My View of Life on the Dock
Reader Dawn Puliafico writes about her recent visit to the Gloucester HarborWalk, “Hot day today! The gardens are lovely! We saw 2 Cabbage White, 1 American Lady, 1 Broad-Winged Skipper and 1 Clouded Sulphur. Not much activity…still nice to see though! We weren’t there long! Too hot! Thanks for your advice! We appreciate it!”
Thank you for writing Dawn.
Monarch Butterfly Nectaring at the Echinacea
Send in photos of your new GMG cap!
Chris DeWolfe from Mamie’s Kitchen Stylin!
Lots of cap smack talk, too!
Directed by Joey Ciaramitaro, with thanks to judges Ed Collard, Chris DeWolfe, Craig Kimberley, and Brian O’Connor. Special thanks to Alicia and Chris at Mamie’s Kitchen for hosting the challenge. Thanks to Bex and Toby for all their help with keeping the competition organized.
The top four Steak Bomb challengers, voted for by the Good Morning Gloucester community, are: Cape Ann Brewing, Captain Hooks, Destino’s, and Leonardo’s.
Music ~
James Bond Theme (Dr. No)
Peter Gunn Theme
Mambo Italiano Dean Martin
Produced by Kim Smith for Good Morning Gloucester
Judges Ed Collard, Chris DeWolfe, Brian O’Connor and Craig Kimberley took their judging duty very seriously. The one part I would say would not be a fair comparison is Cape Ann brewing based on price since their price includes fries, slaw and a pickle. However even if you threw the value category out Cape Ann Brewing would have come in last.
Captain Hooks wins People Choice with far and away most number of nominations.
Overall Best Gloucester Steak Bomb Challenge winner Based on Value, Taste, Packaging, Lack of Sogginess and Equal Distribution of Meat is Destinos.
Once again it was noted by all four judges that each one of these subs was a winner. To be nominated out of all the incredible sub shops in Gloucester is in itself a testament to how great each one of these Steak Bombs are and Cape Ann Brewing, Captain Hooks, Leonardos and Destinos all deserve accolades
Thanks To Mamie’s Kitchen for providing a neutral stage for judging. Thanks to our sub picker uppers. thanks to Kim Smith for filming (look for her awesome video Thursday).
You’d be happy to patronize any of these fine eateries. Today at Mamie’s Kitchen Chris will be serving up his killer Cheese Steak Sub in honor of yesterday’s competition.
Written by Guest Author JoeAnn Hart ~ First Published on April 13, at Coffee with Canine.
Who is in the photo?
This is a photo of me and my dog Daisy. I’m JoeAnn Hart, author of the novels Addled and Float, both of which have all sorts of animals in them, including dogs. We live in Gloucester, Massachusetts, although Daisy is from West Virginia, where she was picked up off the streets when she was around nine months old. I adopted her from Save A Dog in Sudbury, Ma. in 2010, so she’s still young. She’s a messy Cock-a-poo, with a miniature poodle dad, and a Cocker Spaniel grandmother, who slept around, so Daisy’s mom was only half Cocker Spaniel. We only know this because my sister is a vet and had Daisy’s DNA tested.
What’s the occasion for Coffee with a Canine?
I had to drop my husband’s car off to be repaired, and in exchange, he bought me a coffee at Lone Gull. Daisy came along for the ride. She loves the car and all the smells on Main Street, but she has to wear a harness when she goes anywhere with me. Her head is smaller than her neck, so a collar is just a place to hang her license.
What’s brewing?
I’m having a large light roast with milk. Hot, because it’s not ice coffee season quite yet.
Any treats for you or Daisy on this occasion?
I was tempted, because I love Lone Gull’s almond cookies, but resisted. No goodies for either of us. Daisy loves sweets but she puts on weight too easily to indulge her. She finds ways to indulge herself as it is. We think she was raised in a dumpster in the back of a bakery, because she cannot resist frosting. At Christmas we found her on the dining room table with her face in the whipped cream and gingerbread, but that was nothing compared to last summer, when the day after my son’s wedding we found her with all fours in the leftover cake. She is a very well-behaved dog except for this one strange obsession.
How did Daisy get her name? Any nicknames?
Daisy was the name that came with her from Save A Dog. For weeks we played around with other names and none of them fit quite as well. So Daisy she stayed. Sometimes we call her Sausage because of that weight issue. We don’t consider that an insult, and neither does she. It is simply her shape.
How were you and Daisy united?
I had lost my standard poodle, Annie, in 2009. She was 16 years old when she died and I was just too heartbroken to get another right away. When I was ready in the fall of 2010, I started looking at shelters across New England. I knew I wanted a rescue, but I needed a hair breed or mix because of allergies, and I wanted a medium-sized dog this time. It turns out that most dogs at shelters tend to be either very small or very large. I spent a lot of time searching near and far, but every time a candidate popped up, it was already taken by the time I contacted them. In December I decided to wait until late winter, when, unfortunately, many puppies given as Christmas presents are surrendered for adoption. Then, three days before Christmas, I got an email saying Daisy had just arrived at Save A Dog. I drove down there and I fell in love. She was exactly the dog I was looking for. We took her home the day before Christmas. 
Who are your dog’s best pet-pals?
She loves other dogs. She adores Gussie, my daughter’s Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever, but Gussie doesn’t even look at her when she visits so we can’t call her a pal. Daisy was an only dog until this summer, when my husband got a Golden Doodle puppy, Happy. It was then we realized that Daisy loved dogs, not puppies. Happy hung on her ear all day, like a large fuzzy earring. Now Happy is older and calmer, not an annoying puppy, so they are best friends. They especially like to chase squirrels around the yard together.
What is Daisy’s best quality?
Daisy has amazingly soulful eyes. She always looks as if she’s in deep sympathy with my feelings. Then again, she looks as if she is in deep sympathy with everyone’s feelings.
If Daisy could change one thing about New Englanders, what would it be?
Daisy wishes New Englanders would make more cakes with frosting and leave them unattended. She has very powerful little thighs, so leaving them on tables is just fine with her. She’ll get there.
If Hollywood made a movie about your life in which Daisy could speak, which actors should do her voice?
Jennifer Aniston. Daisy is that sweet.
If Daisy could answer only one question in English, what would you ask her?
I’d ask her what her life was like before we met. What was she doing wandering the streets of West Virginia? I know there are a lot of puppy mills there, so I sometimes think she was tossed in a dumpster when she didn’t turn out to be a perfect Cock-a-Poo. A dumpster behind a bakery.
Liv was at the MLB All Star Gala last night and shares these snapshots from her phone. She reports “…4,000 people on the Intrepid and adjacent pier…these are pix of the pier. It was so beautiful, very cool place for a party!!! The Roots played and there was even a full firework display on the Hudson.”
Thanks for sharing Liv and looks like so much fun. I love the Roots and imagine it must have been gorgeous on the Hudson at sunset!!
Cape Ann Giclee’s James Eves is creating photos from Felicia’s childhood memories for her forthcoming cookbook. Using a current photo of an updated house, the ultra-talented James has removed the contemporary fencing and younger trees and instead, he has replaced with the previous owner’s original lovely shrub hedge, flower plantings, and cheery shutters.
Whatever your heart desires–photo retouching, photo recreating, fine art photo printing, and painting reproduction needs–James Eves is THE MAN!
Filmed with iPhone 5 Super 8mm app.
Jay Ramsey (right) and crew Mauricio (left) and Mike (center)
On Tuesday, Jay Ramsey and his hard-working and dedicated crew from Farm Creek Landscaping, Mike and Mauricio, spent the morning whipping the HarborWalk Gardens into shape for Saturday’s Gloucester Garden Tour. I will be giving guided tours of the butterfly gardens at the HarborWalk on Saturday at 1:00 and at 2:00. The tours will begin under the Tulip Trees in St. Peter’s Square.
Purple Prairie Clover (Dalea purpurea)
One of the more fanciful North American wildflowers that you’ll see on the tour is the Purple Prairie Clover (Dalea purpurea), which is just beginning its florescence; typically July through August. With elegant, thread-like ferny foliage and charming one-inch flowerheads, this member of the Legume Family (Fabaceae) also adds nitrogen to the soil. The seeds of Dalea purpurea are enjoyed by many songbirds and the nectar-rich rose-purple and gold flowers are attractive to myriad species of butterflies and bees. Purple Prairie Clover grows well in average garden loom, as well as sandy soil, and it is often used for erosion control. Dalea purpurea grows a deep taproot and, once established, it is nearly impervious to drought.
Visit the Gloucester Garden Tour website for information on ticket sales.
Echinacea and Bee at the HarborWalk
Please come join me on Saturday, July 13th, at 1:00 and at 2:00, for guided tours of the butterfly gardens at the Gloucester HarborWalk. The guided tour is included in the cost of the ticket for the Gloucester Garden Tour. Please feel free to email me with any questions about the butterfly garden tour at the HarborWalk at kimsmithdesigns@hotmail.com.
One of my favorites, and in bloom now at the HarborWalk Gardens, is the stunning North American native wildflower Culver’s Root or Veronicastrum virginicum. The plant typically grows to five feet and, when in flower, creates a lovely, airy candelabrum effect. Culver’s Root prefers full sun and moist well-drained soil. When I was there checking on the gardens several days ago all manner of bees and butterflies were nectaring from the diminutive florets of the spikey racemes of the Veronicastrum.
Veronicastrum virginicum and Cabbage White Butterfly, Gloucester HarborWalk Butterfly Garden
GMG Reader Becky Edleman writes:
“Hello! I was emailing you to inquire about the monarch butterfly migration that comes through Gloucester. I recently moved to MA and was told that the butterflies migrate through that area, but have found little evidence as to when this usually occurs. After doing some googling I came across your website discussing the migrating monarchs many times. If you have any information for me as to when I should plan to come up and where to go I would really appreciate it! I love reading your articles and am eager to find out more about the migration pattern! Thank you!”
Hi Becky ~ Thanks for writing and wonderful to know you found us through a Google search! The Monarch Butterfly migration through our region is not an exact science. The “when” of the migration depends on may variables including the success of their breeding during July and August, air temperature, and wind flow. When I look back through my records, I would say, generally speaking, we have the greatest number of Monarchs migrating though Gloucester beginning around the second week of September through October 1st. The butterflies are are found in gardens and wildflower fields and meadows throughout our region. You can often see clusters near the Eastern Point Lighthouse.
Do you have space for a garden? If so, and you would like to attract the migating Monarchs to your garden, plant nectar-rich flowers that are in bloom during their migration. Seaside Goldenrod, New England Aster, and Smooth Aster are just three gorgeous Massachusetts native wildflowers that will attract the Monarchs to your garden.
I hope you’ll stop by the dock and get a GMG sticker when you are visiting!
GMG received the following call for help from Diane Lapin this morning. If anyone living on Langsford Pond can help Diane, please leave a comment in the comment section and I will email you Diane’s phone number. Thank you!!!
Joey,
Kim Smith’s post on the Eastern Painted Turtle is quite timely. I have a request for help from GMG.Last fall, while renovating an area of lawn that I had torn up in the spring, but never got to finishing, we accidently dug up a clutch (??) of baby painted turtles, destroying their nest.
Long story … they have been cared for a wild life rehabilitator in New Hampshire and are now ready to be released.
My neighborhood is heavily wooded and fairly large, but Langsford Pond is the pond the mother came from. It is through the woods behind my house and difficult to traverse from here.
The 5 surviving turtles are ready to be released and I need access to the pond (near a reedy part for their protection) for their release. Chris, the wildlife rehabilitator from NH will be releasing them.
I know a lot of people in our ‘hood read your blog, so perhaps someone will have and be able to provide that access to us to return the babies home?
The release will be on Friday or Saturday of this week (still awaiting finalization).
As per law, the turtles must be returned to Mass and to the body of water they came from.
Perhaps a helpful GMG reader can help us secure a accessible location with lots of reeds to return the little one’s back to their home?
Warm regards,
Diane M. Lapine
Award winning and best selling author Judy Blume is appearing tonight at Cape Ann Community Cinema. See for more information see: Judy Blume at Cape Ann Community Cinema Monday Night!!!
Since her first novel was published in 1969, Judy Blume has written nearly thirty more books, appealing to children (“Freckle Juice”), teens (“Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret.”), and adults (“Summer Sisters”) and varying widely in the topics she so smartly covered with them. However, none has made the trip to the big screen, until now. Blume’s 1981 novel “Tiger Eyes,” about a teenage girl named Davey who is transplanted into a New Mexico mountain town after the sudden loss of her father, is the first, and is now in theaters. But why such a long wait for a Judy Blume movie, and why this one, and why now? Lawrence Blume, Judy’s son––and the director of the film––had some answers to these and other questions that her legions of fans want to know.
“Many producers have pondered adapting ‘Tiger Eyes’ over the years,” the junior Blume told North Shore Movies. “There were some false starts, and some things that didn’t work out.”
If things had worked out, Blume may not have been able to realize his dual dreams of adapting the book himself (he read all of them either in process or as they were released) and working with his mother on producing that adaptation.
“Making a film out of the book is something I’ve wanted to do since I read it in high school,” Blume says of the project. “The timing is perfect, and the deal was hard to resist. Yes, we had to make-do with a tiny budget [from a European producer] and just 23 days in which to shoot, but we had full creative control.”
For some, working on such an important project with one’s mother would be a situation far from ideal, but for Blume, it was just the opposite.
“The collaboration was joyful,” he says. “She is an unbelievably fertile artist, and it was amazing to have her to collaborate with. She was with me for nearly every shot, next to me in the director’s chair. It was incredible to be able to turn to her after a shot and say ‘This is the direction I’m going with Willa [Holland, who plays Davey], to have her there, saying ‘yes,’ ‘no,’ or ‘you are going off the rails.’ Directing is lonely, so to have someone who knows the story as intimately or more so was great.”
To read Rob Newton’s full interview from online NorthSHoreMovies ~
The female Eastern Painted Turtle (Chrysemys picta) deposits her eggs in a hole, or nest, which she has excavated with her hind legs. She lays between three and 14 eggs. Depending on soil and air temperatures, the eggs incubate unattended in the soil for six to twelve weeks. Sex of the hatchlings is determined by the temperatures the eggs were exposed to in the nest. Warmer temperatures produce females. Cooler temperatures produce males. Some eggs are deposited close to the surface and others are laid first and are deeper in the soil. The slight differences in position in the nest produce enough variances in temperature to ensure that both males and females are produced from the same nest.
Filmed in Gloucester, Massachusetts, June 2013 with Fujifilm XE-1.
The Gentle Rain ~ Song by Astrud Gilberto
Judy Blume, award winning and best selling author (Are You There God? It’s Me Margaret) is appearing Monday night at Cape Ann Community Cinema to introduce Tiger Eyes, followed by a Q & A.
Have you checked out our plans to upgrade upon the successful completion of our Indiegogo campaign? With 2 weeks to go, we have reached 25% of our $30,000 goal, and we really need your help in getting the rest of the way. We are not rich Hollywood stars who would rather tap their fans than reach into their own pockets to see a project through. We are just crazy kids with a dream, one which we hope you are enjoying, too. Check out what we’re raising money for, and how you can help. Your donation to this essential campaign is tax-deductible, and we have a dozen different thank-you gifts, ranging from bumper stickers to private movie parties to complimentary admission to the Cinema for a whole year. The full menu of premiums is listed on our Indiegogo page. This campaign ends July 22nd, and if we reach our goal, we can be up-and-running with the new gear just after Labor Day.
Again, the full inventory of our needs and plans can be found onour Indiegogo page. This campaign ends on July 22nd.
If you haven’t bought your tickets to see best-selling author Judy Blume come present “Tiger Eyes” (the first big-screen adaptation of one of her books) on Monday, July 8th at 7:30pm, please do it soon. She will host a Q&A after the movie. You can read my interview with her son, Lawrence (the film’s writer, director, and producer) here. Order your tickets (while we still have some) atwww.CapeAnnCinema.com.
Thanks again––and see you at the movies!
Newly Emerged Male Black Swallowtail Butterfly
Thanks to Kate and the team at Wolf Hill for giving me a second Black Swallowtail caterpillar of the season. And, as I was getting ready to discard the parsley plant from the first caterpillar they had found at the garden center earlier in May, I discovered yet a third caterpillar.
Chrysalis #2 eclosed yesterday in the early morning hours. The butterfly in the photo above is newly emerged, so much so that you can see its abdomen is still swollen with fluids as it is expelling a drop. After first drying his wings on the zinnias, he flew off in search of nectar and a mate. I just can’t thank you enough Kate, and everyone at Wolf Hill who is taking an interest in the caterpillars!
Male Black Swallowtail Butterfly and Zinnia
Nicky Avelis captures the flag for the third year in a row. Avelis dedicated his win to family friend and St. Peter’s Fiesta legend Sleepy Pallazolla.
Congratulations Nicky!
I love filming this event for several reasons; to capture the camaraderie and the hilarity, and mostly because of the the true grit and determined spirits of the Greasy Pole Walkers. It takes tremendous courage to walk and to keep trying. To all the Greasy Pole Walkers–may you all experience the glory of a win!
We hope you can join us and please help spread the word. The funds raised will go directly towards maintaining the Fishermen’s Wives Memorial and Gardens and the butterfly gardens at the HarborWalk. The tour is hosted by GenerousGardeners and the Harvard Club of the North Shore. I am going to be at the HarborWalk Gardens throughout the day to answer all your habitat gardening questions. And I will be giving two guided tours, the first at 1:00 and again at 2:00.
Today is the last day you can purchase tickets at the 20.00 price. Tomorrow they go up to 25.00. For the first 50 ticket holders, free parking at Stage Fort Park is included.
Female Ruby-throated Hummingbird ~ Susan Kelly Photo
Susan shares this photo of a female Ruby-throated Hummingbird that frequents her garden. If you want female hummingbirds to choose your garden to build their nests nearby, I recommend putting your hummingbird feeders out early, in March and April. Northward migrating hummingbirds are in need of nourishment by they time they reach our shores. Their diet consist primarily of small insects; there are few insects on the wing and even fewer nectar plants blooming. I place my hummingbird feeders above early blooming Red Riding Hood Tulips. Although the tulips do not provide nectar, the red flowers lure them to the hummingbird feeders.
A note about hummingbird feeders. Never add red food coloring or use honey to sweeten the water. To make your own sugar solution, combine 1 part pure granulated sugar to 4 parts water. Clean you hummingbird feeders weekly with a 50/50 combination of vinegar and water; more frequently in warm weather.
Good Morning Gloucester 