Get Ready for Spring!

Cincinnati Country Club Cherry blossoms ©Kim Smith 2013

Cherry Blossoms

Cincinnati is typically about a week and a half to two weeks ahead of us in spring bloom power.

Cincinnati Country Club - ©Kim Smith 2013

This past weekend my dear sister-in-law, Amy, remarried a super great guy, Arnold. The reception was held at the Cincinnati Country Club where we also stayed for several nights.

Cincinnati Country Club dining room ©Kim Smith 2013

Cincinnati Country Club Dennis Buttleworth ©Kim Smith 2013 copyCincinnati Country Club ©Kim Smith 2013Cincinnati Country Club Magnolia stellata ©Kim Smith 2013Star Magnolia (Magnolia stellata)

The early spring flowering trees were in full glorious bloom, including hawthorns, magnolias, and cherry trees, and all looked luxuriously lush and brilliantly fresh–

Get Ready!

Cincinnati Country Club Liv and Alex Hauck ©Kim Smith 2013Liv and Alex

Boston Marathon Terrorist Attack

Yesterday afternoon we were at the Cincinnati airport returning to Boston when we heard the initial report of the bombings at the marathon finish line. It’s difficult to put into words the anger and sickening feelings one experiences upon seeing a beloved city under attack and especially the marathon event, which brings an international crowd of participants and cheerers-on.

The marathon is cherished by Bostonians and it shines a world-wide spotlight on their beautiful city during the celebration of this oldest of annual marathons. The Boston Marathon is a tremendous source of pride for our state and for our nation. Immediately your heart goes out to the victims and their families. You see featured on the news extraordinary acts of bravery and kindness in people helping people. But then you begin to think about future public events and the larger implications on our freedom-loving society.

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Acts of terror, whether domestic or international, are designed to forever imprint fear. We were unable to attend the marathon this year as my widowed sister-in-law remarried over the weekend, but I know where I will be next year.

After both September 11th and the marathon bombings, students at MIT illuminated the Green Building in red, white, and blue.

The Ciaramitaro-Mohan Family

Lastly in my thanks for the Saint Joseph film project assistance goes to the beautiful Ciaramitaro-Mohan Family. Felicia and I have been working on this project together since its inception and I can only say that she is the most talented, sweetest, funnest (and funniest), smartest, and best organized friend and partner in a project that anyone could ever hope for.

Ciaramitaro Family and Friends St. Joseph 2013

Her home is always filled to the brim with family and friends, light, laughter, and love. To Felicia, Barry, Pat, Amanda, BJ, Joey, all Ciaramitaro cousins, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, and best friends, thank you from the bottom of my heart for sharing your beautiful Saint Joseph novena and feast. I hope you will find as much joy in, as I have found in the making of, the Feast of Saint Joseph film. xo

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_DSF8666Felicia and Christie

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Amanda and Felicia

Willowdale Estate is the Perfect Place to Hold Your Bridal Shower!


Willowdale Estate ©Kim Smith 2013

Spring is Springing at Willowdale 

Briar Forsythe, proprietor of Willowdale Estate, and her staff, threw a lovely bridal shower for Audi Lane. Audi works at Willowdale and is getting married this weekend to Gloucester’s Peter Sousa, the sea shanty singer.

Audi Lane Willowdale Estate ©Kim Smith 2013

Willowdale Estate Conservatory ©Kim Smith 2013

The light in the conservatory is stunning all year round and provides an elegant setting for any type of private event.

Deserts Willowdale Estate ©Kim Smith 2013JPG

The luncheon was to die for and the deserts, well, I think the photo tells the story. The chocolate mousse was heavenly!!!

Chocolate mousse Willowdale Estate ©Kim Smith 2013Willowdale Estate Mousse au Chocolat

Jewish Response to Homosexuality and Gender Diversity

Thursday, April 18th at 7 pm at the Temple Ahavat Achim (86 Middle St., Gloucester)

Did you know that the Torah says the first human being was androgynous? Did you know that there are six different genders mentioned in sacred Jewish texts?

Come learn about the multifarious responses to homosexuality and gender diversity in Jewish tradition. Learn how we can become more aware and inclusive to gay and transgender people in our community.

The Jewish Response To… series is a collaborative program that TAA has joined with Temple B’nai Abraham and Beth Shalom.

Sargent House Museum Presents “Ornaments of the Mind” April 14 at 2pm

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Sargent House Museum
Presents: “Ornaments of the Mind: Needlework and a New England Girl’s Education”
49 Middle St., Gloucester
Sunday, April 14, 2013 at 2PM
Laura Johnson, Associate Curator of Historic New England, will present a lecture on “female academies” of the early 19th century founded by women like Judith Sargent Murray, Judith Saunders and Clementina Beach.  Girls learned the “useful and ornamental arts” of reading, writing, and arithmetic as well as painting in oils and watercolors on fancy surfaces and plain and fancy needlework.
The Sargent House Museum recently acquired an excellent example of this fancy needlework, presented to Nancy Parsons Sargent by her nieces Anna Williams and Julia Maria Murray, Judith Sargent Murray’s only child.  The work depicts Cornelia, a model of what the Romans called “civic” motherhood, with her children, exclaiming that they were her real treasures.  Judith Sargent Murray, a product of the Enlightenment, and the American Revolution, was one of the first writers to extoll the virtues of “republican motherhood,” the practice of mothers teaching their children the new ideals and values of the early American republic.  The needlework was handed down through the Sargent family and donated by Virginia Pleasants.  Her niece will discuss the Sargent family connections.
The public is welcome at the lecture and at the public unveiling and installation of the piece that will follow.
A free will donation is suggested; members will be admitted free of charge.


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Nina and Frank Groppo Family

Many, many thanks and our deepest appreciation to the Frank and Nina Groppo Family for agreeing to be interviewed and for allowing us to film their beautiful St. Joseph celebrations. While interviewing and during the feast, their wonderful home was overflowing with family and friends, joy and grace. Thank you Groppo Family and Friends!

Nina writes:
Thank you so much for taking the time to do this – we appreciate yours and everyone’s devotion and faith to Saint Joseph.
We hope to continue with this devotion and tradition for as long as Saint Joseph and the good Lord give us the strength to do it and send us the help to do it – not just for us but for all that join in this beautiful tradition of faith, whether for just one day or for the full Novena!!

Groppo Family Feast of St. Joseph Altar©Kim Smith 2013Left to right back row: Vincenza Ferrara, Kathy Pratl, and Francesco Groppo.

Left to right front row: Eleonora D’Angelo, Angela Sanfilippo, Agata Groppo, Fina Briguglio, and Maria Sanfilippo.

and Nina “Crocetta” Groppo sitting on Agata’s lap.

Click portrait to view full size image.

Before and After Scenes of Destruction at Digital Dogtown Project

ImageAlan Davis at his Eagle Scout Court of Honor last Sunday, receiving a commendation from State Senator Bruce Tarr on behalf of the Mass General Assembly

Roger LaRae Davis write,

“First, thanks for the blog last month on Alan Davis’s Digital Dogtown project.  He received his Eagle Scout award this past Sunday at the Troop 112 Court of Honor.

Just a couple of days later the Boston Globe and  Gloucester Daily Times reported on the vandalism of the Eagle Scout project in Dogtown.  Interviews of Alan appeared on the three tv network news programs, as well as WBZ radio.”
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According to the Boston Globe article, “Noel Mann, a member of Gloucester’s Open Space and Recreation Commission, said that many people in the area don’t want the Dogtown trails flooded with tourists. “[Trail guideposts] have been consistently vandalized for the last 20 years, maybe longer,” she said. “We would love to know who is doing this but nobody does.”
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Roger continues, “There has been a tremendous outpouring of community support and offers of assistance for the repair of the project, with offers of ideas, money, materials and labor.  We really hope that with all this publicity, the community can take ownership of this project, so that it becomes more than just Alan’s project, but Gloucester’s project.”

For any questions, please call Roger at 978-559-1190 or email Alan at digital.dogtown@gmail.com.

 

Jason Grow adds, “I’d like to see if our community could rally and help Alan Davis rebuild his “Digital Dogtown” project…Some money, some volunteerism, some materials donations? I’ve got a call into his father, O’Maley Middle School science teacher Roger Davis, to see what this would cost and what would be needed to help Alan replace his project. If you’d like to help out, let me know; send an email to jasongrow@comcast.net and I’ll see what, if anything, we can do. It would be terrific if we could, as a community, show the knuckleheads who did this that stupidity doesn’t win.”

IMG_2217-2One of the posts still in good condition, showing the map and QR code.

IMG_2198One post with its map and QR code ripped off.

IMG_2055Alan next to a post after it was put in place last Fall.  This post links to a web page explaining the role of the forest as a filter for the watershed feeding the city’s water supply in Babson Reservoir.  

IMG_2241This is all that is left of that post.

IMG_0994Eagle Scout Zach Schultz helping to install a post.

IMG_0947Alan next to the post near the “Spiritual Power” boulder.  This post linked to a biography of Roger Babson, the author of the motto stones in Dogtown and the Gloucester philanthropist who donated the Dogtown watershed land to the city for its reservoir.  This post is now gone, disappeared.

IMG_2051Alan (second from left) and fellow scouts of Gloucester’s Troop 112 with the post installed at Whale’s Jaw.  From left, Todd and Noah Tierney, Alan Davis, Craig Renales, and Jeb Hogan.

IMG_2189The same scene at Whale’s Jaw now, with only a stick left in the hole where the post was removed, apparently burnt.

IMG_2188Notice the burnt log and burnt grass near the hole at Whale’s Jaw.

IMG_0945A Dogtown hiker scanning the QR code from the post set at the Dogtown entrance, 45 minutes after the post was installed.

IMG_2234The post at the entrance parking area, apparently broken off by a car or truck.  The splintered remains of the post have since been removed entirely, leaving only a hole in the ground.

IMG_0517Scouts and leaders installing the last post.  This post has now been broken up.  From left, Todd Tierney, Wayne Moulton, Tyrell Moulton, Roger Davis (holding the post), Alan Davis (behind his father), Dave Wheeler, Jeb Hogan, Craig Renales and Noah Tierney.

All images courtesy of Roger LaRae Davis.

Winners of the GMG/FOB Cape Ann Giclee Gift Certificates

Congratulations to everyone who won a certificate gift and to everyone who participated. Looking forward to the next GMG/FOB show! Don’t forget to check out Charlie Carroll’s work at Cape Ann Giclee. The opening reception is this Friday, April 12, from 5 to 9.

Hi Joey,

Hope you are having fun in Florida which I am sure you are.

We have tallied the votes for the Good Morning Gloucester FOB show that we had here at Cape Ann Giclee and we have a list of the winners! 92 people voted and here are the results:

1st Place – Joey C – $100 gift certificate to CAG
2nd Place – it’s a tie! – Craig Kimberley and Carol McKenna – $50 gift certificates to CAG
3rd place – another tie! – Len Burgess and Thom Falzarano – $25 gift certificates to CAG

Craig and Joey GMG-Cape Ann Giclee ©Kim Smith 2013
Thanks to all who came and saw the artwork and voted and those who bought prints as well! We are in the process of hanging another show for photographer Charlie Carroll. That one man show opens this Friday at our studio 20 Maplewood Ave. The opening reception is Friday from 5 – 9 pm; all are welcome to attend!

Thanks,

Anna and James Eaves


Lecture Tonight at the Seaside Garden Club

Lecture Tonight at 7:30 at the Manchester Community Center: Oh Garden of Fresh Possibilities! ~ Notes from a Gloucester Garden.

Cabbage White Butterflies mating in Cornus florida ©Kim Smith 2009

Cabbage White Butterflies Mating in the Native Flowering Dogwood Foliage 

The lecture tonight is based on the book of the same name, which I wrote and illustrated. In it I reveal how to create the framework, a living tapestry of flora, fauna, and fragrance that establishes the soul of the garden. Using a selection of plant material that eliminates the need for pesticides and herbicides, and guided by the plants forms, hues, and horticultural demands, we discuss how to create a succession of blooms from April through November. This presentation is as much about how to visualize your garden, as it is about particular trees, shrubs, vines, perennials, and annuals. Illuminated with photographs, and citing poetry and quotations from Eastern and Western cultural influences, this presentation engages with an artist’s eye while drawing from practical experience.

For a complete lit of my 2013 – 2014 programs and workshops, visit the Programs and Lectures page of my blog.

Cecropia Moth ©Kim Smith 20009

The Cecropia Moth, or Robin Moth (Hyalophora cecropia) is the largest moth found in North America, with a wingspan of up to six inches. He is perched on the foliage of our beautiful native Magnolia virginiana (Sweetbay Magnolia), one of several of the caterpillar’s food plants. You can tell that he is a male because he has large, feathery antennae, or plumos, the better for detecting scent hormones released by the female. This photo was taken in our garden in early June.

The Manchester Community Center is located at 40 Harbor Point, Manchester.

Gloucester Mill Pond Earth Day Cleanup Saturday April 13th

In support of the City of Gloucester’s Earth Day activities, NOAA Fisheries is sponsoring the volunteer cleanup of the upper section of the Mill River between 8 – 10 am on Saturday, April 13th.    The 30 acre upper section of the Mill River was collaboratively restored in 2011 by the City of Gloucester, NOAA Fisheries  and a host of other project partners, in part to restore habitat for the fish that provide the basis of the food chain for fish stocks that are important to Gloucester’s commercial fisheries.   Anyone who wants to learn more about this project and pitch in a little volunteer time to further the recovery of this important estuary please meet at the tide gate located at approximately 400 Washington Street anytime between 8 – 10 am.  Wear shoes that can get muddy.  The city of Gloucester will provide bags.  Bring a 5 gallon bucket if you have one.  For more information please contact Eric Hutchins at 978-281-9313.

Eastern Point Culvert Restoration ©Kim Smith 2010

Ed. Note: Eric Hutchins and his organization were also the group responsible for the restoration of the culvert at the Eastern Point Lighthouse.

Shout Out to Professor Gandhi

So many, many thanks to my former botany professor, Dr. Kanchi Gandhi, who sent my BomBom Butterflies video to many of his colleagues, friends, and students. My video is getting a growing number of hits in India! I loved every second of Doctor Gandhi’s class and wished often I could be his full time student. Professor Gandhi’s classes are held at the Harvard University Herbaria, with more than 5 million plant specimens. Along with its library, the Herbaria forms the world’s largest university owned herbarium.

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Doctor Gandhi’s interests are in the areas of plant nomenclature, plant morphology, and plant taxonomy. He is currently working on the International Plant Name Index, the HUH lookup tables, and Flora of North America project. In 2010 he was awarded the American Society of Plant Taxonomist Distinguished Service Award, which is only given occasionally and reserved for individuals who have made exceptional efforts for ASPT or the plant-systematics community in general.

Kanchi Gandhi ASPT presentation

India is a country rich in flora and many species of butterlies. A beautiful Indian butterfly we on Cape Ann may find particularly interesting is the Blue Tiger Butterfly (Tirumala limniace).

Blue Tiger Butterfly Tirumala limniace

It bears a striking resemblance to our Monarch Butterfly (both members of Nymphalidae, sub-family Danainae, or Brush-foot Family of butterflies) with the clearly defined mitten-shaped cell on the underside of the hindwing. And like our Monarch caterpillars, Blue Tiger caterpillars generally feed on the milkweed family of plants (Asclepiadaceae). Another similarity is that the Blue Tiger migrates through Southern India, although the distance traveled is not quite as long as that of the Monarchs.

Images Courtesy Google Image Search

Adorable Zoë Annabelle Newton

Zoë Annabelle

Yesterday I stopped by to see Rob Newton at Cape Ann Community Cinema to talk about the premier of my film. I asked him if he minded if we shared this photo on GMG of his baby daughter Zoë Annabelle–he said something about ET–but I think she is just adorable! 

Renate’s Red Fox Kit Photos from Several Years Ago

Renate's Back Yard

GMG Reader Renate writes: “I am writing to you today to tell you that I also noticed the absence of foxes in the past two years. We live out near Wingaersheek Beach and we used to see the foxes crossing the big meadow, that is used for parking in the summer and we even had a fox walk up our driveway, with a dead bunny in his mouth, to go behind our neighbors property, where she had young ones waiting for food, I am sure. I woke up a couple of nights ago to the screaming of coyotes (it is probably mating season), not a pleasant sound. A couple of years ago, we had a coyote leave her young ones behind our house to go hunting for food and I was able to take a couple of pictures. I am attaching one for you to see if these were in fact young coyotes. Some people think they are foxes, but I think they are too big in the legs. What do you think?”

Renate, I believe these are Red Fox kits. Thank you for sharing and sending the photos!

Grace Brancaleone Family

With much thanks and appreciation to Grace Brancaleone and Family for sharing thier stories and traditions for the St. Joseph film project.

©Kim Smith 2013

Front Row ~ Grace, Rosanne, Phyllis, and Grace; Back Row ~ Caleb, Cameron, Heather, Aaron, Paul, and Jim