Author: Pat D

It was a lovely morning at Good Harbor Beach this week. Such a jewel!

Yesterday, the SeaPort Veterinary Hospital had a Northern Gannet that needed transport to Tufts Wildlife Clinic in North Grafton so I decided to take a bird for a ride. The staff at SeaPort Veterinary Hospital told me this feisty Gannet was found near Zeke’s earlier in the day.

I neglected to take the time of day into account so this ride occurred during rush hour and was longer than it should have been, but the Gannet didn’t seem to mind. I put NPR on to keep him calm 😁 for the ride. He was mostly pretty quiet, just occasionally making little noises in the back. He only squawked vigorously in each facility at both ends of the trip, and it was LOUD! I decided to call him GMG Gannet.

I felt like a story circle was closing in that the Northern Gannet I reported a couple of weeks ago may or may not have survived…..I didn’t know how that Gannet made out, but this one is now safe and in good hands. Thank you staff at Zeke’s, SeaPort Veterinary Hospital and Tufts Wildlife Clinic!

Everything old is new again. Some of you may have experienced the congested traffic near Stage Fort Park and Blynman Bridge last weekend and muttered to yourself that  you’ve never seen it worse. Here’s an article from the Gloucester Daily Times Aug 22 1938 saying pretty much the same thing. I find it interesting that we can easily see history repeating itself. Get ready though because Riverfest is coming up this weekend!

Magnolia kayak garden in full bloom.

We were waiting to board the Schooner Thomas E. Lannon for an evening sail and enjoyed these views:

We had the pleasure of attending the recent Musical Theatre Camp Showcase at the O’Maley Innovation Middle School. It was an energetic musical review featuring a number of Disney songs along with some other favorites. My “intel” informs me that the Hamilton number My Shot was a participant favorite. Another popular number was Annie’s  Hard Knock Life but all the numbers were performed as though each was a favorite. Well done by all performers, directors and choreographers.

I was aware local artists are featured on a monthly basis at the Hammond Castle Gift Shop but I did not know that store manager Rebecca Pearson works hard to incorporate local vendors into the shop’s offerings. GMG Jimmy was especially intrigued by the Christmas Jam. He said “I don’t know how they do it, but it really tastes like Christmas!”. It’s worth checking out if you’re driving by. No admission for checking out the gift shop.

These newly built units across from Niles Beach appear to be nearly ready for occupation. The sign says “Daventry Lane”.

I’ve been having lots of fun with the Yi Action Lite camera I purchased on Joey’s recommendation. Here you see a bit of hummingbird action in slow motion at our feeder before a rival swoops in to chase off the feeding bird. We see this behavior regularly and are considering adding another feeder. Remember it’s slow motion and they still move pretty fast. Here’s a link for the camera. (Sorry Joey, just too good not to share!)

Today from 3-6:30 pm, the Farmers Market returns to Stage Fort Park. My loot from last week:

If you haven’t made it over, it’s worth the trip. Some scenes from last week:

We were in the Rockport area Monday night and decided to give Brackett’s Oceanview Restaurant at 25 Main Street in Rockport a try. It was pretty full with large parties and several families. The views are gorgeous out onto the harbor and beach. Despite this busy-ness, Kourtney served us efficiently and in a friendly manner. I had Chicken Rockefeller and Jim had Baked Scrod. We also ordered a Barrata Salad. Jim couldn’t resist the Brothers Brew donut sundae for dessert—decadent. Thanks Oceanview for a lovely evening!

A very interesting sunset developed last night at Plum Cove. Imagine the sounds of an enthusiastic slow pitch softball game in the background and you have yourself an All American sunset.

Watching the world go by down at Harbor Loop; boats of all kinds coming in and going out.

Kind of exciting for me to see this!

It was time for me to take some of our friend Donna Ardozzoni’s advice and go to the beach. I’m a sit-by-the-water-in-a-chair-with-a-book kind of beach goer and I decided to go down to Half Moon Beach at Stage Fort Park: lots of parking, easily accessible, and beautiful. Plus (bonus) the Farmers Market was setting up! Deep breaths and seawater washing my toes cured any grumpiness I might have been feeling. And it is always fun to people-watch.

I noticed this struggling bird on the rocks off the back shore a few days ago. I believe it’s a Northern Gannet. I had seen them only out to sea previously so I was kind of excited to see one up a bit closer. But it appeared to be injured so I reported it to Jodi Swenson at Cape Ann Wildlife  then was referred to City of Gloucester Animal Control (978-281-9746). I hope the beautiful bird is better by now.

***PS: Not long after I scheduled this post, our own Kim Smith re-posted information she had provided in 2017 regarding a mysterious disease affecting the Northern Gannets. See her post for more info! Great minds and all that……***

Stop or get pinched.

Last March, I shared pictures of new signs on the back shore at the location of the former Ocean View Inn presenting “Aquarius at Back Shores”.  I recently noticed some new activity over there and thought an update might be in order. We now see “Aquarius on the Back Shore” (much better) with a newer logo to go along with the construction activity.  Great minds thinking alike, apparently, as the Gloucester Daily Times featured this in Tuesday’s (Aug 6 2019) paper. Click here for full article. I understand we can expect a couple of single family homes along with duplexes. The

The Manor House, to be razed and rebuilt as single family home.

Former High Cliff Lodge to become single family home. I will miss this building especially as we stayed on site several times for family events over the years and I loved this building.

I just love watching these graceful majestic creatures. How lucky are we to have them so abundantly available?!