MONARCH BUTTERFLIES AT SALEM STATE UNIVERSITY! -BY KIM SMITH

Posted on by Kimsmithdesigns

Please join us on Thursday evening at Salem State University for Earth Days Week celebrations and awards ceremony. I am giving the keynote address.

This event is entirely free and open to the public. I hope to see you there!

I have been pouring through photos from this year’s past late great Monarch migration to create the new “Beauty on the Wing” program that I am giving Thursday evening at Salem State.

My favorite thing to do photographing butterflies is to capture them mid-flight.  Working on landscape design projects and film projects back to back I only had time to upload and didn’t have a chance to look through the film footage and photos daily. I discovered a bunch of photos that are worthy of adding to the presentation–a photographer’s idea of finding buried treasure–and these are two of my favorites.

GREAT DININNG EXPERIENCE AT THE BROWN DOG IN IPSWICH!

Posted on by Kimsmithdesigns

Cape Ann has a wealth of restaurants from which to choose, and we love our favorites passionately. Occasionally though we enjoy trying new places off Cape. One of my husbands’s oldest and nicest friends, Bob Vallis, has opened a fabulous pub in downtown Ipswich. Located at the former Zabaglione address, The Brown Dog serves the best of wonderfully fresh and hearty American cuisine/comfort food within a casually inviting and cozy atmosphere.

Gloucester residents may recall that Bob formerly owned the Blackburn Tavern. Chef Doug Papaws, also from Gloucester, is working his magic in the kitchen. I had without a doubt the best fried oysters I have ever had in my life. They tasted on the inside as sweetly plump and succulent as freshly shucked oysters, but with a light touch of deeply golden fried crusty deliciousness on the outside. Tom tried the chili and baked chicken, also both stellar, and the key lime pie was the perfect touch of creamy citrusy fresh sweetness. We loved our waitress–I think her name is Eleanor, and her mom, also known as the local librarian, helps out on weekends with hostessing.

Thanks to Bob and Doug and our lovely waitress for a great night out!

Cell phone photos don’t do the fabulous fare justice–so just go and check it out for your self!

The Brown Dog is located at 14 Central Street in Ipswich. Phone 978-312-6362 and visit The Brown Dog website here.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BhULBcRFNh6/

here.

Beautiful Fish: Striped Bass -By Al Bezanson

Posted on by Kimsmithdesigns
Striped Bass, Striper, Rockfish, Rock, Linesides

The bass grows to a great size, the heaviest of which we have found definite record being several of about 125 pounds that were taken at Edenton, N. C., in April 1891.  Stripers are powerful fish; so strong in fact, that they appear to have no difficulty in handling themselves in the surf, where one is sometimes seen actually in the translucent crest of a comber just before the latter breaks.  The bass is very voracious, feeding on smaller fishes of whatever kind may be available, and on a wide variety of invertebrates. Lists of its stomach contents for one locality or another include alewife, anchovy, croakers, channel bass, eels, flounders, herring, menhaden, mummichogs, mullet, rock eels (Pholis gunnellus), launce, sculpins, shad, silver hake, silversides, smelt, tomcod, weakfish, white perch, lobsters, crabs of various kinds, shrimps, isopods, gammarid crustaceans, various worms, squid, soft clams (Myra) and small mussels. In our Gulf the larger bass prey chiefly on herring, smelt, sand launce, eels, and silver hake, on squid (on which they gorge when they have the opportunity), on crabs large and small, on lobsters, and on sea worms.  When bass are gorging on any one particular prey it is common knowledge among fishermen that they are likely to ignore food of other sorts for the time being. It seems also that when prey is plentiful, bass are likely to gorge, then cease feeding to digest, then to gorge again; also that all the members of a given school are likely to do this in unison, with consequent annoyance to the angler.

 

From Fishes of the Gulf of Maine by Bigelow and Schroeder (1953) online courtesy of MBL/WHOI http://www.gma.org/fogm/Roccus_saxatilis.htm

 

Al Bezanson

 

Upcycling Make andTake for Kids

Posted on by Donna Ardizzoni

 

Spring is in full swing, even if the weather disagrees. We’ve got 3 great events coming up next week, so mark your calendars…
First up, bring the kids to Sawyer Free Library on Thursday, April 19th from 10-11am to learn how to make a reusable bag from a t-shirt! All materials will be provided, so please RSVP here: http://www.eventkeeper.com/code/events.cfm?curOrg=SFL#5468882

Congratulations, Champions

Posted on by Nichole S.

To my boy and his boys…..Congratulations.  Be proud.  You left it all on the ice.

After 8 months of play the hockey season has come to an end and this phenomenal team came out on top.  Even after being moved up from Squirt AAA in the Valley League to the Elite Division, they managed to remain in first place through to the end of the season.  During three weekends of playoff hockey, they won the quarterfinals, the semifinals, and ultimately the Championship game, against Concord, at the Haverhill Valley Forum. 

Squirt 1 wrapped up the season with a super impressive 32-4-3 league record and are now the Valley Elite National Champions. 

After #81 strolled into the locker room one day and cheered, “LET’S GO BOYS,”  the 2018 CAYH Squirt 1’s team motto was adopted….and they did just that time and time again until the final buzzer of the final game!

Those are the stats and the facts.  More important to me, as a mother, are the lessons learned, the friendships forged, and the memories created.  These boys are together two hours at a time at least four days per week.  That doesn’t take into account tournament weekends away, team lunches/dinners, spontaneous sleepovers, birthday parties, BBQs, and hours clocked on facetime when not actually in the same car, room, or rink.  They have each other’s backs, they lift each other up, they motivate each other, they applaud each other, they are each other’s biggest fans…and occasionally critics…and that’s ok too.  Both of my boys have learned that the relationship amongst teammates is something to treasure.  I love that they have that….I love that they appreciate it…..I love that they recognize it as a luxury not to be squandered.

These boys text each other often….and most certainly after the final game of the year.  A game, worth noting, that marks the end of…in many cases….a five-year run of skating together (maybe even 6!).  Another mom stumbled across their text chain on Sunday.  In it Thatcher wrote, “I can’t believe this was the last time that we’ll all skate together, but we’ll be brothers forever.”  He gets it.  Team.

I have no words to properly describe the absolutely devastating Humboldt Broncos Hockey team tragedy that occurred this past weekend.  Weighing on our minds and certainly our hearts while watching our boys huddle up on the ice were those families, friends, coaches, teammates….and everyone who touched their lives.  A team is a very important dynamic.  Dare I say that a hockey team is a thing unto itself….another level of friendship and camaraderie….often times precious beyond words.  My heart is broken for them as much as it swells for my boys.

We owe a giant THANK YOU to Cape Ann Youth Hockey for the volunteerism that takes places amongst coaches, staff, parents, directors, and more.  Thank you for nurturing this family of skaters, thank you for the hours, the guidance, the encouragement, and the commitment that you all make.

Thank you in particular to the coaches of CAYH’s Squirt 1.  You’ve given these boys something that no one else could.  Frank, Jamie, Scott, Fred, Brian, and often Todd, THANK YOU.

 

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NOT THREE BUT FOUR PIPING PLOVERS ON GOOD HARBOR BEACH! (AND ONE DUNLIN)

Posted on by Kimsmithdesigns

April 7th

Saturday at 5:30pm and there are not three, but four PiPl!! The Dunlin is still here and doing everything Plover, it is so funny to see. I think we have three males and one female.

They were sleeping at the wrack line but as the sun was setting, more and more dogs. They don’t seem to mind people playing in close proximity, but then a bunch of dogs ran through where they were resting and so down to the water’s edge they flew.

Sixteen off leash between 5:30 – 7pm, and it’s an on leash day. I avoid GHB during the off season because of dog owners that allow their dogs to jump on you, but it is so disheartening to see them running wild through the dunes. So much habitat destruction taking place. How will the dog owners respond when they learn the Piping Plovers have returned and are nesting again at GHB I wonder.

April 8th

Total mayhem on the beach. Dogs are everywhere, on the shoreline, the wrack zone, and running completely wild through the dunes. One knocked me over. I love dogs but this is crazy. The PiPl don’t have a chance and it’s too distressing to watch them try and rest and forage and nest and constantly be chased off.

Precisely where they were sleeping at the wrack line, a couple threw their dog’s tennis ball right smack at the PiPl. So startled, I and the PiPl both jumped up half a foot, before they flew off. Of course the couple didn’t know the PIPl were sleeping but it’s just really, really frustrating.

I wish so much we could do what they do at Crane’s Beach, where during the off season, dogs are allowed on a section of the beach. And at Cranes dog owners do not allow their dogs to run rampant through the dunes.

Tom came back from a walk at noon and couldn’t find the PiPl anywhere, and he is really good at spotting. I’ll check back at sunset to see if the PiPl can be found. Praying and hoping they have found a safe place.

Heartbroken. No plovers at sunset, anywhere, walked from the creek to the hotel twice. Still chaotic with dogs. Will try tomorrow at dawn.

Pretty Mama Plover

The boys of spring.

April 9th

Hooray!! Daybreak and I found them, three Plovers sleeping all in a row! Hopefully will find the other PiPl and Dunlin later today. Emailed Ken Whittaker, Gloucester’s awesome conservation agent, and we are meeting this afternoon. The goal is to get a cordoned off area in place before the next weekend when dogs are off leash. Reminder to let people know to contact Ken if they would like to help this summer by being a Plover ambassador.

Three in a row sleeping this morning, with Mama in the middle

Large dead Black-backed Gull on the beach near the big rock and will move that this afternoon after I speak with Ken. We don’t want to attract varmints to the Plovers’ nesting area!

PIPING PLOVER AMBASSADORS NEEDED!

Posted on by Kimsmithdesigns

If you would like to become a Piping Plover ambassador and cover Plover monitoring shifts this season at Good Harbor Beach please contact Gloucester’s conservation agent Ken Whittaker to volunteer.

Thank you so much, and the PiPl thank you, too!!

Ken Whittaker contact information: kwhittaker@gloucester-ma.gov

Male Piping Plover sleeping and PiPl tracks in the sand.

Cork and Canvas with Kathy Roberts

Posted on by Donna Ardizzoni

When: Friday, April 13, 2018
Time: 05:00 – 07:30 pm
Where: Essex Wine Exchange
91 Main Street, Essex, MA 01929

Please join us Friday the 13th, for the third installment of our monthly art and wine tasting series: Cork and Canvas. This month we are featuring Kathy Roberts. Kathy is a Gloucester native who specializes in water color paintings. Whether it is a seascape, landscape or fresh cut flowers, Kathy’s use of dynamic color is truly spectacular. Please join us as we pop some corks and admire her fine work. See you there. Thank you.

Parker River

Posted on by davefernandes2

Sometimes I do get off the island lol,, here is a shot I took at the Parker River Refuge beach side at sunset Saturday afternoon.

I couldn’t believe the amount of sand that had been pushed up onto the boardwalk.

House Fire in West Gloucester Still Smoldering Monday Morning

Posted on by Kimsmithdesigns

The once beautiful home owned by restaurateur Steve DiFillippo, of Davio’s fame, that burned overnight Saturday to Sunday morning is still smoldering as of early this morning. The wind is blowing fiercely out on the neck.

To read the full story, see today’s Gloucester Times.

Gloucester Smiles-883

Posted on by Manuel F. Simoes

Headed to Sugar Magnolias for his Birthday Breakfast

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Enjoying the News while waiting to be seated at Sugar Magnolias

Off the Island

Posted on by Bridgette Mathews

Sending some warm, breezy sunshine your way this morning from Riviera Maya, Mexico!  Went down to the beach for sunrise and it was a gorgeous, breezy 79 degrees…just us, the waves and the birds chirping.   A girl could get used to this 😀  (note to self…Camera + Air conditioning + Humidity = foggy lens..but I kind of like the soft, diffusion)  Happy Monday all!