Tournament Organizer and Director Drew Hale
Steve Corbett and Osprey Crew
Tonna Catch
Cape Ann Marina Yard Manager Jeff Statile
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."
For all the Tuna Sushi Eaters ~ How to Make Jasmine Rice
Jasmine plants are one of the easiest house plants to grow. Ours spend the summer on the sunny kitchen patio and the winter in a south-facing window. All winter long our Jasminum sambac ‘Maid of Orleans’ throws us blossoms enough to flavor tea and rice whenever needed. At this time of year it provides handfuls and they can be used fresh or dried.
A half a dozen fresh jasmine flowers is all that is needed to scent a large pot of rice. Simply toss the flowers in with the rice, along with a pinch of salt, splash of olive oil, and water to boil. You don’t need to remove the flowers when done as they are perfectly edible. And its just that easy with a pot of tea, hot or cold. Add the flowers while the tea is seeping. For maximum jasmine flavor, rub the rim of the glass or cup with a freshly plucked blossom.
Jasmine Flower Ice Tea
Within the pages of my book on garden design, you’ll find a wealth of information about edible flowers, as well as information on growing herbs.
Excerpt from Oh Garden of Fresh Possibilities! ~ Notes from a Gloucester Garden
“Moonlight of the Groves”
Jasmine is among the loveliest of plants used to cover vertical structures—walls, arbors, porches, pergolas, bowers, and what you will. To my knowledge, and sadly so, none of the fragrant Jasminum are reliably hardy north of zone seven, and therefore must be potted up to spend the winter indoors.
Jasminum sambac, a woody evergreen shrub with vining tendencies, flowers freely throughout the year, covered with small (3⁄8 ̋), white, single or double flowers that fade to pink as they age. The perfume is similar to lilacs and orange blossoms, an exhilarating combination of scents that insinuates itself throughout garden and home.
Jasminum sambac is the flower that the Hindus gave the poetic name of “Moonlight of the Groves.” An ingredient often utilized to make perfume and flavor tea, J. sambac is also called bela when used to make garlands by women to wear in their hair during in Hindu worship ceremonies.
Although originally native to India, J. sambac grows throughout southern China. Confucius wrote that scented flowers were strewn about on all festive occasions. Houseboats and temples alike were hung with fragrant blossoms of peach, magnolia, jonquil, and jasmine. Gardens were devoted solely to the cultivation of jasmine to make fragrant oils and perfumes, to scent wines and teas, and to adorn the wrists and hair for women to wear in the evening. Each morning the unopened buds would be collected before dawn and brought to market for the city flower sellers to string into garlands and bracelets. Enhancing the tea experience by adding aromatics began during the Song Dynasty (a.d.960-1279). A single, newly opened blossom of J. sambac is all that is needed to perfume and flavor a pot of tea.
Read More Here Continue reading “For all the Tuna Sushi Eaters ~ How to Make Jasmine Rice”
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Monarchs at the HarborWalk Zinnia Patch!
This past week while I am home enjoying a staycation (why would anyone ever want to leave Gloucester during the summer?), I have been working on HarborWalk butterfly garden improvements, alongside some outstandingly helpful volunteers. Imagine our delight when a beautiful Mama Monarch flew on the secene. After nectaring from the zinnias, I was hoping she would deposit her eggs on the Marsh Milkweed, strategically planted next to the nectar-rich zinnias, but no, not on her day’s agenda.
Many Hands Make Light Work ~ If you would like to join the Friends of the HarborWalk volunteers, please email me at kimsmithdesigns@hotmail.com. You don’t need to be an expert gardener to join us; on the job-training is provided. We also need sweepers, trash-picker-uppers, and weedwhackers!
I understand from Matt Coogan, Gloucester’s Community Development Senior Planner, that there were over 800 people attending the free Summer Cinema on Wednesday night!! This coming Wednesday, a showing of Goonines is scheduled. I hope to see you there!
The Monarchs we see in our gardens at this time of year are not the Methuselah Monarchs that travel to Mexico, but the parents of the generation that will.
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Eastern Point Lit House Workshop with Margaret Young
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New Film: Buona Fiesta!
Our beautiful Gloucester community is the inspiration for Buona Fiesta! Thank you from the bottom of my heart to everyone who appears in the film. I love it when you see me and smile and wave—it just adds another layer of fun to the film!
Buona Fiesta! begins with the opening of the Friday night ceremony at Saint Peter’s Square. The statue of Saint Peter, the patron saint of fishermen, is processed around the American Legion Building (Gloucester’s first City Hall), with the parade ending in a fanfare of confetti and cheers at Saint Peter’s Square. Joe Novello is the host for the formal opening ceremony of the 2014 Saint Peter’s Fiesta.
Highlights from the Friday and Saturday Greasy Pole events are followed by the Sunday morning Mass and the procession through the city streets to Our Lady of Good Voyage Church, and then back to Saint Peter’s Square. Tradition has the rallying Sunday Greasy Pole Walkers joining the feast well underway at the Giambanco childhood home, before heading over to the Gloucester House Restaurant and Saint Peter’s Club for liquid encouragement. Highlights from Sunday’s Greasy Pole are followed by the midnight closing ceremony. Saint Peter and followers process around the Fort and are greeted with more confetti and a beautiful fireworks display over the water. As Saint Peter is safely tucked back into the window at the Saint Peter’s Club, all wish him good night with cheers of Viva San Pedro…until next year’s Buona Fiesta!
You’ll see all three Greasy Pole winners take their flags, Mark Allen, Kyle Barry, and Jack Russ; the Giambanco sisters, Sefatia, Rosaria, Marianne, and Grace, who provide a Saint Peter’s Feast for the entire community; House Representative Ann Margaret Ferrante, State Senator Bruce Tarr, Mayor Kirk, Melissa Cox; Oar’Dacious teammates and sisters, Janelle Sleepy Pallazola Puopolo, Leanne Pallazola, and Jamie Pallazola; Salvi Benson’s final Greasy Pole Walk; Nicky Avelis; Steven Le Blanc almost capture the flag; Crazy Hat Ladies, sisters Robyn and Amy Clayton; and many, many more.
Read More Here ~
Continue reading “New Film: Buona Fiesta!”
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Clam Night! at Eastern Point Lit House
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Tour of the Gloucester Stage Company
Lisa from Cape Ann TV writes ~
Hi Kim,
Here is a video a made with the children of the Gloucester Stage Youth Actor’s Workshop. In this video they give the viewer a quick tour of the Gloucester Stage Company. Could you please post it on GMG.
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Cape Ann Vernal Pond Team Update
Rick Roth writes ~
Hi,
Okay, I really mean it.
We need LOTS of volunteers for this all-day event on Saturday in Manchester. Please get in touch. And you can start planning to volunteer for the Sidewalk Bazaar which is the following weekend, and for which we will need LOTS of help.
Saturday August 2, 9am-5pm
Book Fair at the Manchester Public Library
We’ll be there all day with a bunch of snakes and I believe that someone is going to lead a Kid’s activity.
Friday and Saturday August 8-9 9am-5pm
Gloucester Sidwalk Bazaar, Main Street in front of the Sargent House, near Bananas, where we’ve been for several years.
Bunch of snakes.
Saturday August 16, 2014 in the evening.
Gloucester Downtown Block Party
We’ll be in front of Toodloos Toy Store with a bunch of snakes. Fun event.
So… we really need lots of volunteers for the next three weeks. Remember, even if you can do an hour or two, it will give someone a lunch break or something. These events are great exposure for us, so please get in touch and let me know that you want to help out. Volunteer.
Thanks, Rick
we only have one earth, save it
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BREAKING (AND SUPER FUN) NEWS: Gloucester House Fabulous New Outdoor Dining Area Opening this Saturday
Direct from Gloucester House owner Lenny Linquata: Their brand new al fresco dining area will be open this Saturday! The menu is fun and casual New England summer fare and includes sweet lobsters, steamers, fresh picked corn on the cob, oysters, shrimp, chowder, and more.
The views from Lenny’s new dock are exquisite–with the harbor laid out before you–Cape Pond Ice, the Paint Factory, fishing boats, lobster boats, schooners, and every kind of sailboat and pleasure boat imaginable. I know where we are headed for dinner this weekend!
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Dreamsteering
Recently I joined a wonderful group of ukelists. Joe Cardozza is the Ukleadies simply amazing teacher. Everyone knows Joe from his musical partnership with RENEE and JOE MUSIC and from the Bandit Kings, but did you also know that he gives private music lessons in the comfort of your own home? For more information about Cardoza Music, visit Joe’s website here.
You can download RENEE and JOE’s first full length studio recording, Dreamsteering, here. I am a fan of Renee’s singing and so far, my favoirte track is their beautiful song “Molly,” but I haven’t yet had a chance to listen to the entire album of songs.
Dreamsteering was recorded in Gloucester at Bang a Song Studio, and was engineered and mixed by Tony Goddess and Jen Morrison.
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SHARKNADO 2
“WHY ARE PEOPLE LAUGHING AT OUR VERY IMPORTANT DOCUMENTARY?” asks Thunder Levin, Sharknado’s creator.
Coming Wednesday, July 30th at 9pm, on SyFy!
In case you missed it, here’s the trailer for the first Sharknado. The trailer is all the research needed to prepare for the coming of Sharknado 2: The Second One.
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Thank You So Much to Our Friends, New and Old, of the HarborWalk!
Thank you Beth, Lynn, Frieda, Catherine, Mary Jo, Lise, Susan, Deborah, and Roger for a super meeting and weeding this morning. Thank you to all our newest “Friends of the HarborWalk” members who, although could not make it this morning, have expressed interest in helping.
If you would like to join the Friends of the HarborWalk, please email me at kimsmithdesigns@hotmail.com. In September I am giving a close-up photo workshop, in the garden, to all our Friends of the HarborWalk members. Date to be determined.
You do not need to be an expert gardener to join. Membership is open to all, and we’ll give you on-the-job training, no worries!
Note to Lucinda: I could not retrieve your email address from the comments. Please send me an email and I will add you to the mailing list. Thank you.
Look who joined us while weeding and meeting this morning at the gardens, an American Lady Butterfly (Vanessa virginiensis), and she was nectaring from the ginromously tall New York Ironweed (Veronia noveboracensis), a true North American native beauty and fabulous source of nectar for butterflies and bees.
American Lady Butterfly
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Beautiful Sunset Over Gloucester Harbor Saturday Night!
From Smiths Cove
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Community Call for HELP with the HarborWalk Gardens and a Photography Workshop Offer You Won’t Want to Miss!!
Okay so I’m in a bit of a bind, perhaps of my own making, but a bind nevertheless. Two years ago there was a formal nationwide public call for art for the HarborWalk. My grand idea was to purchase a projector and audio equipment for outdoor screenings and show films on an inflatable screen at I4-C2, along with creating a film for our community. I was a semi-finalist. I am happy to see the benefits to the community stemming from the success of movie nights and appreciate very much the time and energy that has gone into making this vision a reality.
The dilemma is that the gardens surrounding I4-C2 are not at all looking their best and invasive weed species are beginning to take over, as they have already claimed the adjacent plots of land. I’d like the gardens to shine and to be a place of pride for the City. They could look so, so much better than they do in their current condition. The butterfly gardens are a low-maintenance garden however they do need some maintenance. Having a public native plants garden in our community is a wonderful asset and provides tremendous educational opportunities. My hope is to eventually donate programs but we have to solve the garden’s maintenance crisis first and foremost. We don’t have an outside crew to take care of the gardens this year and the DPW I have learned has far too many other more important responsibilities. The group that was planning to help water realized that they had taken on too much and will not be helping this summer.
As a result, we are having a meeting (not weeding) of “Friends of the HarborWalk” this Sunday morning, July 27, at 9:00am, under the shade tree in front of the Gloucester House Restaurant, near the Schooner Lannon office. We are going to brainstorm about ways to fund basic needs for the gardens, for example, annually purchasing and applying compost/mulch to cut down on the weeding responsibilities. I am hoping businesses in the area that are benefiting directly or indirectly from movie night will also come and contribute their ideas, suggestions, and manpower.
And here is the deal. For the first ten people that sign up to become contributing members of the Friends of the HarborWalk, either through the comment section or by emailing me at kimsmithdesigns@hotmail.com, I am giving a close-up photography workshop. We’ll hold the workshop in the garden and it will be identical to the one that I give at the Arnold Arboretum.
Bring your own coffee Sunday morning and we will provide the homemade doughnuts!
Blooming Today at the HarborWalk Butterfly Garden ~ Asclepias incarnata ‘Ice Ballet,’ or white milkweed, with skippers nectaring. There are over 140 different species of milkweed worldwide; 108 of these are found in North America.
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Groundhog or Woodchuck (or Whistle-pig)?
Marmota monax
That’s precisely what I wondered when I encountered this large member of the order Rodentia at a job site recently. Our eyes locked for several moments as we both stood perfectly still, it trying to disguise itself as an inanimate object and me trying to take a snapshot. I took a step forward and off it burrowed back into its tunnel.
Google search reveals that groundhogs and woodchucks are one and the same species (Marmota monax) and the critters also go by the names of whistle-pig (I like this one best) and land-beaver. The name whistle-pig is derived from their behavior of emitting a high-pitched whistle to alert members of their colony of impending danger. Woodchuck stems from either an Algonquin or Narragansett name for the animal, wuchak.
Whistle-pigs are the largest members of the Squirrel Family, although you can’t see that in the above photo as this is a juvenile. They dwell in areas where woodland meets open space. All summer long whistle-pigs stuff their little furry faces with wild grasses, other wild plants, tree bark, berries, and agricultural crops to build their fat reserves for the long winter hibernation. They are notoriously destructive in gardens. We have yet to see any damage in the gardens at Willowdale due to the resident woodchuck family. I imagine they are finding enough food in the surrounding forest.
Follow Kim on Twitter @kimsmithdesigns and be her friend on Facebook.
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Amazing View of Gloucester Harbor from the Tippy-top of the Paint Factory Chimney
Chimney restoration made possible with cultural preservation funds.
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Shades of Gray ~ Ghostly Gloucester Harbor Fog
Coming home from work and driving along East Main Street Monday afternoon, the east side was bright and sunny while a ghostly blanket of fog shrouded the far side of the harbor.
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Community Events: Sawyer Free Library, Cape Ann Vernal Pond Team, Cape Ann Community Cinema
CAPE ANN VERNAL POND TEAM UPDATE
Rick Roth writes:
“Nice time at the Farmer’s Market on Thursday. Great weather, great crowd. Thanks to volunteers Colleen Anderson and John Gallagher. And thanks to the crew from Art Haven, Amelia, Avery and Natalie, for leading the Kid’s activity.
Saturday was the Petco Reptile Rally. Nathan Dubrow was there with his green tree python. I had a few snakes there and it was a fun event. Thanks to the Petco people who helped us out: Amanda, Acacia, Zac and Caroline.
Saturday July 26, 2014 Time 10am
Snakes of New England and the World- 1 hour live animal presentation.
Sawyer Free Library, 2 Dale Ave., Gloucester MA
Saturday August 2, 9am-5pm
Book Fair at the Manchester Public Library
We’ll be there all day with a bunch of snakes and I believe that someone is going to lead a Kid’s activity.
Friday and Saturday August 8-9 9am-5pm
Gloucester Sidwalk Bazaar, Main Street in front of the Sargent House, near Bananas, where we’ve been for several years.
Bunch of snakes.
So… we really need lots of volunteers for the next three weeks. Remember, even if you can do an hour or two, it will give someone a lunch break or something. These events are great exposure for us, so please get in touch and let me know that you want to help out. Those of you that have been around for a while know that I can really pester people about volunteering to the point where they wish they were never born. Don’t let this happen to you. Volunteer.
Meanwhile… this really cool vernal pond thing is about to take place, likely in the next week or two. The emergence of newly metamorphosed wood frogs. They look just like the adults except tiny. Like 1/2 inch. We’ll be doing a daytime field trip to see these guys soon. Nick Taormina is scouting the pond to see just when they start hopping. Keep watching your CAVPT emails for final details on this exciting outing. And don’t forget to volunteer.
Thanks, Rick
CAPE ANN COMMUNITY CINEMA
Hello Kim,
Last push for this Friday’s Giggles Glosta Comedy Show Featuring Artie Januario, Ira Proctor, and Graig Murphy.
CAPE ANN COMMUNITY CINEMA
BLURB:
Join us for the next GIGGLES GLOSTA comedy night on Friday, July 25 at 8:00pm!
Host Graig Murphy performs with a pair of nationally known comedy stars – Artie Januario and Ira Proctor. Known as the “funniest pharmacist”, Januario is one of the most well known and respected comedians in the area who makes any show a resounding success. Proctor has taken his comedy show across the states and overseas receiving rave reviews. Host Graig Murphy is one of Boston’s Up and Coming performers.
Tickets for these shows are $25 general admission, $22.50 for Cinema Members. Advance tickets are preferred.
photo caption: Giggles Glosta’s Comedy Show featuring Graig Murphy, Ira Proctor, and Artie Januario, Friday, July 25 @ 7:30pm
Many thanks,
Anne-Marie
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Happy Birthday to My Darling Daughter Liv
Snapshots from a sunset picnic dinner at Lighthouse Beach
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The Gloucester Haiku Project
Howdy Joey and Kim,
I’ve been meaning to send this your way, but we’ve been busy, busy, busy. I was wondering if you could help spread the word about The Gloucester Haiku Project. We’re asking folks–residents and visitors–to write a haiku or two about Gloucester. The subject matter can be anything, from the beauty of the back shore to our glorious pothole riddled streets. Anything, as long as it has to do with Gloucester. We’re looking for small poems from everyone, not just poets. We’ve been getting quite a few from kids, which is fantastic.
We’ll be collecting haiku until August 31, after which we will choose the best and publish them in a poetry chapbook this fall via Lit House Press. We’ve even set up a little box outside our shop at 261 Main St. for folks to drop their haiku off, maybe while they’re picking up bread at Alexandra’s or pet supplies from Animal Krackers. We’re also taking submissions online at: The Eastern Point Lit House Gloucester Haiku Project.
Thank you for all you do to bring this community together! And we’ll be expecting haiku from the two of you for sure!
Cheers!
Chris (Anderson)
Good Morning Gloucester 