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."

SAVE THE DATE FOR MY POLLINATOR GARDEN LECTURE

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The Pollinator Garden at the South Branch of the Peabody Library

The South Branch is excited to welcome landscape designer and professional photographer Kim Smith to talk about gardens designed to attract pollinators. She will be presenting a slideshow with stunning, original photographs and a lecture on how to work with the rhythm of the season to create a garden that will attract bees, butterflies, birds and other wildlife essential to pollination for beautiful blooms. She will discuss native plants and organic and architectural features that have value to certain species that can visit (and even help!) your garden. This program is ideal for anyone who gardens, enjoys wildlife photography or likes to learn about nature.

Kim Smith is a celebrated landscape designer, documentary film maker, photographer and author. Her specialty is creating butterfly and habitat gardens that primarily utilize North American wildflowers and native trees, shrubs and vines. For more information about Kim Smith, you can visit her website: kimsmithdesigns.com

Pollinator Gardens will take place at the South Branch of the Peabody Institute Library, 78 Lynn St. on Thursday, August 10 at 7PM. The program is free, but space is limited and registration is required. For more information and to reserve your free spot, please go to www.peabodylibrary.org or call 978-531-3380. This program is generously sponsored by the Friends of the Peabody Institute Libraries.

JUVENILE BALD EAGLE PHOTOGRAPHED IN LANESVILLE!

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Good Morning Gloucester reader Laura Sen shares her photo of a juvenile Bale Eagle, photographed in Lanesville on a recent morning. Thanks so much to Laura for sending along!

 

THE RAINMAKER OPENS AT GLOUCESTER STAGE COMPANY!

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N. Richard Nash’s The Rainmaker Opens at

Gloucester Stage

Captivating Classic Set for Limited Run in Gloucester

Gloucester Stage Company continues its 38th season of professional theater on Cape Ann with N. Richard Nash’s moving American classic The Rainmaker from July 14 through August 5 at 267 East Main Street, Gloucester, MA. Set in the time of a paralyzing drought in Depression-era America, The Rainmaker tells the story of a pivotal hot summer day in the life of spinsterish Lizzie Curry, whose father and two brothers are worried as much about her marriage prospects as they are about their dying cattle. Enter Starbuck, the consummate con man, who promises to solve all their problems, for a fee. Directed by Gloucester Stage Artistic Director Robert Walsh, The Rainmaker cast features Brian Homer as Starbuck; Jessica Bates as Lizzie Curry; David DeBeck as H.C. Curry, the patriarch of the Curry family; Joe Short and Sean McCoy as the Curry brothers; Dave Rich as File and longtime Gordon College Professor of Theater Arts Norm Jones as Sheriff Thomas. N. Richard Nash’s most celebrated play, The Rainmaker, appeared in all three mediums; on Broadway in 1954, as a motion picture starring Katharine Hepburn in 1956, and as a television production in 1982. A musical version of The Rainmaker, entitled 110 Degrees in the Shade, debuted on Broadway in 1963.

N. Richard Nash studied philosophy and literature at the University of Pennsylvania and earned his bachelor’s degree in 1934. While in school he directed plays at Bryn Mawr, a nearby women’s college, and received great reviews for a play he wrote featuring only female characters. Nash received the Maxwell Anderson Verse Drama award in 1940 for Parting at Imsdorf. His plays include Second Best Bed (1946), The Young and Fair (1948), See the Jaguar (1952), Girls of Summer (1956), Handful of Fire (1958), and the musical WILDCAT(1960). During the 1950s Mr. Nash was one of six writers selected by producer Fred Coe to create serious drama for television. His screenplay credits include Nora Prentiss (1946), Dear Wife (1950), and Top of the World (1955). Adapting the works of others, he wrote the script for The Sainted Sisters (1948) and Porgy and Bess (1959). Later in his career, Mr. Nash focused on writing novels. “East Wind, Rain” (1977), inspired by his time serving with the Office of War Information during World War II, took seven years to research. Other novels include Cry Macho (1975) and Radiance (1983). Mr. Nash also lectured on drama and philosophy at colleges and universities throughout the United States. He died on Dec. 11, 2000, in New York City at the age of eighty-seven.

A native Bostonian who now lives & works as an actor in NYC, Brian Homer has performed in numerous Off-Broadway productions, including Theater for a New Audience’s repertory production of Richard II/Richard III, Seattle Repertory Theater’s premiere of Rebecca Gilman’s Spinning Into Butter, and the New Repertory Theater’s world premiere of Stephen Belber’s Drifting Elegant. An actor as well as a theater arts educator, Mr. Homer holds an MFA in Acting from Brandies University where he studied with Robert Walsh.

All photos Gary Ng

Continue reading “THE RAINMAKER OPENS AT GLOUCESTER STAGE COMPANY!” →

SUPER EXCITED FOR BACKYARD GROWER’S FIRST EVER INCREDIBLE EDIBLE GARDEN TOUR!!!

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DON’T MISS WHAT PROMISES TO BE A WONDERFULLY FUN AND EDUCATIONAL GARDEN TOUR!

OUR BEAUTIFUL BABY GRANDDAUGHTER CHARLOTTE

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Mom Jessica, our son Alex, and sweet baby Charlotte are all doing beautifully. Charlotte was born yesterday, July 10th, and is 9 pounds 1 oz. We’re so very blessed. ❤ ❤ ❤

https://www.instagram.com/p/BWYf5CUlI6S/

Jessica Toomey Photo

SCHOONER STROMBUS OFFICIAL LAUNCH PARTY!

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Happy Day! Congratulations to our friends Geoff, Mandy, Pillar, and Frieda for the launching of Gloucester’s newest schooner, the Schooner Strombus! 
 Beautiful Schooner Strombus, restored and renovated by Geoff Deckebach

CHICK YOGA

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Piping Plover chick yoga that is, mastering Warrior Three.

A funny little morning stretch the PiPl chicks do often.

WHAT DO PIPING PLOVERS EAT?

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The question should really be what don’t they eat in the world of insects and diminutive sea creatures. Over the past two summers I have filmed PiPl eating every kind of beach dwelling crawly insect and marine life imaginable.

Piping Plovers eat freshwater, land, and marine invertebrates. Their general fashion of foraging is to run, stop, peck, repeat, all the day long, and during the night as well.

Run, Stop, Peck

When foraging along the wrack line and up to the dune edge Piping Plovers eat insects, both alive and dead, including ants, spiders, grasshoppers, crickets, and beetles, along with insect larvae such as fly larvae. Foraging at the intertidal zone, Piping Plovers find sea worms, tiny mollusks, and crustaceans, as well as crustacean eggs.

When the chicks get a little older they will learn how to do a sort of foot tamping technique where they rapidly shake their feet in the sand to stir up crustaceans. I have yet to see our chicks do this, but soon enough.

The purpose of discontinuing to rake the beach to help the Piping Plovers is twofold. Not raking in the nesting site creates a habitat rich in dry seaweed and dry grasses, which attracts insects, the PiPl food on dry land. Secondly, raking in the vicinity of the Plovers after they hatch can be deadly dangerous to the chicks. Not only is there danger of being squished, but also, they can easily become stuck in the impression in the sand made by the tires of heavy machinery.

This morning I had a disagreeable conversation with a woman about her unleashed puppy. She feigned lack of knowledge about the dog ordinances, but aside from that, she informed me that her large puppy would be “afraid” of a chick. And there seems to be a frustrating lack of understanding about where the chicks forage. We can only share again that the Piping Plovers, both adults and chicks, feed from the dunes’s edge to the water’s edge, and everywhere in between. Sunrise and sunset are not safe times to walk dogs on the beach because Piping Plovers forage at all times of the day, and into the night. Adult birds can fly away from a person or dog walking and running on the beach, but a shorebird chick cannot.

Big Beach, Tiny Chick ~ Sixteen-day-old Piping Plover Chick Foraging at the Ocean Edge

CAPE POND ICE IS LOOKING FOR TRUCK DRIVER/ICE DELIVERY HELP

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Cape Pond Ice has an opening for a truck driver / ice delivery person.

Join our “Cool” team?  Must be fit and reliable, with good driving record.

Your choice of ride & horsepower.

See Scott, Sera or Larry…

ONLY ONE CHICK SEEN THIS MORNING (*EDITED RE DOGS ON THE BEACH)

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Our one remaining Piping Plover chick spent the early morning in the vegetation at the edge of the dune.

Perhaps we lost the third chick to the tremendous deluge late yesterday that happened not once, but twice. Or perhaps to the crows. When I arrived at the sanctuary this morning there was a tremendous kerfuffle underway between two crows and both adults. As the crows were departing, after being vigorously chased away by the PiPl parents, I couldn’t see clearly whether or not they were carrying off a chick. Or perhaps, none of the above. There was an unleashed puppy on the beach, but after speaking with the woman, she and her dog departed. The PiPl were up by the sanctuary at that time so I am sure it wasn’t because of the puppy. I hope with all my heart we can don’t loose the one remaining chick.

*Comment added from my Facebook friend Susanne: Thank you to all for your kindness re the baby plovers. Yesterday after the downpour, I went to Good Harbor. No life guards and it was relatively quiet. There were three groups of people with dogs and two dogs were unleashed, One unleashed dog was near the piping plovers and too far from me to catch easily. I talked to two of the other dog owners. One said they didn’t know the rules and thanked me. The other said her dog is very old and this may be the last time she ever gets to walk on a beach. I love dogs and hope people have a lovely time on our beautiful beaches. I also wish they cared more about following our beach rules, which are common sense and about caring for others

The adults and chick were acting oddly this morning, not wanting to venture too far from the symbolically roped off area. Papa Plover spent a great deal of time perched on the party rock and surveying the family’s territory (not usual behavior), and got into several times with the Interloper.

Thank you so much to all our volunteers who are trying their best to help keep these beautiful protected birds safe.

Today’s Good Harbor Beach sunrise

WARNING! NO SWIMMING IN THE CREEK AT GOOD HARBOR BEACH

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SWIMMING IN THE GOOD HARBOR BEACH CREEK MAY CAUSE ILLNESS FROM ELEVATED BACTERIA LEVELS

OUR LITTLE PIPING PLOVER CHICK PASSED AWAY LAST NIGHT

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Avery from the Tufts Wildlife Clinic at the Cummings Veterinary Medical Center phoned this morning to let us know that our Piping Plover chick passed away in the night. Although he was showing some positive signs yesterday, after a traumatic brain injury such as his, bleeding on the brain and other complications can occur. Know that he was well cared for by the incredible team at Tufts and that they did their very utmost best to save him.

I spoke with Avery about what would have happened had he survived. Little chick would have been re-habituated with other Piping Plovers. As Piping Plovers are a protected species, U.S. Fish and Wildlife dictate where his recovery were to take place.

Although it was very unusual for the clinic to have a Piping Plover, they have helped even smaller animals recover from injury. Most recently, a wounded hummingbird in their care was healed and released back in the wild.

Thank you to everyone for your kind concern.

Thank you to Jodi Swenson from Cape Ann Wildlife for meeting us at the beach at nine in the evening and caring for our little injured chick until the following morning when Catherine, George, and Charles delivered him to Tufts veterinary school. We should all thank our volunteers, Catherine, Caroline Haines, Hazel Hewitt, George King, Charles King, Paul Korn, Cliff King, Chris Martin, Diana Peck, Lucy Merrill-Hills, Cristina Hildebrand, Carol Ferrant, Jeanine Harris, Ruth Peron, Karen Shah, Annie Spike, and conservation agent Ken Whittaker for their diligent and continued monitoring of our two remaining chicks.

Please let’s everyone be mindful of the chicks afoot, help keep the beach clean, and please, please dog owners, please leave your sweet pooches off Good Harbor Beach. Thank you.

If you find orphaned or injured wildlife, the clinic has pages to guide you in appropriate procedures for birds, squirrels, mammals, and more, as well as a list of links to wildlife organizations. Go here for more information: Useful Links from the Tufts Wildlife Clinic

Two sixteen-day-old chicks snuggling under Papa Plover this morning at daybreak.

CONGRATULATIONS TO GEOFF AND MANDY FOR LAUNCHING SCHOONER STROMBUS TODAY!!!

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A new schooner was added to Gloucester’s growing fleet. The schooner was launched today at 11am from the Rocky Neck Marine Railways. Strombus, built by Geoff Deckebach, with help from his wife Mandy, was twelve years in the making. They began gutting and restoring the boat all those many years ago when work and raising a family slowed progress. About a year ago, Geoff decided to turn his full attention to the restoration. The schooner is simply beautiful. More work will continue on the interior and it will be ready enough to motor along in this year’s upcoming Schooner Festival. 

Friends, family, and well-wishers stopped by for the Schooner Stombus launching. The official launch party is Sunday. 

Congratulations Geoff and Mandy!!!

FV STANLEY THOMAS

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Mark Ring’s beautiful Stanley Thomas lobster boat on a rainy Friday afternoon.

THE 2017 ANNUAL ROCKPORT GARDEN TOURS PROMISES TO BE BLOOMIN’ BEAUTIFUL!

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ART IN BLOOM

The Rockport Garden Club invites you to attend its 2017 garden tour: Rockport in Bloom. This self-guided tour consists of 11 private gardens clustered in the three Rockport neighborhoods. Each garden celebrates the diverse geography of Rockport, from sweeping ocean vistas, to enchanting gardens with water features, to unique granite sculptures and arches evoking the legacy of the granite industry in Rockport.  Lunch, including a vegetarian option, is also available for your purchase and enjoyment in a seaside garden.  An additional feature for this year’s tour includes artists in the garden.  Several local artists will be painting ‘en plein air’ during the tour and are sponsoring a wine and cheese reception that will take place following the tour on Saturday, July 8th at the Rockport Community House, 58 Broadway from 4:00 to 8:30 pm. All are welcome.

Tour dates are: July 7 and 8 from 10am to 4pm each day. On tour days, tickets may be purchased at the Rockport Police Station (cash, check or credit card), 168 Main St. and Toad Hall Book Store (cash or check only), 47 Main St, Rockport, MA.  Tickets purchased in advance may be picked up at the police station. The tour is held rain or shine. Please see the RGC website: www.rockportgardenclub.org for additional information.

Artists to join Rockport in Bloom 2017!!
Rockport in Bloom will now be captured on canvas.  Our 2017
tour will see the addition of artists in the gardens! You will see
the garden through the artist’s eyes.  Watch as they transform a
garden into a lasting image showing what the homeowner and
“Mother Nature” have created. Look for the following artists on
the garden tour. Click on each artist for bios, artists work and
contact information.

Jude Abbe

Sharon Jordan Bahosh

John Caggiano

Janice Castellano

Dan DeLouise

Susan Drennan

Elizabeth Harty

Heidi McGrath

Kathleen Miller

Holly Anderson Popeo

Lynn Wrona

Heidi Zander

View Slideshow of past Rockport Garden Club Tour! (Click Here)

Looking for a place to stay while enjoying Rockport and the Rockport Garden Tour?
For your convenience we have attached a list of some of the local inns. Click Here!
We look forward to seeing you!

History of the Tour

2017 Theme

Ticket Sales

Directions

Parking

Garden Tour Sponsors

For additonal questions or information, please email:

rockportgardentour@gmail.com

REMINDER: SNOTBOT LIVE ON NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC SUNDAY!

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Iain writes, “Wednesday morning three Gloucester residents left for SE Alaska to conduct research on Humpback whales. Our work is going to be covered live Sunday the 9th. SnotBot is going to be featured in a National Geographic Live TV event called ‘Earth Live’ this Sunday July 9th 8:00 til 10:00 east coast time.

The Gloucester residents are: John Graham, Andy Rogan, and myself. The Paint Factory Robotics lab has been very busy with interns helping us prepare for this expedition. Interns are: Lydia Zuehsow, from Olin College of Engineering, Sam Vinson from Rockport, and Austin Monell from Gloucester all helping out.

http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/earth-live/videos/earth-live-extended-sneak-peek/

The show will be broadcast in 171 countries and 48 languages. It’s been an exciting year for Ocean Alliance and our Gloucester team, taking the story of innovation and persistence (a historic strength of Gloucester) around the world.”

 

INJURED (AND NON-INJURED) PIPING PLOVER CHICKS UPDATE

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Our little injured chick is hanging on. Crystal from the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine phoned to report that she fed him through the night. He remains on supportive care and is being given antibiotics and pain medication. Little chick has been moved to a heated incubator. The veterinarians are again stating that prognosis is unpredictable.

What are these things called wings?

Meanwhile, these two chick were having an easier morning than usual. There were no fires, dogs, or beach rake, and with the cooler temperatures and overcast skies, many fewer people. PiPl super volunteer monitor Hazel came by with flyers of the injured chick and she posted them around the beach, hoping to help people understand why we need to be on the look out for chicks afoot.

Fifteen-day-old Piping Plover Chick with MamaI wonder what a baby bird think of its funny little appendages that will soon grow into beautiful wings?

Not a great deal of information is known about when exactly PiPl fledge. Some say 25 days and some reports suggest up to 32 days. In my own observations filming a PiPl family last summer on Wingaersheek Beach, the fledglings could not fly very well until mid-August. The PiPl fledglings and parents maintained a family bond through the end of August, even after it was becoming difficult to tell whether they were fledglings or adults. All during that period, the fledglings appeared still dependent upon the adults, who were still parenting, for example, offering distinctive piping instruction especially when perceived danger such as joggers and dogs were in the vicinity.

Two little butts, extra snuggles under Dad’s brood patch on this chilly day fifteen.

INJURED PIPING PLOVER UPDATE #2

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4:20pm Update:
Catherine, George, and Charles drove our littlest chick to the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts. Thanks to Jodi, they were prepared and waiting for him. Little chick was assigned a case number and we were told to call after 3pm. As I am writing this report, Avery from the school just returned my phone call. She sounds terrific and was very helpful in explaining little chick’s injury and care. He has a traumatic brain injury, most likely caused by being stepped on. Little chick is being given supportive care, which includes pain medication, an anti-inflammatory, and fluids. He is also in an oxygen cage that allows him to breathe more easily. The vets are guarded in their prognosis as recovery from head trauma is very unpredictable.

Very sadly, I have to report that dogs were running around the beach unleashed at the time of the injury. No one witnessed exactly what happened, but last year I saw a dog running over and instantly killing a chick, despite my very best efforts to get the owner to control his dog. This morning at 6am dogs were on the beach leashed, but the owner was obliviously walking her two dogs through the sanctuary area precisely where the chicks were darting about. Leashed or unleashed, irresponsible dog owners are one of the chick’s greatest threats. Please, please folks tell your friends and neighbors about the Plovers and why it is so important to follow the dog ordinances. It seems as though late in the day, after 5 and before sunset, the chicks are the most vulnerable. Perhaps folks think its okay to bring dogs to the beach after the life guards leave. Early evening is exactly the same time of day that the chick was killed last year.

Our two Good Harbor Beach siblings, this morning at fourteen days old.
Earlier this morning updates:
Catherine writes, “I called Kim who met me right away at the beach. Soon After 9pm Jodi was there getting the bird. Jodi implemented  ER incubator and hydration methods. By 11pm chick pooped which may be sign that he was reacting to rehydration. (She explained that body shuts down digestion quickly to protect brain and heart. Pooping could be things working.) One eye swollen may equal head injury or seizure. All was speculation and she hoped chick would make it through night.”
Volunteer Nancy, who found the chick wrote, “My daughter spotted the chick on the soft sand lying just off the wet sand of the creek bed near where we were this morning. My son in law carried the chick from creek bed to large enclosure. I held chick while giving it water and tried to keep it warm, then put it in the covered part of the enclosure on advice of Audubon woman, hoping its mom would be able to give care. We called every emergency number we could find but no one picked up. Thank you so much for responding as you did.”
Today at 6:15am–dog walking through the Plover’s sanctuary–leashed or unleashed, dogs (as well as people) unintentionally step on Plovers. Please be careful.