Author: Pat D

The Sept 11 attack was 24 years ago. For many of us, myself included, it’s a day etched in memory. That day and the days and weeks that followed seemed to stack up horror upon horror in unimaginable ways. I will never forget, but there’s an entire generation for whom the day does not live in memory. That day changed our nation and the world in ways evident even today in the safety measures, airline precautions and more. Please take a moment today to pause, reflect and remember.

This is a blog post I wrote in 2009 that expresses some of the thoughts 16 years ago when I was still teaching and my children were young adults. It still feels relevant.

https://dalpiazryan.blogspot.com/2009/09/september-11.html

We had fun watching the shore bird antics along Pebble Beach late on recent afteroon. I believe you’ll see sanderlings and plovers here but if someone knows more than I, please share!

We got to take a little walk around the grounds at the Paint Factory recently. I don’t often get to see this side of things and I find a lot of character down there.

For our final Margarita Monday of 2025, we stopped for lunch at Oliver’s Harbor on Main St which was open on Labor Day Monday. We were not disappointed. I love the lunch menu! I had the sausage sandwich and Jim had the eggplant sandwich. The margarita was served in a chilled ice-cold glass and was super refreshing. We always enjoy the atmosphere there and the friendly service. Cheers to Oliver’s!

A friend visited recently and wanted to view sunset so we went off to Lane’s Cove. It didn’t miss the mark!

There’s something extra special about the light as dusk approaches in the late summer, as you see here from Pebble Beach on Penzance Road.

I made my fist visit to the newly renovated Sawyer Free Libary on Dale Ave recently and…WOW! What a great job has been done for our community by the library staff and supporters. Three spacious floors filled with quiet nooks, research materials, meeting space and BOOKS! You might want to consider attending today’s ribbon cutting from 3-4:30 or tomorrow’s Open House 10-3. I have always loved our library and I didn’t think I could love it more…..but I do. Get yourself down there and check it out (librarian humor).

It’s impossible for me to select just a few photos from over the course of the 2025 Schooner Fest, but here you go. I hope you can tolerate just a few more. So much impressive beauty! For additional photos and story details, check out Pat D’s Photos and Adventures on Facebook.

Evening offers a unique opportunity for some pretty cool scenes on the Inner Harbor, especially during Schooner Fest.

An interesting story submitted by David Calvo:

Hello, Mr. Calvo.  

I’m Jason Chu, living in Korea.

I took your one-week class in 2015. Do you remember?

Your teaching was excellent, and I’m grateful.

And the beautiful scenery of Gloucester was so inspiring and unforgettable.

I still enjoy woodcarving. However, it’s hard to find people in Korea who enjoy it as a hobby.  So, I set up a small workshop in my home and work alone. Last year, I entered my woodcarving work for the first time in a local art competition and was honored to receive a special award. This December, I’ll be holding my first woodcarving exhibition. This is my first exhibition. I’m not a professional artist, but an amateur, so I’m not looking to make money.

I want to introduce people to woodcarving through this exhibition. So, the provincial government provided a small grant to hold this exhibition.

I’m 69 years old. My eyesight is deteriorating, so it’s going to be increasingly difficult for me to continue woodcarving. How many more years will I be able to continue?

I’m sending you a photo of my special award piece. In Korea, there’s a folk belief that tying dried pollack with a string wards off misfortune and brings good luck. So, I carved dried pollack out of wood. I’m sending you a few more pieces of my work and some photos I took there 10 years ago.

I’ve been receiving your emails with pleasure. Your emails bring back memories of that time there 10 years ago. I hope your workshop attracts many students and your classes are enjoyable.

I wish you continued health and happiness. And please give my regards to the owner of “The Colonial Inn,” where I stayed. I still remember his kindness and hospitality.

Regards, from Korea

Jason Chu

And more from David on background:

Here is the back story on Jason chu

Jason Chu 나무방 came all the way from South Korea (a two-day flight) to take a workshop. His son contacted me and said my father has wanted to learn woodcarving from you but he can’t speak English. He said, “is that going to be a problem?” I told him no, I don’t need words to teach him. He said “okay, I will sign him up.” So his father got his plane tickets and showed up on the first day of class. He did great in the workshop and he managed to learn everything through hand demonstrations. On his last day, he had a car service pick him up to drive him to the airport for his flight back to South Korea. As he was driving away, he stuck his head and hand out the window, looked back, waived and yelled “Bye Calvo” that was his english.

When a friend visits and it’s Margarita Monday, you go to Seaport Grille on Rogers St to show off a li. We have the meal she was looking forward to and I had the pineapple jalapeño margarita….a whole bucket of it!

We will seek out our last official margarita of the summer Margarita Monday series later today. Maybe we’ll see you there? Who knows?

We sailed aboard Schooner Alert last night and learned that Schooner Fest is about more than just schooners. It’s about caring for all the creatures on Earth. The captain (Perry) noticed a juvenile gull struggling in the water and it was determined it was stuck in a fishing lure. The crew (Bethany) jumped into action and the gull was rescued. With the assistance of passengers, the lure was removed and the gull was released. We were all happy to see it fly off safely. These videos aren’t the best cinematic effort, but things moved quickly and it was tight quarters. Cheers to the Schooner Alert who managed to give even more meaning to this wonderful weekend by being kind humans.

When the schooners come to town for Schooner Fest, I like to book as many sails as I can fit in. I like to select schooners I haven’t yet experienced so my first sail this year was aboard the American Eagle. Intermittent storms cancelled our scheduled sail on Friday, but we were offered an alternate trip Saturday morning for a 4 hour sail. And I jumped on it. It was a lovely sail that took us out almost to Salem. The winds were in our favor, the sun was shining and the crew was outstanding. We even got a yummy lunch.

Launched out of Gloucester in 1930, it was the last fishing schooner built here. Its home port now is Rockland ME under an enthusiastic Captain Tyler King. I thoroughly enjoyed my sail and look forward to seeing American Eagle return to Gloucester.

I went to 44 Main St and found a lovely little gift on the doorstep. It’s very beautiful but I don’t know where it came from! We plan to give it away as a podcast prize and we’d love to credit the artist/giver if you’ll give a us a clue!

The Block Party is regrettably cancelled for tonight but the shop at 44 Main St will be open until at least 1 p.m. today; tomorrow Saturday 11-3; Sunday following Parade of Sail until 3; and Labor Day 11-3. Enjoy this festive weekend!

As summer winds down, it seems the sunsets remind us how spectacular summer has been! This was from Plum Cove last week.

It’s here! Check out all the activities offered for the 41st Schooner Fest this year! Full schedule available here.

The entire team from Lyon-Waugh Auto Group are to be congratulated on yet another outstanding Bluefin Blowout event. A check for $473,000 was presented as a donation to the Alzheimer’s Association. We are proud to play a small part in this amazing cause.

Cape Ann experienced the outskirts swells from Hurricane Erin last week so we chased the waves at Good Harbor Beach and along the Back Shore. We were blessed with beautiful sunny skies under which to observe the majesty of the ocean.

The sunflower field in Ipswich at Felix’s Family Farm on Lowes Lane (behind Dairy Queen) has recently opened for the season. Copied from their Facebook page: (*For additional photos and story details please check out Pat D’s Photos and Adventures on Facebook. We’d appreciate comments on your favorites as I consider new notecards and prints*)

Our sunflower field IS NOW OPEN FOR THE SEASON!

We are open EVERYDAY from 9am-sunset and we are dog friendly.

The location of our sunflower field is at 20 Lowes Lane in Ipswich this year. For GPS you can use the Dairy Queen in Ipswich (158 High Street) and once you are at Dairy Queen, you will see Lowes Lane next to the Dairy Queen

Our sunflower field will have more and blooms everyday and we expect peak bloom for the first sunflower field over Labor Day Weekend

We have another sunflower field that will open up early in September, so we will have sunflowers in bloom everyday until later in September. So a whole month of sunflowers!

In addition to sunflowers, we have lots of other flowers in bloom!

Dahlias, Snap Dragons, Zinnias, Marigolds,etc

Additionally we have lots of farm animals too! Cows, sheep, goats, bunnies, chickens, etc

Weekday Admission for Adults is $10

Weekend Admission for Adults is $12

For Kids Ages 4-17: Admission is $5

For Children under 4: Admission is Free

Our 2025 sunflower field theme is LOVE and if you read our post from yesterday (8-22) and respond to the 3 questions in that post, we will select one person at random to win $369 at the end of the sunflower season.