Happy President’s Day: FDR in Gloucester, Carrancho family and FSA photos
You can find a historic panel about Roosevelt’s visit included as part of the HarborWalk Fisherman’s Wharf display. I’m posting this in tribute to Manny Carrancho. The photographs and history shared by Manny Carrancho (1923-2017), Ken Joyce and their family for the Fisherman’s Wharf exhibit make the FDR plaque incredible. The 2015 photograph above shows the beautiful Carrancho family at Fisherman Wharf by the historic plaque vastly improved by his photos, knowledge and stories.
you can click thumbnails to enlarge
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FBI sting operations: MA art and MA fishing
FBI posed as art buyers for Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum heist scam
Thirteen works of art were stolen from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum March 18, 1990, one of the highest profile art thefts of the century and listed as #2 on the FBI top 10 art crimes list. There has been an ongoing investigation for recovery ever since including incentive for tips that was raised to ten million dollars. Todd Andrew Desper of West Virginia had the dead stupid and criminal intent to advertise the Gardner Museum’s masterpieces, The Storm of the Sea of Galilee by Rembrandt (for 5 million), and The Concert by Vermeer (for 50 million) …wait for it…on Craigslist overseas. FBI posed as potential buyers and arrested Desper May 20, 2017. He was indicted by a federal grand jury in Boston on July 20, 2017. Here’s a link to the FBI press release. Last week, Desper plead guilty to wire fraud and attempted wire fraud. Sentencing is scheduled for May 15th.
Meanwhile, the Berkshire Museum case is pending Single Justice decision.
“Famed Fishing Port Shudders as Its Codfather Goes to Jail
excerpt from New York Times Feb 11, 2018 article by Jess Bidgood:
“Carlos Rafael, who ruled New Bedford’s fishing of cod and haddock, was caught lying about his catches. Now the piers have grown quiet.”
“Carlos Rafael, whose initials are emblazoned on boats all over this port city, boasted that his fishing empire was worth even more than official records showed. His trick? When he caught fish that are subject to strict catch limits, like gray sole or cod, he would report that his nets were filled with something far more plentiful, like haddock.
“We call them something else, it’s simple,” Mr. Rafael told visitors who seemed interested in buying his business. “We’ve been doing it for over 30 years.” He showed off a special ledger labeled “cash.” And he described an under-the-table deal he had going with a New York fish buyer, saying at one point, “You’ll never find a better laundromat.”
But Mr. Rafael’s visitors turned out to be Internal Revenue Service agents, and the conversations, caught on tape and described in court documents, began the unraveling of Mr. Rafael, whose reign over a segment of this region’s fishing industry gave him his larger-than-life nickname, “the Codfather…” read the complete article
I didn’t know John Bullard, NOAA Northeast Administrator who worked there from 2012-and retired Jan 5, 2018–was a former Mayor of New Bedford, despite good coverage on his tenure in the Gloucester Daily Times. I missed that detail but it jumped out to me with the sting stories. Maybe more reason to be recused from Gloucester decisions…
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Music Around Town ~ February 19-25, 2018
click photo for music info
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Hodgkins Cove
The lighting for this shot worked out pretty well. Not sure why i had never photographed this before.
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Photo shenanigans
I’m always on the hunt to find new ways to shoot the same old scenes and this weekend while up in North Conway I played around with a 60 mm Lensball I bought last summer but never even took it out of my camera bag until yesterday. It’s definitely a challenge to figure out how to shoot a scene with, but it certainly gets me thinking of some old home town scenes that could be shot differently! (I should add that this is a single exposure flipped in post processing so that the train image in the ball was the focus)
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Tartine Kitchen & Eatery
Thanks to a colleague I tried a new place for lunch last week…Tartine Kitchen & Eatery at 192 Cabot Street in Beverly.
The menu consists of unique light breakfast choices, salads, quiches, soups, sides, desserts…and even wine and Belgian beers.
My problem was that I wanted to try about seven different things, but I went with the avocado toast….and it was delicious. I think next time I’ll go with the Nut Butter toast and then maybe brie, pear, and honey or the fig and goat cheese tartines.
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Members Only in Manchester
“Did you bring your card? I forgot mine.”
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Trivia Night to Benefit Rotary Programs
The Rotary Club of Gloucester will host a Trivia Night on Friday, March 23, at the Gloucester House, located at 63 Rogers Street in downtown Gloucester. The doors will open at 6 p.m. and the game will begin at 7 p.m. Teams of four will compete for the title of Cape Ann Trivia Champions. Register before March 16 and be entered to win a special Early Bird Registration raffle!
All trivia fans are invited to this fun night of knowledge and laughter. The registration fee is $100 for a team of four players. Proceeds from this event will support programs of the Gloucester Rotary Club. The night will also feature a 50/50 raffle, a cash bar, and light snacks for purchase. Registration forms may be obtained any Gloucester Rotary Club member or may be downloaded from www.GloucesterRotary.org or www.Facebook.com/RotaryGloucesterMA.
The mission of Rotary International is to provide service to others, promote integrity, and advance world understanding, goodwill, and peace through its fellowship of business, professional, and community leaders.
Trivia Night to Benefit Rotary Programs
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HELLO HEDWIG! WHAT ARE YOU EATING? SNOWY OWL WEEKEND UPDATE -By Kim Smith
Hedwig has been seen daily along the backshore, mostly laying low during the day. She has become quite expert in fooling the crows as to her whereabouts.
Fog, snow, rain, or sunshine, she isn’t deterred much from her routine of sleeping, resting, and grooming during the day, in preparation for an evening of hunting.
Early this week I watched in amazement as Hedwig swooped down from her perch and flew hundreds of feet directly to the rocks and in between crevasses. She resurfaced with a small mammal in her mouth and ate it very quickly–from the time she flew off her perch until she gave a satisfied lick of her beak could not have taken more than three minutes. I felt very fortunate to have witnessed a glimpse of her hunting prowess, albeit all too brief.
Perhaps the tail is too long for a mouse or rat and too short for a vole, but perhaps not. Small mammal caretaker Erin Whitmore wrote with her suggestion. What do you think Hedwig is eating?
Hedwig eating a black and white sea duck.
Again, tonight she flew off her perch, this time heading out to sea. In mere minutes she returned with a sea duck of some sort and proceeded to eviscerate, much to the thrill of her Sunday evening fan club. The lighting was low and I was mostly filming, but did manage a few stills. The duck was black and white and as she mostly sat on her catch while eating, it was difficult to determine which species. Without a crow in sight (as they had surely settled for the night), Hedwig ate well into the early evening.
The feathers were flying! Hedwig with feathers on her face but it’s almost too dark to see.
She’s finding the eating here in Gloucester excellent, but with the warm weather predicted for the upcoming week, I wonder if Hedwig will stay or that will be a cue to depart for the Arctic.
Please don’t get electrocuted Hedwig, as happened recently to a Snowy in southern Massachusetts!
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SNOWY DAY MORNING VIOLET SKIES TO BLUE -By Kim Smith
As the snow storm departed the early morning skies shifted from hues of violet gray to brilliant blue. 
Ten Pound Island Lighthouse
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BEAUTIFUL FISH: FLYING FISH -By Al Bezanson
Their most distinctive feature is that their pectorals are so long and so stiff that their owners can plane through the air on them, several feet above the water, which they do mostly in attempts to escape their enemies … this so-called “flight” (really not flight at all, for the flyingfish does not flap its wings)
Voyagers in tropical seas are perhaps more familiar with flyingfishes than any other fishes.
From Fishes of the the Gulf of Maine by Bigelow and Schroeder, 1953
Personal account … For close encounters of the flyingfish kind let me recommend a long voyage in a small, slow sailboat. In the Tongue of the Ocean, an immense blue marlin soaring by with mouth agape in a flock of flyingfish, at my eye level, about 25 feet abeam. That was in 1961 and still vivid. Or becalmed far at sea, dozing at the tiller at night, a flyingfish glancing off my ear. When we picked up a cat (named Scurvy) for the return voyage to Boston, her duty at first light was to gather flyingfish who had gone aground on our deck during the night. (Al Bezanson)
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$750,000 #NEH grant opportunity for Gloucester…many possible ideas and projects!
Archival documentation of a federal grant awarded to Gloucester and nationally recognized for its innovation at the time: reclaiming the City dump for an athletic field at the High School. Photographs of the project included a sweeping vista from atop Hovey Street.
Shared projects and working together are a focus for a new 2018 NEH grant opportunity.
Contact Mayor Romeo Theken’s arts & culture hotline sefatia4arts@gloucester-ma.gov by Febraury 28 to add to a list of potential projects for Gloucester for this NEH Deadline, March 15, or to consider as other funding opportunities arise.
Mayor Romeo Theken shares the 2018 press release from the Commonwealth:
- Activities supported by National Endowment for the Humanities Challenge Grant funds include:
- capital expenditures such as the design, purchase, construction, restoration or renovation of facilities and historic landscapes;
- the purchase of equipment and software;
- the documentation of cultural heritage materials that are lost or imperiled:
- the sustaining of digital scholarly infrastructure;
- the preservation and conservation of collections; and
- the sharing of collections.
“The grant below is a new grant from NEH and could be a great opportunity to enhance your local cultural or historical organizations. Please share it far and wide. And let us know if we can provide a letter of support for an application from your community.” Regards, Rick Jakious
“Good afternoon,
Thank you,Timothy H. Robison, Director of Congressional Affairs
The National Endowment for the Humanities has just announced a new grant program to support humanities infrastructures. Cultural institutions, such as libraries, museums, archives, colleges and universities, and historic sites, are eligible to apply for grants of up to $750,000.
These challenge grants, which require a match of nonfederal funds, may be used toward capital expenditures such as construction and renovation projects, purchase of equipment and software, sharing of humanities collections between institutions, documentation of lost or imperiled cultural heritage, sustaining digital scholarly infrastructure, and preservation and conservation of humanities collections.
The application deadline for the first NEH Infrastructure and Capacity-Building Challenge Grants is March 15, 2018. Interested applicants should direct questions about grant proposals to challenge@neh.govor 202-606-8309.
Please consider sharing this exciting new funding opportunity with cultural institutions in your district.”
National Endowment for the Humanities. 400 7th Street, SW 4th Floor.
Washington, D.C. 20506
(202) 606-8273
Innovative and worthy contemporary Gloucester possibilities abound: shared Archives (NSAA, Rocky Neck, Sargent House, City Archives, CAM, Legion, Libraries, Wards historical societies, etc.); digitize City Archives; Digitize Gloucester Daily Times archives; building and historic landscape projects that are city owned (City Archives, City Hall, Legion, Fitz Henry Lane, Fire Station, Stage Fort, beaches, etc) or in partnership; DPW work; and on and on.
Additional grant opportunities, news, and deadlines:
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Bless You, My Child
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Ducks at the State Pier
Love going to the State Pier to see the ducks and sometimes seals. On Saturday the ducks were have a great time.
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Bees Pollinators – Think about it now!
James Liega is offering to bring bees to your garden this to pollinate your garden or fruit trees. He is at his honey shack on Essex Avenue, Saturday’s from 10-3 or by phone 781-983-0267.
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Soft Glow
Once I saw the hollowed out skiff I knew it needed to be photographed before someone removed it. Long exposure with soft skies and Magnolia Pier as a backdrop.
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Frozen Beauty
Ice Beauties
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TOTAL TEAR DOWN
Brace Cove
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BEAUTIFUL FISH: SEAHORSE – By Al Bezanson
“The sea horse grotesquely resembles the “knight” in an ordinary set of wooden chessmen in its sidewise flattened body, in its deep convex belly, in its curved neck and in its curious horselike head carried at right angles to the general axis of the body. The head is surmounted by a pentagonal star-shaped “coronet,” and the snout is tubular with the small oblique mouth at its tip, like that of its relative the pipefish.”
This exquisite pen and ink drawing from 1883 by H. L. Todd is just one of many by this artist in Fishes of the Gulf of Maine by Bigelow and Schroeder, 576 pp, 1953. The book is available free online courtesy of MBL/WHOI. http://www.gma.org/fogm/
Good Morning Gloucester 