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That You can show your support for the Cape Ann Farmers Market by turning out for their Dinner & Movie Fundraiser at Cape Ann Community Cinema, April 10^th from 4:00 – 7:00 pm?  Details on flyer above, or visit http://www.capeannfarmersmarket.org/.

The Cape Ann Farmers Market Promotes local agriculture and small-scale production, helps boost the Cape Ann economy, and forges community ties to propel Cape Ann into a more sustainable future.

The Cape Ann Farmers’ Market provides consumers with fresh, nutrient rich food produced with environmentally benign methods and delivered with a smaller carbon footprint. Buying from local producers keeps food dollars in the local economy. Cape Ann Farmers’ Market includes music, work by local artists, educational booths, children’s activities, and cooking demonstrations that create a festive community-building atmosphere. The Cape Ann Farmers’ Market is a huge success, attracting at least 1,200 visitors per market.  They reach out to provide fresh, nutritious food for the entire community, regardless of income. Through The Food Project, they accept Women, Infants and Children (WIC) coupons, Seniors’ Farmers Market Nutrition Coupons, and Food Stamps.

Look for Cape Ann Farmers Market at their new Location at Stage Fort Park, Thursdays 3:00-6:30 starting June 30^th.  Farmers Markets cannot subsist on vendor fees alone.  To help offset the overhead costs and continue growing their community outreach programs, Cape Ann Farmers Market needs your support.

Good Morning all:

Hope all enjoyed the weather over the weekend..  I think our next couple of task should be Cressy and Half Moon beach.  They are pretty nasty with all the snow melting.  I know on April 23, 2011 big clean up for up there but as I looked around we really need to get some of the trash out of the bushes..

So…..

When:                  Saturday, April 9, 2011

Time:                   8:00- 9 am

Where:                 Stage Fort Park

Will bring bags and please do not forget your gloves…..

Take care all and thank you

Donna Ardizzoni

Hey Joey,
I suppose it was only a matter of time, but we had a waste water disc float up today on Rocky Neck.

That seals rest on the shore?  It is a normal thing for them to do, and there is generally nothing wrong with them.  You should not disturb them, try to get them back into the water, or splash water on them.  (How would you feel is someone did that to you while you were trying to take a nap.) 

This seal was resting on Little Lighthouse Beach, although he did get disturbed on a few occasions because he was right in the path where people normally walk to go to the Lighthouse, and he kind of blended into the background.  He growled at one young girl who never saw him and nearly stepped on him.

E.J. Lefavour

www.khanstudiointernational.com

That the Gloucester High School Interact Club will be holding it’s fourth annual Pizza Taste-Off, on Wednesday, April 6^th? The event will be held at the Cruiseport, Gloucester, from 5:30-7:30 PM.

Tickets are only $8.00 for adults and $4.00 for children, five and under. Tickets are limited to 300 and will be available at the door. All proceeds from the Pizza Taste-Off will be donated to Relay for Life.

Interact is Rotary International’s service club for young people ages 12 to 18. Interact clubs are sponsored by individual Rotary clubs, which provide support and guidance, but they are self-governing and self-supporting.  Club membership varies greatly. Clubs can be single gender or mixed, large or small. They can draw from the student body of a single school or from two or more schools in the same community.

Each year, Interact clubs complete at least two community service projects, one of which furthers international understanding and goodwill. Through these efforts, Interactors develop a network of friendships with local and overseas clubs and learn the importance of

• Developing leadership skills and personal integrity
• Demonstrating helpfulness and respect for others
• Understanding the value of individual responsibility and hard work
• Advancing international understanding and goodwill

As one of the most significant and fastest-growing programs of Rotary service, with more than 10,700 clubs in 109 countries and geographical areas, Interact has become a worldwide phenomenon. Almost 200,000 young people are involved in Interact. Benefits of membership in an Interact club include the opportunity to network with other members both locally and internationally. Members also have opportunities to develop leadership skills, understand the importance of responsibility and promote international awareness. Other benefits include learning the importance of serving others, showing respect and developing personal integrity.

Gloucester High School’s Interact Club is a community service based organization under Rotary International. Through service, students help to better their community, as well as develop skills to be active members of the community.  I just learned that David Slade of Cricket Press is the Gloucester Rotary Interact Advisor for Gloucester High School’s Interact Club, and he wanted everyone to know about the Pizza Taste-Off, so come out, have some pizza, and support Gloucester High School Interact Club’s community service project to help Relay for Life.

E.J.  Lefavour

www.khanstudiointernational.com

Hooksett NH disk release
March 31, 2011 16:00 update
10AM Newburyport meeting with Hooksett, NH DEP, MA DEP:
Newburyport City HallPanel: Dick Chalpin, Mass DEP; Mike Wimsatt, New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services;Jeff Brown, Enpro; Dan Pike, EMD, Hooksett New Hampshire
Dick Chalpin gave a broad overview of the situation noting that 36 towns have been impacted as far away as Racepoint in Provincetown. Additional testing on the disks indicates that there is no additional risk of bacterial contamination from the disks than is contained in any usual trash that comes up in the beach. The Disks are therefore being considered a trash issue and not a health issue.

Mike Wimsatt, NH DES reports that there are still disks washing up on New Hampshire beaches. These disks are being randomly sampled. The vast majority came up negative for bacteria with few coming back with low levels of bacteria. NH DES has formally ordered Hooksett to develop a short term and long term plan to address the disks.

Jeff Brown, Enpro reports that they are amassing an aggressive recovery of the disks, addressing 85 locations on the coast and 55 locations on the Merrimack River. They are also addressing marshes and estuaries. They have been utilizing volunteers that normally do spring clean-up in disk collection. The Clean River Project also deployed booms in the river and collected over 100,000 disks. He reports that his estimates of recovered disks stands at about 2.5 million. The estimate of disks released is about 4 million. Enpro is focusing their attention on the Merrimack River at this time to prevent additional disks from making their way to the ocean. Going forward, Enpro expects to plan a schedule of inspections, will deploy personnel for disk recovery, continue to encourage volunteers to pick up disks and establish clean up stations for the deposit of the disks. There are also sending clean up teams to beaches that have large amounts of disks on them.

Dan Pike, EMD Hooksett NH reported that the cause of the release of the disks was the storm that deposited 2.5 inches of rain combined with the rapid snow melt due to the warm temperature caused the basins to quickly fill and overflow the plant. He also noted that a UMASS group is currently modeling the ocean currents to determine where else the disks may show up. Reimbursement guidance should be ready to be distributed shortly. Clean up costs are being estimated at 1.5-2.0 million. DEP suggests that City and towns use their own resources to pick up the disks and request reimbursement from Hooksett. Mr. Pike noted that, while Hooksett takes responsibility for the cleanup costs of the disks, payment will not be made for communities for their entire spring beach cleanups.

The question was asked about the impact of the disks on sea life. MA DEP reports that it is likely that some sea-life has been impacted, however there is no direct knowledge of detrimental impact.
The question was also asked about the clean-up of granite shoreline. “How clean is clean?” Enpro requested that they be contacted if there is a large concentration of Disks to be picked up but that they will never be able to pick up every scattered disk.

Gloucester specific:
There was a question about increased medical waste coming up on Coffins Beach. Mr. Pike from Hooksett stated that there were box filters in the Hooksett plant that screen out that type of waste, so none of that would have come from Hooksett. MA DEP also noted was that several other community’s had plants discharge during that storm, some with CSO’s which do not have the capacity to screen debris prior to discharge.

The Gloucester DPW crews have cleaned all of the public beaches and report them to be in good shape. This could change depending on wind and tide conditions. The DPW will continue to monitor the beaches and adjust their cleanup efforts accordingly. Gloucester is fortunate in that the City owns its own mechanical beach rake which has proven to be very effective in picking up these disks on the beaches that the rake can access.Citizens are still being asked to pick up the disks they see on the small beaches and dispose of them in the trash.

Currently the City of Gloucester is not cleaning private beaches. Private property owners or their organizations should contact the Town of Hooksett directly. Please contact the Emergency Management Director Dan Pike at 603-315-5216 or at DPike@Hooksett.org Private property owners can also contact ENPRO at 800-966-1102 and reference The Hooksett Event issue. The Town of Hooksett is still trying to get an 800 information line in operation but it is not up as of today.

Unless things change, this will be the last formal update. Persons with any questions or to report significant quantities of disks should contact ENPRO directly at the 800-966-1102 number.

That some people just won’t let winter go?  Liz and Morgan Crane of Annisquam had to really hunt for enough snow to build their last snowman (hopefully) of the season, while behind me, as I shot them and their ET looking snow creature, spring was in full bloom.

E.J. Lefavour

www.khanstudiointernational.com

Tom O’Keefe of Annisquam Village Realty and the Annisquam Historical Society and Frieda Grotjahn of Again and Again love and Big Up Good Morning Gloucester.  I think someone should design a sail with the GMG logo on it, so Frieda can make a GMG sail bag from it.

E.J. Lefavour

www.khanstudiointernational.com

That Aunt Seddie, on the other side, must really be enjoying the delivery of her long lost 1945 FDR Grimsland cover almost 66 years after it was mailed, probably more than if it had arrived  while she was still alive?  I received this letter from Jim O’Donnell, nephew of Mrs. S.E. Lawrence (Aunt Seddie):

Being a nephew of Sarah E. Lawrence, I just wanted to add some additional insight to the “Mail Must Go Through” topic. 

I believe my Aunt Sed would have thoroughly enjoyed all this interest in the letter and the attention it has received. Because she had a great sense of humor, I think she would have been quite amused with the reference to a “Secret Lover”. Contrary to the initial speculation, she was, however, a devoted spouse that wore her wedding ring until the day she passed which was more than 30 years after her husband’s death. Although all other family members wanted her wedding ring for various reasons, my brother, Bob, and I insisted that it remain on her finger forever as her marriage was very important to her. 

My cousin Sylvia mentions Aunt Sed bringing crafts to the Senior Center. Several family members found this to be lovingly paradoxical as she was much older than many of the seniors for which she was providing crafts. She would always say ” I am going to the Senior Center to help the elderly”, when she, in fact, was the “elderly”. Chronologically, she was older, but mentally she was “sharp as a tack”.

 Several other humorous instances give evidence of her highly independent “spirit”. In her early 90’s she tried to apply for a 10 year mortgage with a local bank to do some repairs on her house. Needless to say, the Commercial Loan Officer could not justify a 10 year mortgage to someone in their early 90’s. In another instance, she was having some repairs done to the roof of her house and while the repairs where underway, she climbed the ladder up to the roof to ensure things were being done “right” and to provide some “instruction”. This was when she was in her 80’s.

 As has been mentioned, she was an avid stamp collector. In fact, she collected and saved everything because “someone might need it someday”. Several times each summer, I would take the early morning drive from NH to Gloucester to help her with a yard sale. She valued every item, and every item had a story to go with it. Because of this, every item for the yard sale was overpriced, non-negotiable, and typically most items were brought back into the house for a sale on another day. Especially any items related to Gloucester or anything else deemed “old”.

 In the latter years of her life, she did not have a lot of money. Yet, she remained generous as she consistently sent $1 or $2 each month to 8 – 10 different charities such as the SPCA.  She also gave my son, Kevin, a number of First Day Covers from her stamp collection when he first started collecting. Although Kevin is not currently an active collector, he hopes to someday pass these on to his two sons as one of the family treasures.

She particularly loved Annisquam, Gloucester, and the history of the area as she had lived in Gloucester all her life. Her uncle’s (John B. Foster) paintings of Gloucester in the early 1900’s were also treasured by her. Although it hasn’t yet been discussed with other family members and because the envelope most likely belongs to Aunt Sed’s estate, my brother, Bob, and I, and our spouses, think it would be most fitting for the envelope to be donated to the Annisquam Historical Society where it was first delivered. Because of Sed’s love for the area, we personally believe she would be content with such a decision.

 Jim O’D

That in the early 1850’s, Mr. Beniah Colburn at one time operated the quarry at Hodgkin’s Cove, originally opened by Richard W. Ricker and Kilby P. Sargent, and later known as the quarry of the Cape Ann Granite Company?  Mr. Colburn made the first blocks now known as New York blocks, and sent them to Boston, where they were laid in Exchange Street, near the Merchants’ Bank Building.  These blocks were the first to be laid on the edge instead of on the flat. (History of Essex County, Massachusetts, volume 2, part 1 by Duane Hamilton Hurd, J.W. Lewis & Co. 1888)

Now, thanks to a partnership between the state Division of Marine Fisheries and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, the old research station at Hodgkins Cove in Bay View — once the site of the loading dock for shipping Gloucester granite, and more recently a UMass seafood research laboratory — is about to become the new, permanent home of a small but globally influential research laboratory dedicated to the study of bluefin tuna and other long-distance marine travelers.

These photos are of the old research station, and an old fishing shack at the end to the right of Hodgkins Cove.

E.J. Lefavour

www.khanstudiointernational.com