When the circus came to town in the 1950s, their elephants bathed at Cressy Beach (click photo to enlarge)
Bob Ryan, President and General Manager of CATOC (Cape Ann Transportation Operating Company) has applied to the Community Preservation Committee for funding to restore Cressy Beach to the way it was when this photo was taken. As you can see by this photo, Cressy Beach was once a sandy beach, on which parents sunbathed while their children chased elephants. Bob says it can be a sandy beach again and he’s done his homework. In a nutshell, here’s what he says about the project,
The project involves the Gloucester Conservation Commission, Mass DEP, the Army Corps of Engineers and Endangered Wildlife and Species Agency. In addition, the “Beach Nourishment” project includes site preparation, topographical survey, engineering plans and bringing in 3,500 tons of sand to cover the beach above the “mean high water area.”
Letters of support are pouring in for this project, including one from Janeil C. Rey, PhD, who also sent this photo. So if you’d like to see Cressy Beach full of sun-bathers, come to City Hall next Tuesday, April 2 and support this project.
PLEASE NOTE: There’s no guarantee you’ll be able to chase elephants into the water once the beach is restored.
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In case you didn’t know, Sailor Stan’s is open for breakfast Saturday and Sunday mornings from 7:30 until 11:30-12:00. As season starts coming in, they will be open more mornings. Sailor Stan’s is one of the coolest most colorful artsy spots on Cape Ann, which always reminds me of Key West. Karen and Wayne are the nicest people, and will cook you a special breakfast treat. Wayne has a great display of his bold paintings on display, so your eyes as well as your mouth will be busy.
E.J. Lefavour
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The One Hour At A Time Gang will be cleaning the streets starting this Saturday, March 23, 2013. It is too bad that we all do not carry a bag in our car and pick up when we see the mess the winter and others have made. Whoever wants to join us, we will be meeting at 8:00 am at St. Peters’ Square. Please bring gloves and I will get the yellow bags. If any readers know of a particular place that needs us, please let me know. donna@circleconsulting.com
Thanks all and see you Saturday.
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Note: We will sing “Amazing Grace” during this event, and would like to invite everyone to participate, especially members of any of our local church or secular choirs!
Three Gloucester High School Seniors are currently running for the Hood Sportsmanship Scholarship. Two of the three kids, Zach Smith and Sophia Black, are also Youth Awareness Speakers and positive role models to the younger kids in the City. Please encourage your readers to log on to Hood.com and vote for these deserving students. The top 10 online vote recipients in the State of Massachusetts will then be interviewed by Hood representatives to determine the winner of the scholarships.
Vote early and often, especially for Zachary!
Thank you,
Marianne Schlichte Smith
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I hope you’ll please consider joining us for a dinner tonight to help some great local teens defray their expense of travelling to New Orleans in April to help rebuild!
If you can’t make it, please help spread the word….WORKING TOGETHER FOR STRONGER COMMUNITY!
Health & prosperity,
Rick
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The Gloucester Committee for the Arts announces $13,200 in new private donation!
This jumbo gift enables the current conservation work on six of the Charles Allen Winter New Deal murals in City Hall to be completed without interruption. We would have still pressed on but there may have been an interruption (scaffolding down and then set back up again months later) as we continued to raise funds. While the donors of the $13,200 contribution wish to remain anonymous, the funds were provided to the Committee through the Belinda Foundation at the Boston Foundation.
Committee member Roger Armstrong, the owner of the State of the Art Gallery on Rocky Neck and the State of the Art Gallery II located downtown on Pleasant Street , secured this immediate funding gift. Armstrong stated, “We are so very fortunate to be the beneficiaries of generous Gloucester citizens who share our appreciation for these art treasures in City Hall.”
And it’s also thanks in no small measure to the recent local media coverage –from GMG, Cape Ann Beacon and the GDT –of the current restoration of City Hall murals! The Committee is extremely grateful for this support of the conservation work and the recognition of the significance of the City’s collection of WPA-era murals.
If you would like to join the effort to care for the irreplaceable City art including these historic murals and the work of the CFTA, contributions in support of our City Art can be mailed to:
The Gloucester Fund
45 Middle Street
Gloucester, MA 01930
Be sure to put “Committee for the Arts” on the memo line of the check.
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Family fun was enjoyed at Addison Gilbert Hospital when employees and their family members painted bowls for The Open Door at Addison Gilbert Hospital on March 4.
Helping to paint bowls were
(back row) sisters – L-R Ali and Kenzie George
seated
cousins – L-R Adam Madruga, Rachel Ketchopulos and Brett Moore
with good friend Lauren O’Connor
The children and their families are looking forward to attending the Empty Bowl Dinner, a fund-raiser for The Open Door on
Thursday, May 9 from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Cruiseport Gloucester, 6 Rowe Square, Gloucester. Those attending the dinner will be able to select a bowl and enjoy a meal. Tickets are $15. and available at the door ($10. for children under ten).
Beautiful bowls, food and prizes! Don’t miss this fun event that will benefit The Open Door.
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What are your duties at your job and do you use twitter as a tool for your job?
I’m editor of the Gloucester Daily Times and Cape Ann magazine. I also handle most of the social media for both publications. The facebook accounts for both publications are linked to Twitter, so I can try and multitask ( I can Ryan saying "No, no, NO" right now.) But I retweet stuff I think will be interest to readers — Facebook followers miss out on that. Also when breaking news happens, I tweet about it first, then post on facebook when I have enough to put together something more substantial.
Why do you think you are follow worthy on Twitter?
By searching for #CapeAnn, #GloucesterMA, #RockportMA, #EssexMA or #ManchesterMA you can find out the news that’s important to you as a resident of these communities. I don’t tweet everything, but if anything is trending on gloucestertimes.com, I usually post it.
What types of tweets or twitter user drive you up a wall?
Spammers who use @GDTnews to get my attention for viagra sales, weight-loss gimmicks, etc.
Who are some of your favorite twitter users?
Work-related: @Joey_C, @DscvrGlstr, @VisitEssexMA, @AP (Associated Press), @kidsns and Steve@alertnewengland, a scanner junkie who tweets the latest on the police front. For fun: @FranJurga and @HoofcareJournal, both by Gloucester resident Fran Jurga who blogs about equestrian news and horse-related hoof care; @goodreads for the latest on new books
Giclée, great quality and good service right here in Gloucester MA. There have definitely never been so many options before when it comes to finding a good printshop. When I started making prints it was at the New England school of Photography using film. Box after box of paper and hours in the dark room. Now with digital its pick your best shots and print. I had stuck with my film shop after they went digital and was happy with what I was getting. However as different employees who knew certain kinds of jobs well started to change it was time to find a new printshop.
People are happy to tell about good experiences they’ve had with printshops so I’m happy to say that one of the best printshop I have found in New England is right here in Gloucester MA.
Cape Ann Giclée Printing. I needed prints made for client that wanted them for his office & for the Rockport Art Associations shows so it was time to roll the dice and try a new printer? Do I change my loyalties after 30 years of using the same printer? Do I flip-flop from printer to printer? Yes and no.
Time to change from my old printer and no more flip-flopping. Printing is an art combined with craftsmanship. Many printers own great equipment, but that doesn’t mean they know how to run it. The team at Cape Ann Giclée not only knows both so well it sets them apart from the others I have used in the past. Where do my loyalties lay now? Giclée, great quality and good service right here in Gloucester MA. — Brian O’Connor
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Paula Novo – Customer Service Supervisor with my retrieved ATM card @ BankGloucester
Last night after a long day of trying to get some code to work followed by a couple of meetings, I stop by the BankGloucester drive up ATM on Main St. to make a deposit. I’m on the phone. The radio’s on. I grab a deposit envelope, rummage through my pockets to find my glasses, flick on the ceiling light, glance at the amount, stuff the check and deposit slip into the envelope, lift up my butt so I can get my wallet out of my pants, find my ATM card, stick it in the slot, type in my PIN and I’m ready to make the deposit.
OK, that’s done. Off I go. Oops. At the Liquor Locker, I notice my ATM card isn’t in my wallet. So I race back to the ATM and the friendly little light is flashing above the card slot waiting for my card.
The Bank’s already closed, so I call Vickie and she calls the 800 number on the back of her card to report the problem. Did somebody take my card? Could anybody guess my pin? Not that there’s much money to steal, but it’s the end of the month. We’ve got bills to pay. Arrrgggg, this I don’t need tonight!
Well, this morning I get a call from Brittany at BankGloucester telling me that they have my card. We don’t have to cancel it. All I have to do is come into the bank, ask for customer service and pick it up. WOW! When I get there, I ask Paula Novo (pictured above) if they’ve taken the hold off my card so I can use it. She says yes, but suggests I test it in the ATM just to make sure. Another very smart move. It works.
This has got to be the best service I’ve ever gotten from any bank anywhere, period! My guess is that there are lots of people at BankGloucester who contributed to making my day today. Somebody thought to have the ATM swallow cards that aren’t retrieved after a transaction. Then somebody had to check the machine for swallowed cards, look up my number, call me, verify that it was me when I got to the bank, remove the hold, cancel the lost card ticket, etc., etc., etc. THANKS TO ALL OF YOU!
I have only one suggestion for BankGloucester. Instead of just beeping when somebody is about to leave a card in an ATM, why don’t you have the ATM shout, “HEY STUPID” as loud as possible. I always stop and look around when I hear that . . .
Now, all you people who are going out to hear live music tonight (nine shows all over Cape Ann — see schedule here), remember that it’s just as important not to be distracted when you’re at the bank as it is when you’re driving. But more importantly, if you’re constantly multitasking and you think you might forget your card some day, bank locally.
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Joëlle Williams and Rebecca Sly are organizing a fundraising shopping event at Sea Again consignment (14 Dock Square, Rockport) on March 3rd from 2 – 6 to benefit The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.
Sea Again will be offering 20% off everything all day with 10% of sales going to the charity.
We will have the stylist, Muffy White, there to help the ladies pick out a fabulous outfit. Upstairs there will be a massage therapist, Jenny Rangan, giving 15 minute chair massage for $15 from 2 – 4 (all proceeds go to charity). Shoppers will also find a representative from Thirty One Gifts, Stella & Dot Jewelry and Rodan + Fields Skin Care for their shopping pleasure (a portion of all proceeds will go to charity).
There will be appetizers graciously donated by Beach Gourmet plus wine and desserts. We also have some really great raffle and silent auction items. To name just a few:
A framed photographic print the Twin Lights by the talented photographer Eoin Vincent
A beautiful pair of silver and pearl earrings donated by Jamie Russell
A $100 Restaurant Critic gift certificate to use at two of the Serenitee restaurants (15 Walnut, Alchemy, Cala’s, Maggie’s Farm, Hale St., Lat 43 & Minglewood) plus 3 hours of babysitting (Erin Pratt – RHS Senior and lifeguard)
A gift basket from La Provence
2 Three month membership to O’Neil Fitness (worth $420)
A mini-session with Samantha K Photography
Children’s books by illustrator Scott Magoon
Assorted frames with mats and glass from the Hershey Frame Shop (worth approx. $200)
A bottle of Folly Cove Rum from Ryan & Woods Distillery
2 $25 gift certificates from the Bean & Leaf
And more!
I have been posting photos of the raffle and silent auctions on our Facebook event site. Feel free to pass on the link. It is a public event.
PS – Here is my direct fundraising link as well. I’m running in the Nike Women’s Half Marathon on April 28 in Washington DC for Team in Training (the athletic fundraising portion of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society).
Tim and his wife Eileen had been a friend of the blog from the very beginning. He always offered his technical assistance and was way more responsible for making the Gloucester Webcam project happen than I was, being the man on the street doing the installs for next to nothing. He went around to the businesses and community organizations and charged a tenth of what it should have cost to get the things going for them. He did this because he loved the idea and wanted to give back.
We had this geeky techie connection in which we could talk about these ideas for hours. Tim owned Gloucester Bytes a computer repair company and was a member of the Cape Ann Chamber of Commerce.
It was the cancer that got him. Triple header of brain, liver and lung cancer. Too young. Way too young. I’m not sure exactly how old Tim was but it has to be in his 50s.
and here’s the thing-
You know how bad it sucks that we lose someone in their 60s, 50s or 40s? It sucks terribly.
But Tim was loved. Every time I saw Tim and Eileen together she was beaming wildly and smiling in adoration of Tim. They were in love. and no matter how bad it sucks to lose someone in their 50s like Tim it’s better to pass in your 50s loved than die in your 70s unloved.
Tim had that love from his Eileen. So he died a rich man. Rich in love.
My condolences to Tim’s family. I’ll miss your dry humor that would crack me up every time buddy.
Well at the Mass Cultural Council Meeting at Fred Bodin’s I was envious of my pal Melissa Cox’ super soft scarf. I asked her to make me one and she gave me the one around her neck. Such a good egg that Melissa.
Wore it home and when I entered the door I was greeted by someone I may or may not be related to through marriage with a quizzical look. I asked her “What with the look?” To which she replied- “You know that’s a girls scarf, right?”
Upon further inspection the pattern is a little frilly. So I returned the scarf and asked Melissa to make me a new scarf which I would pay for that had a more manly pattern.
So we sauntered (yes sauntered) over to Coveted Yarn and picked out a manly scarf design and some new yarn.
It was a daunting task with the bazillion different types of yarns and thicknesses or yarns and yarns with different yarn properties, some of which need to be hand washed, some of which can be thrown in the washing machine- anyway I learned way more about yarn than any man should ever need to know about yarn.
With some guidance from The Yarn Pimp- Roberto we picked out a super soft yarn for the scarf which my pal Melissa would be producing for me just in time for the balmy days of spring.
You can see the pattern and yarn we picked out below-
Straight sexy, right?
And here’s the yarn being made into a cake at Coveted Yarn-
Click for the very stimulating video
The skein is being turned into a cake.
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On December 19th, 2012, Gloucester resident Marsha (last name withheld) walked out to the end of Dog Bar Breakwater on Eastern Point on a fairly calm day at low tide. On the return trip, a wave soaked her ankles, the next one her calfs, and the third wave was a wall of water which tossed her 30 feet into Gloucester Harbor. Marsha went under, but was buoyed to the surface by her goose-down waterproof parka (not a USCG certified PFD). She swam back to the breakwater, and used her rock climbing skills to get up onto the first ledge. That was about all she could do. Hypothermia was setting in. Miraculously, birder Jim McCoy spotted her, maneuvered her to the top of the Dog Bar, and into his car. He immediately drove her to Addison Gilbert Hospital for treatment. Marsha told me this incredible story, while wearing the jacket that saved her life.
The Jacket: This helped save Marsha’s life two months ago. No, I won’t tell you who made it, because it’s not a float coat USCG approved flotation device.
The Breakwater: This is what almost took Marsha’s life. A lobsterman told her that that a storm from 3 or 4 days ago can deliver big waves, sometimes arriving underwater, until reaching shore. EJ’s photo wasn’t taken on a crazy stormy day. Watch yourself.
Fred
Bodin Historic Photo 82 Main Street Gloucester, MA 01930
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Good Morning Gloucester 