation on the trade underestimated their opposition. The Boston club was made up of women from the families of the Adamses and the Abbots, the Saltonstalls and the Cabots, the Lowells, the Lawrences, the Hemenways, and the Wigglesworths. These were the same families that brought down the British empire in America. This was the same group that forced Lincoln to issue the Emancipation Proclamation, and it was these families that were about to create the American tradition of environmental activism. Within a matter of decades, the little bird club had spawned what would be the most influentional conservation movement in America up to that time.
Notorious, independent Boston women notwithstanding, these were not the freest of times for society women, and Hemenway and Hall were wise enough to know that if their group were to have any credibility it would need the support of men, and most importantly, would need a man as its president, even if he would be a mere figurehead. The women organized a meeting with the Boston scientific establishment, outlined their program, and got men to agree to join the group, which would be called, they decided, the Massachusetts Audubon Society, in honor of the great bird painter John James Audubon.
Download a pdf of the entire story, which was published in the January/February 1996 issue of Sanctuary magazine.
She’s Wearing a Dead Bird on Her Head, a children’s book written by Kathryn Lasky, tells the story of the founding of Mass Audubon.
Good Morning Gloucester 