My View of Life on the Dock
Don’t miss this one, our 195th podcast, where we interview AVP’s director Terry Sands and cast members Jack, Charlie, Will, and T.S. Tonight at 8pm.
Thanks to Terry, the Rousmaniere Family, and T.S. for coming to our podcast this morning!!
Order your tickets to see AVP’s Beauty and the Beast here.
Charlie Rousmaniere aka Beauty and the Beast’s Chip Potts
From Long Wharf at the Jones River Salt Marsh
Beauty and the Beast runs from Tuesday August 9th through Sunday August 14th at 7:30pm. Tickets are available at the Annisquam Exchange or the Annisquam Village Players website here.
Friend Nubar writes, “Hi Kim, Thought you might be interested in this story for GMG. Our friend and neighbor, Renata Greene made a quilt. She was in a fabric store in Auburn, MA and asked if they wanted to see it. They loved it, took a picture of it and posted it on their FB page. The numbers are astounding: more than 1.4 people reached, 6.3k likes/wows/loves, 973 comments and 17,000 shares. Here’s the picture they posted and a photo of the quilt itself.”
We’d like to thank all of you once again for your support of this project. While we did meet the initial objectives of the Kickstarter campaign – to create a finished Pilot for the series, develop a strong presence on social media, and pitch the Pilot coast to coast, there have yet to be any offers to pick up the program from traditional broadcast outlets. It was received with great interest (including a possible appearance on the Ellen DeGeneres show), and as some of you know from the SAAU Facebook page, it received third place at the Red Shed Film Festival in Rockport, MA.
Nubar and his production company, Walker Creek Media (WCM), have been in touch with a producer who loves this project and believes it can be a success. Based on his advice and his own success with non-traditional media, WCM has created the first episode of Science All Around Us, which will be available for sale online as a Video On Demand (VOD). The idea here is to build a measureable audience…..10,000-30,000 downloads…. at $2.99 each. This is not simply about money, but about demonstrating to advertisers the strength and commitment of the audience for the series. The funds for the next episode will come from a monthly fee from advertisers on the SAAU website. (As an example, the producer mentioned above has a show on YouTube about woodworking with 30,000 subscribers and generates a daily average of $1324 from advertisers.) To view Science All Around Us Episode 1 click here.
Meanwhile, Collin has continued to be buoyed by all the support and interest and has moved forward on several other avenues. He has maintained his interest in science, providing a weekly Science public announcement for his school this year. He has participated in the science fairs each year – doing some really creative research and exciting other students with hands-on activities on sound and the science behind 3-D images, started his own computer company Coltch Computing and learned to fly a plane. He’s also been invited to be the student keynote speaker at the MassCue in October of 2016 at Gillette Stadium, a conference for “computer use in education.” And this is the short list of what he’s doing.
Gloucester Stage Company’s NeverDark Series hosts two powerhouse writer/director/actors: Brendan Hughes and Brenda Withers this August. Their presence marks the beginning of a promised collaboration between two capes: Cape Ann and Cape Cod. On Tuesday, August 9 at 7:30 pm Brendan Hughes performs The Pizzicato Effect, a comic one-man show he created. On Tuesday, August 23 at 7:30 pm Gloucester Stage presents a staged reading of Brenda Withers’ newest play, String Around My Finger.
When Managing Director, Jeff Zinn, took the helm at GSC in October, 2015, he brought with him a network of artists from his longtime association with another seaside theater, Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater (WHAT.) Hughes was first hired to direct several productions at WHAT and later served as “impresario” of the Harbor Stage venue. There, he formed a company-within-the-company, attracting top flight actors including Brenda Withers, already well known for penning the play Matt & Ben with Mindy Kaling.
Continue reading “Gloucester Stage Never Dark Series Brings Together Two Capes”
My grandmother was fond of saying “the early bird catches the worm.” I assumed she said that because I adored getting up early to eat breakfast with my grandfather before he left for work. In a large family with siblings and cousins, I had him all to myself in those day break hours. Having developed a passion and love for wild creatures and wild places, I understand better what she meant. She and my grandfather built a summer home for their family in a beautiful, natural seashore setting and both she and my parents packed our home with books and magazines about nature. Now I see her design…
Wednesday morning at day break, beautiful scene, beautiful creatures by the sea’s edge
Song Sparrow breakfast
American Robin fledgling, note its speckled breast feathers
Mockingbird feeding its fledgling
Song Sparrow and Virginia Creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia) flowers and fruit
Sanderling
ARTISTIC DIRECTOR ROBERT WALSH BRINGS JASON ROBERT BROWN’S POWERFUL SONGS FOR A NEW WORLD TO GLOUCESTER STAGE COMPANY
Song Cycle Features Cast of Broadway Veterans including Tony Award Nominee Barbara Walsh & Rockport’s Wendy Waring
Gloucester Stage Company continues its 37th season of professional theater on Cape Ann with a limited run of Jason Robert Brown’s Songs For A New World from August 4 through August 27 at 267 East Main Street, Gloucester, MA. Songs For A New World with music and lyrics by three time Tony Award winner Jason Robert Brown is a stirring musical journey examining the moments of decision and difficult choices faced in everyday life. Known for such Broadway hits as Parade, The Bridges of Madison County, Honeymoon in Vegas, andThe Last Five Years, Mr. Brown artfully blends pop, jazz and gospel in solos and ensemble styles to create this inspiring song cycle. Directed by Gloucester Stage Artistic Director Robert Walsh, the production features four singers including Tony Award nominee Barbara Walsh, Broadway veterans Rockport’s Wendy Waring and Jack Donahue, Berklee College of Music graduate Chris Pittman and Brandeis’ Nyah Macklin, all four in their Gloucester Stage debut. According to Director and GSC Artistic Director Walsh, “Songs For A New World is an enthralling evening of storytelling through song and movement reminiscent of Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris. We are so fortunate to have such a talented group of actor-singers to bring this work to our audience. It’s a particular treat to work with my cousin Barbara again after so many years! Wendy, Jack, Chris and Nyah are also incredibly fun, hugely talented and all working together in such a fun way – it’s a thrill!”
READ MORE HERE Continue reading “Gloucester Stage’s Artistic Director Bob Walsh Opens SONGS FOR NEW A WORLD”
Anna Solomon gave a reading of Leaving Lucy Pear to a rapt audience last night. A mad dash for chairs was had to accommodate the crowd of friends, fans, and family and by evening’s end, the well wishers were overflowing out the front door of the cultural center. Anna grew up in Gloucester and the historical novel is set on Cape Ann during the 1920s. Congratulations and best wishes to Anna for wonderful success with her beautiful book! Read more abut Leaving Lucy Pear here.
The other morning at the beach I was about to step out of my car barefoot when I looked down at the curbside to see about twenty of these small, cigarette but-sized glass vials littered around the curb. I fortunately stopped before putting my foot down in the glass in what could have a been yucky cut. Litter comes in all shapes and sizes but I was also wondering what they are. Please write if you know. Thank you!
Speaking of litter, that very same morning, while I was filming a group of crows pulling trash across the road and tearing up the MacDonald’s to-go boxes to get to the food remaining within, I looked up from the footbridge and saw a man in his car dumping a shopping bag full of food smack dab in the middle of Nautilus Road (the road that runs along Good Harbor). I stopped him and asked him why he did that. He shook his fist in my face and ironically, considering what I had just been filming, hollered that the crows and the gulls have to eat to.
So, to anyone who may be under the notion that crows and beach gulls do not get enough to eat of their own volition, I can assure you that they do, and that they are probably two of the best fed species on Planet Earth.
Keep Cape Ann Beautiful ~ Please Don’t Litter
Beautiful Essex-built Schooner Roseway this afternoon. Question for Marty or Len – where will she be berthed during the environmental cleanup?
From the World Ocean School website ~
In the fall of 1920 a Halifax, Nova Scotia, newspaper challenged the fisherman of Gloucester, Massachusetts, to a race between the Halifax fishing schooners and the Gloucester fleet. Therefore many schooners, such as Roseway, built at this time were not strictly designed for fishing but in order to protect American honor in the annual races.
Roseway, 137′ in sparred length, was designed as a fishing yacht by John James and built in 1925 in his family’s shipyard in Essex, Massachusetts. Father and son worked side by side on Roseway, carrying on a long New England history of wooden shipbuilding. She was commissioned by Harold Hathaway of Taunton, Massachusetts, and was named after an acquaintance of Hathaway’s “who always got her way.” Despite her limited fishing history, Roseway set a record of 74 swordfish caught in one day in 1934.
Roseway was built and maintained to an exceedingly high standard, using a special stand of white oak from Hathaway’s property in Taunton. She had varnished rails and stanchions and had a house built for her every winter. She was so well maintained that the coal for the stove was washed before being stored in the bunker. This kind of treatment, which contributed to her longevity, was unheard of in the commercial fishing fleet.
On December 7, 1941, just prior to the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Boston Globe reported the purchase of Roseway by the Boston Pilots Association. In the article, the Pilots described Roseway as “sturdily constructed of oak, the craft is fully capable of withstanding the battering of heavy seas and onslaughts of terrific gales that pilot boats maintaining the lonely vigil off Boston Harbor are called upon to meet.” Clarence Doane, agent for the Boston Pilots, stated that Roseway “approaches as close as possible to specifications of the ideal pilot boat as any vessel. . . .”
Read More About the Roseway and World Ocean School Aboard the Roseway Here
For the past ten weeks, each morning very early before work I have been filming the Good Harbor Beach shorebirds and their habitat, and when not too tired from work, would go back again at the end of the day. For the most part, it has been a tremendously educational and rewarding experience, and I love Good Harbor and its wild creatures even more than when I began the Piping Plover project. We are so fortunate to have this incredibly beautiful and beloved treasure of a beach in our midst, and so easily accessed. As much as I have enjoyed filming the wildlife, it has been equally as fun to observe the myriad wonderful ways in which people enjoy the beach recreationally and that too is part of the Good Harbor Beach Piping Plover story.
Take a closer look at the shorebirds next time you are at Good Harbor Beach. Small and swift, they can look similar, but once you begin to study their behaviors, each species becomes easier to identify.
New female Piping Plover on the scene with very pale coloring
Good Harbor Beach is currently home to three different species of plovers. We all know about our beautiful Piping Plover family. The lone surviving chick and Dad were last seen heading deep, deep, deep into the salt marsh. Since that time, several new Piping Plovers have joined the scene, two females and a male. We can tell they are different from our original mated pair by their feather pattern and bill color.
Earlier in the summer, four Killdeer chicks hatched at the edge of the GHB salt marsh. It was pretty scary filming the Killdeer family because all six were running willy nilly every which way throughout the beach parking lot on a very busy weekend morning. In the next photo, taken several days ago, you can see that the family has grown quickly.
Killdeers are the largest of the the three species of plovers seen in Massachusetts, nearly twice as large as the pocket-sized Piping Plover. That fact didn’t stop the male Piping Plover from defending its nesting territory. Notice the two dark bands around the neck and chest of the Killdeer.
Half the size of his foe, our male Piping Plover is vigorously chasing the intruding Killdeer from his nesting territory
The Killdeer has a dark band encircling its neck and a second band across its chest
The third species of plovers at GHB is the Semipalmated Plover. Although only slightly larger than the Piping Plover, the difference is easy to spot by the darker brown wings. Compare the single neck ring of the Semipalmated Plover to that of the Killdeer’s double set of rings. Unlike Piping Plovers and Killdeers, Semipalmated Plovers do not breed in Massachusetts but in northern Canada and Alaska. At this time of year we are observing their southward migration to the southern United States, Caribbean, and South America.
Semipalmated Plover
Semipalmated Plovers are often seen in mixed flocks with Semipalmated Sandpipers and Least Sandpipers. Semipalmated Sandpipers have black legs. Least Sandpipers have distinctly colored yellowish legs.
Semipalmated Plover and Semipalmated Sandpipers
Least Sandpiper
Note that all of the shorebirds mentioned here are also currently at Wingaersheek Beach.
Look for this unmistakeable gull at Good Harbor Beach. It has been here for several days. You can’t miss his distinguished black head and deepest slate gray wings. If lucky, he may even laugh his funny laugh for you. This is a first for me, seeing a Laughing Gull at Good Harbor Beach. When I was a child we would see them often at my Grandparent’s beach on Cape Cod. If you have seen Laughing Gulls on Cape Ann please write and let us know.
Mass Audubon’s historic status on the Laughing Gull reports that this smallest of our breeding gulls has had a difficult time reproducing in Massachusetts. In the mid 1800s, Laughing Gulls reigned over Muskeget Island, off the Nantucket coast, but within a 25-year period, commercial eggers reduced their population to but only a few nesting pairs. “By 1923, however, protective actions taken by the keeper of the island’s lifesaving station helped the Laughing Gull population rebound to the thousands. Further bolstered by the protection afforded by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918, Laughing Gulls expanded their colony at Muskeget Island to 20,000 pairs by the 1940s. Unfortunately, a preponderance of Herring Gulls also benefited from the protection of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, as well as from the increase in food available to them at open landfills at that time.” The rise of the Herring Gull has ultimately led to the severe decline of breeding Laughing Gulls in Massachusetts and today there are thought to be only about 500 pairs. Imagine, from 20,000 pairs to only 500!
One interesting fact is that not only do they nest in Dune Grass, but also have a penchant for dense patches of Poison Ivy. The Good Harbor Beach Laughing Gull has been foraging on crustaceans and invertebrates at the tide pools.
Good morning Gloucester, brought to you by Good Harbor Beach!
Beautiful family inside and out ❤
Author Anna Solomon writes, “I meant to add: An old professor of mine who summers in Annisquam told me about this real-life Lucy Pear, and I got chills! Apparently it is her last name (not middle). I would love to be put in touch with her if anyone has contacts….”
Lucy Pear is the fictional heroine of Anna Solomon’s newest novel Leaving Lucy Pear. Copies are available at the Bookstore of Gloucester and Toad Hall Bookstore. Read more here about Leaving Lucy Pear and about Anna’s three upcoming Cape Ann author events.
PLAYTIME STORIES EXTENDED THROUGH AUGUST:
New Stories and Activities for GSC’s Youngest Audiences
SATURDAY, JULY 30 10AM
Rumpelstiltskin and Winnie The Pooh
And Now August Performances Starting With
SATURDAY, AUGUST 6 10 AM
The Little Prince and Madeline
AT GLOUCESTER STAGE COMPANY
Live Theater Performances and Activities for Young Audience Members Age 2 and Older
Gloucester Stage Company proudly continues Playtime Stories, an engaging combination of children’s stories, live performances and activities for ages 2 and older, on Saturday, July 30 at 10 am with Rumpelstiltskin and Winnie The Pooh at Gloucester Stage, 267 East Main Street, Gloucester. Playtime Stories offers young children the unique opportunity to experience the fun and magic of live theater as they watch their favorite books come to life onstage. Following the performance audience members will be invited to join the Playtime Stories Company in fun and interactive workshops relating to the story. Each Saturday the Playtime Stories Company, consisting of members of Gloucester Stage’s apprentice company, veteran Youth Acting Workshop students and special guest narrators will perform a children’s story against the backdrop of the story’s illustrations as well as create a dynamic weekly series of interactive events related to the story. Each week Playtime Stories explores different stories ranging from classic fairy tales to new stories to works by local authors. Upcoming performances include: July 30 : Rumpelstiltskin and Winnie The Pooh; August 6: The Little Prince and Madeline; August 13: Eric Carle Day: The Very Hungry Caterpillar and Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? ; August 20: Guest Narrator award winning actress Dossy Peabody reads Make Way For Ducklings; Pat the Bunny and Junket Is Nice; August 27:Corduroy and Lily’s Plastic Purse. All Playtime Story performances are held at 10 am at Gloucester Stage, 267 East Main Street, Gloucester, MA. Admission is $5. Advance reservations available. For more information, call the Gloucester Stage Box Office at 978-281-4433 or visit www.gloucesterstage.com
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Don’t you love the colors of the third stage, or instar, of the Cecropia Moth caterpillar? Only about an inch and a half long in the photo, in the final fifth instar, before it pupates into a cocoon, the caterpillar will be as large as a large man’s thumb.
In its second instar in the above photo, the caterpillar resembles the developing birch flower catkins. This is an evolutionary form of mimicry against predation by birds. Cecropia Moth caterpillars eat not only the foliage of American White Birch trees, but also other species of birch trees, apple, ash, beech, elm, lilac, maple, poplar, Prunus and Ribes species, white oak, and willow.
First instar Cecropia Moth Caterpillars
Thank you so much again to my friend Christine for the gift of the Cecropia moth eggs.
Good Morning Gloucester 