My View of Life on the Dock
The first day of true spring isn’t until March 20th, but the blue, blue sky, Robins and their bird songs, and warming temperature sure made it feel like spring. There was a large flock today, feeding on fruits still remaining, and they were also busy in the leaf litter flipping dirt and looking for worms.
American Robin eating Staghorn Sumac berries.
Whenever I’m out doing errands, if time allows, I try to take the “long” way around. The sun was beginning to shine through the storm clouds while the snow was still falling when I stopped to capture the beautiful shadowy and pale lavender-gray hues at Stage Fort Park. The pretty grays lasted only a few moments, but I was so glad to have taken the long way.
Michelle Barton and Chris Anderson shepherded this little seabird back to the water after it was seen blown into a telephone pole and onto the ground. Many thanks to Chris and Michelle for taking care of the Arctic voyager and for sharing their photos..
Just like the Razorbill spotted earlier in the month, Thick-billed Murres are members of the Auk family. They are deep sea divers and seen off the coast of New England during the winter months. Thick-billed Murres are occasionally blown onto shore during intense storms.
I read that Thick-billed Murres have very pointy eggs and wanted to see what one looked like. Don’t you think they are beautiful? I love the shape, and patterns. Image courtesy Audubon.
Thank you Community for seeing the wisdom in these changes and for giving voice to these tiny endangered birds.
Last night’s Council vote a was win for our Good Harbor Beach Piping Plovers and a win for all the citizens of Gloucester. There was a tremendous turnout by the Piping Plover volunteers and friends, as well as an impressive number of letters written to the Councilors in favor of the changes to the ordinance. The combination of the two spoke volumes and definitely tipped the scales in favor of the Plovers.
Read more here:
EXCITING AND IMPACTFUL NEWS FOR OUR GOOD HARBOR BEACH PIPING PLOVERS
WHAT EXACTLY ARE THE CHANGES TO THE ANIMAL ORDINANCES CITY COUNCIL VOTED ON LAST NIGHT?
My husband Tom and I had the most unexpectedly wonderful and fantastic dining experience last Saturday night. We have our very favorite Cape Ann restaurants (that we adore), but were wanting to try something new. The menu posted online at Allie’s Beach Street Cafe, located in Manchester, looked very French and very inviting, so we gave it a try. It’s not everyday you discover a restaurant that hits all the right notes and we were beyond delighted. So much so, we are returning tomorrow!
Allie and Glenn Varga
Readers may recognize Allie. She has owned and operated Pleasant Street Tea company for over a decade. Husband Glenn has been a sommelier and server at the Four Seasons for more than nineteen years. Both are wonderfully welcoming towards guests, and the waitstaff are just as friendly.
Manchester’s former Beach Street Cafe has been transformed, with chic, Provencal-inspired decor. Sunlight pours through big picture windows warming the white-washed walls and wide-planked wooden floors. The dining room feels relaxed, fun, and elegant, all at the same time. Primarily a classic French bistro, the menu also features dishes from around the world where French cooking has been highly influential, including Louisiana Creole, French Caribbean, Southeast Asia, and North Africa.
The most amazing thing is, Allie’s is open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, as well as Saturday and Sunday brunch, all day! And, too, you can stop in casually for specialty drinks, coffee, pastries, or order from their online menu.
We happened in on a ‘Three Course Tasting,’ night, which takes place every Friday and Saturday evening. You can either order from the menu or partake in the tasting. Tom had the Weiner Schnitzel from the menu and Loved it. I tried the ‘Tasting’ offering and it was simply fabulous.
The first course was a sublime mixture of duxelles and goat cheese served in a puff pastry shell. In between courses, Glenn brought out a zippy sizzling hot pan of Shishito peppers. What a treat! Next course served was the fresh and warm baby spinach salad, dressed with a super tasty bacon balsamic vinaigrette. The final course was a perfectly cooked and tender medium rare steak, served with yummy truffle fries and a lovely arugula salad. We were waaaaay toooo filled to try dessert, but I did catch a photo of a gorgeous blackberry ombre layer cake, topped with blueberry compote, and it looked WOW!
I wasn’t expecting to take any photos and plan to return during the day with my real camera, but here are some cell phone snaps to give you an idea.
Allie’s Beach Street Cafe Hours
Monday 6:30am to 3pm
Tuesday 6:30am to 3pm
Wednesday 6:30 to 9pm
Thursday 6:30 to 9pm
Friday 6:30 to 9pm
Saturday 8am to 9pm
Sunday 8am to 3pm
The menu changes seasonally and the following are the current postings.
Croque Madame*: Grilled ham and swiss topped with a fried egg and bechamel $7
Bacon, Egg and Cheese Sandwich*: on an english muffin or bulkie $5.5
Quiche Du Jour*: made fresh daily $8
Ful Mudammas*: chickpeas fritters, marrakesh harissa, eggs in a wrap $7.5
Breakfast Burrito*: eggs, black beans, salsa, and rice in a wheat wrap $6.5
Pancakes or Waffles: with nutella & whip cream or maple syrup $8
Smoked Salmon* on a bagel with herb cream cheese $10
Monte Cristo: Fried Belgian Waffle stuffed with ham, cheese, turkey and jalapeno jam $9
Stuffed French Toast* : Banana & Nutella or Sweet Cream & Berries $8
Eggs Benedict*: two poached eggs served on english muffin with fresh hollandaise and herb potato
choices: ham $12, florentine $12, avocado $13, smoked salmon $14,
Avocado Toast: Texas Toast w/ Avocado, pickled onions, pico de gallo, chimichurri $8
Jardin: “garden”: shallots, herbs, veggies and swiss cheese
Petit Cochon: “little pig” bacon, ham and sausage peppers onions and cheddar
Champignon: “mushroom” truffled mushrooms, herbs, and goat cheese
Fumee du Mer: “Sea Smoke” smoked salmon, capers, chives, and boursin cheese
Grecque: “Greek” spinach, peppers,onion, olives, feta and, oregano
Le Duc: “John Wayne” ham, peppers,onions, and of course American cheese
Cinnamon Roll $3.75
Scone w/ clotted cream $3.5
Plain Croissant $3
Chocolate Croissant $3.5
Two Eggs any style $5
Side bacon, ham, or sausage $3
½ Avocado $3
Oatmeal your way $7
Side Toast $2: Brioche, white, wheat, marble rye, english Muffin / Gluten free toast $3
Smoothie $6
French Onion Soup: Steaming hot sweet onions in a rich broth loaded with cheese $7
Poisson Rouge: (Redfish Soup) local haddock & vegetables in a lightly spiced tomato broth $8
Seasonal Greens: Fresh greens, roasted root veg, and pumpkin seeds Winter citrus vinaigrette $8
Arugula: Peppery rocket greens, shaved Parmesan, and lemon zest $9
Butter Lettuce Wedge: Great Hill Blue, Applewood Bacon, egg, sunflower seeds, Fig glaze $14
Ancient Grains: Quinoa, Heirloom rices and grains(gluten free) with greens and harissa dressing $9
Caesar: Kale tossed in Chef’s caesar dressing with garlic croutons $10
Add on to any Salad: Falafel $4, Chicken Salad $4, 2 Eggs* $4 Sirloin Tips $7 Beach Street Lobster Salad $15
Croque Madame*:Grilled Ham and Swiss Topped with a fried egg and Bechamel $9
Crispy Fish: Tempura battered fish with wasabi mayo and coleslaw $12
Veggie Quinoa Wrap: Hummus, veggies, and whole grains, in a wheat wrap $8
Vegetarian Sweet Potato BBQ : Vegetarian BBQ Sweet Potato on a Bulkie $7.5
Smoked Salmon Plate :Toasted Bagel w/ Avocado, Hard Boiled Egg, Onions, Cucumbers, Capers $13
Beach Street Smashburger*: 60z ground chuck on a bulkie with secret sauce#5 & pickled veg $8.5
Chicken Banh Mi: Cilantro Veggie slaw on a baguette with chicken $9.5 or Lobster $22
Ham & Swiss: Black Forest Ham piled high on rye w/ horseradish Dijon $7.5
Beach Street Club: Turkey, bacon, lettuce, and tomato on thick sliced Brioche $12
Falafel Shawarma: Falafel with Tzatziki, mix greens, and harissa in a grilled wrap $9.5
Burrito all the Way: Chicken with beans, rice, cheddar, pico de gallo. Do you like it hot or mild ? $9
Philly Cheese Steak*: Shaved Sirloin, Mushrooms, Onions, & yes, cheese wiz 🙂 $12.50
Turkey & Pesto: w/ prosciutto, arugula, pickled onions & provolone served on Italian Bread $9
Add on to any Sandwich: Mixed Veggies $4 , Falafel $4, Chicken $4, 2 Hard Boiled Eggs $4, Smoked Salmon $4
All sandwiches & wraps served with Chips or Cilantro Veg Slaw. Add fries $4 Soup du Jour $3 Salad $4 Cilantro Veg Slaw $3
Allie’s is located at 35 Beach Street in Manchester-by-the-Sea
For reservations, call 978-704-9571
Dogs shall be prohibited from Good Harbor Beach from 4/1 -9/30. Off leash remains on even days of month during season.
Dogs prohibited from Wingarsheek from 5/1 – 9/30 (no amendments to this) Off leash remains on odd days during season.
Sunset clause unless renewed or made permanent by the CC and signed by the Mayor, the provisions of this section shall expire on 12/31/19
Fines of $300 per violation will be double in season for beaches and other off leash areas as determined
Feeding or disturbing wildlife violation shall be subject to a $300 fine per incident/violation
Feeding coyotes directly or indirectly on any public or private property violations shall be subject a $300 fine per incident/violation
Endangered/threatened wildlife buffer zone- buffer zone of 50 feet around an area will be established around an area designated for wildlife. Prohibited activities in the buffer zone include whiffle ball, frisbee, soccer, volleyball, paddle ball, kites, inflatable balls, and any other activities that involve objects that can fly or roll into the restricted area. Violation shall be subject to a $300 fine per incident/violation.
No person shall throw, drop, release or otherwise dispose of directly or indirectly into any Harbor, River, or pond or on any beach or any public property garbage, refuse, rubbish, bottles, cans, containers, paper, cigarette butts, balloons, wrapping material, glass, filth or any noxious or dangerous liquid or solid. Violation shall be subject to a $300 fine per incident/violation.
This ordinance becomes effective 31 days from passage.
Satellite Beach is south of Cape Canaveral on Florida’s East Coast. I hope the two will be passing through Cape Ann waters on their migration northward!
VIDEOGRAPHER RYAN CLAPPER WRITES, “A North Atlantic right whale and her calf. Filmed 2/24/19 AT Satellite Beach. Zoomed in and cropped footage. The mom and her calf played for a while until a boat scared them away. This video has been shared with the FWC.”
IMAGE OF RIGHT WHALE AND CALF COURTESY WIKICOMMONS MEDIA
Poster by Meadow Anderson
CAPE ANN SYMPHONY
THE 67th SEASON
Yoichi Udagawa, Music Director
CAPE ANN SYMPHONY CONTINUES 67th SEASON WITH
BRADSHAW, BEETHOVEN, MOZART&BASS
in
MANCHESTER
Cape Ann Symphony continues the orchestra’s 67th Concert Season on Sunday, March 24 at 2:00 pm at the Manchester-Essex High School Auditorium on 36 Lincoln Street in Manchester-by-the-Sea, MA with Bradshaw, Beethoven, Mozart & Bass featuring Gloucester-based composer Robert J. Bradshaw’s Norman’s Woe and the CAS debut of guest artist pianist Jonathan Bass playing Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 21. Bradshaw’s Norman’s Woe is inspired by the well-known Cape Ann Reef, immortalized inLongfellow’s poem Wreck of the Hesperus. Renowned virtuoso piano soloist Jonathan Bass gave his New York debut at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Hall as the first-prize winner of the 1993 Joanna Hodges International Piano Competition. He appears frequently throughout the United States including with the Boston Pops at Symphony Hall, China, Japan, Israel, Poland, Spain and Russia. The concert program also includes the orchestra playing Beethoven’s Symphony No. 2. For tickets and information, call 978-281-0543 or visit www.capeannsymphony.org.
GLOUCESTER’S PIPING PLOVERS NEED YOUR HELP TUESDAY NIGHT
HOW DO GLOUCESTER’S DOGS ON BEACHES ORDINANCES COMPARE TO OTHER NORTH SHORE COMMUNITIES
LIST OF ARTICLES AND LINKS THAT EXPLAIN HOW DOG DISRUPTIONS HARM PIPING PLOVERS
Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) prohibits dogs on beaches from April 1st to September 30th
Piping Plover nest in the Good Harbor Beach parking lot.
This beautiful Snowy Owl female was left alone for the better part of a frigid and blustery morning. Although Snowies are covered in feathers from head to toe, during very cold weather they try to find perches low to the ground and blocked from the wind.
Snowy with her feathers fluffed for warmth
Morning foot bath
A cell phone photographer made her flush three times over a ten minute period before she gave up and left the beach.
Snowies don’t want to be disturbed and fly when they are resting on the beach. Flying makes them use up precious energy. It’s not just cell phone photographers that are harming the Snowies. Recently I watched from an adjacent road as a group of photographers with telephoto lenses chased a Snow Owl up and down a beach. The Snowy flew away and departed the area.
Snowy Owls that are visiting our shores are, for the most part, young and relatively new at hunting, are in unfamiliar territory, and basically just need to rest and conserve energy when they are not hunting.
Please respect our Snowies ❤
Snowy Owls love both rocky beaches and the tundra-like terrain of sandy beaches, because both are similar habitats found in their Arctic breeding and hunting grounds. And, too, look how well disguised is the Snowy in the photo above.
A few more creatures found on the beach that morning, including Surf Scoters, and a Snow Bunting flying very near to the Snowy.
GMGI conference ‘room with a view.’
Friday morning, ahead of the first of many public open houses to be held at the Gloucester Marine Genomics Institute, we taped our weekly podcast in the conference room at the stunning new science center. Ashley Destino, development and communications director, gave us a grand tour of the labs, as well as a tour of the second floor.
Tim Sullivan
It was all very exciting to learn more about this stellar institution and my favorite parts were interviewing one of GMGI’s lead scientists, Tim Sullivan, and learning about Red Sea Urchins (Mesocentrotus franciscanus). This fascinating species can live for two hundred years, regenerate damaged appendages, and reproduce throughout their life span. The Red Sea Urchin is just one of many species the institute is sequencing. GMGI is also studying blue American Lobsters, one donated by Captain Joe and Sons!
At GMGI, Red Sea Urchins are housed in aquariums and fed weekly. Here’s one ‘chowing down’ on iceberg lettuce (just kidding; it was eating so slowly, you could barely tell it was eating at all). In the wild, Red Sea Urchins eat kelp.
The second floor is available to rent and the build out possibilities are limitless, with a huge amount of floor space, sun pouring through the windows, and an expansive outdoor deck, including a spectacular view.
Host Joey, with Ashley, Ron Gilson and Chris McCarthy
The Gloucester Marine Genomics Institute is located at 417 Main Street in Gloucester. Listen to our podcast and visit the GMGI website to learn more about the Institute’s research and education programs.
Hand painted oar gifted to GMGI by Sam Nigro
February morning sunrise at Brace Cove
All in a day’s work.
Joey and Chris stacking lobster traps.
February’s Super Snow Moon was magical in more ways than simply beautiful. The unusual mirage captured during the Moon’s rise was seen by other Cape Ann photographers as well as myself. Lisa Freed from Rockport photographed the omega shape, rising adjacent to Motif No.1.
The effect has several names including Omega Moonrise, Etruscan Vase Moonrise, and Inferior Mirage Moonrise. The omega shape is seen more often during a sunrise, so it is quite exciting that we were witness to an Omega Moonrise on Cape Ann!
From my reading, this is how I understand why it occurs:
During cold weather, when the seawater is warmer than the air, the lowermost air layer is warmed up by the water and produces a temperature difference.
This omega shape is a type of inferior mirage. The refracted (inverted) image is actually below the object’s true position. When the Moon protrudes above the horizon at Moonrise, its inferior mirage can sometimes be seen below it, where it joins the true Moon, creating an omega shape. For this mirage to occur, a layer of very warm air must lie just above the sea surface.
Omega Moonrise (above)
A few minutes later
Last night’s moonrise over the Back Shore was spectacular. Click on the sequence above to see full size. I don’t know why the Moon has a “neck” in the middle photo, or what that reflective appearance is termed, but it was so interesting to see.
February’s Snow Moon was also a Super Moon. It was the the second of a trio of Super Moons taking place in 2019. The Super Snow Moon was also the largest of the three (closest to Earth). The third and final Super Moon of the year is taking place on March 21st.
Our Charlotte loves looking at the Moon, so when she popped up in bed at 5:30 in the morning and exclaimed Moon!, I bundled her up and off we went to see the Moon setting over the Harbor. I wrote last month that she loves looking up in the sky for the Moon, largely from reading her the story book Good Night, Moon, and now we are reading Buenos Noches, Luna, practicing for an upcoming trip to Mexico.
NASA: When a full moon appears at perigee (its closest point to Earth), it is slightly brighter and larger than a regular full moon—and that’s where we get a ‘supermoon.’ The phrase was coined in 1979.
Cape Ann’s visiting Black Vulture enjoying a hamburger at my friend Lyn’s home on Niles Pond.
Juno, mom Mary Ellen, and friend Julie were out on the Niles Pond berm Sunday, admiring the Harbor Seals basking. We counted thirteen seals that afternoon.
I didn’t realize one seal had its mouth wide open until looking at the photos the following day. Seal’s use their strong teeth and powerful jaws to rip apart prey and are yet another reason not to get too close to a seal hauled out on land.
Julie, Juno, and Mary Ellen
The prettiest kind of snowy day, not too cold, with swirly fluffy flakes.
Rocky Neck artist Brenda Malloy on the causeway this morning ❤
Good Morning Gloucester 