Summer time is a chance to refine your practice and to make new friends. At Cape Ann Power Yoga we’re taking a little more time in classes to work alignment, to move toward new poses, and to bring in some classical yoga philosophy.
To keep us all motivated we’ve got a challenge for you! In the month of August:
practice 15 times, get a CAPY water bottle
practice 25 times, get a CAPY tank or T
practice 31 times, get a CAPY yogi toes!
**All practices to be done at CAPY. Prizes DO accumulate, if you come 31 times you get all three! Students keep track of their classes in a notebook at the studio (don’t fib, karma will get you if you do!)
Ingredients, 3 medium russet potatos, four thick cut strips of bacon, some shredded three cheese Mexican blend, canola oil, coarse salt, cracked black pepper, your favorite BBQ rub, sour cream and chopped scallions (optional).
First you select some medium sized russet potatos and pierce them with a fork about three times on opposing sides of the potato. Then toss ’em in the microwave for 3 and a half minutes to soften them up. Let them cool a bit so you can slice them into just under a quarter inch discs.
Coat with canola, peanut or olive oil, some coarse salt black pepper and if you have a little rub laying around give ’em a sprinkle of that too. If you use a cheap aluminum disposable pan you can use that to toss the potatos in the oil and seasonings and then put it aside for use after they crisp up…
For the past ten weeks, each morning very early before work I have been filming the Good Harbor Beach shorebirds and their habitat, and when not too tired from work, would go back again at the end of the day. For the most part, it has been a tremendously educational and rewarding experience, and I love Good Harbor and its wild creatures even more than when I began the Piping Plover project. We are so fortunate to have this incredibly beautiful and beloved treasure of a beach in our midst, and so easily accessed. As much as I have enjoyed filming the wildlife, it has been equally as fun to observe the myriad wonderful ways in which people enjoy the beach recreationally and that too is part of the Good Harbor Beach Piping Plover story.
Take a closer look at the shorebirds next time you are at Good Harbor Beach. Small and swift, they can look similar, but once you begin to study their behaviors, each species becomes easier to identify.
New female Piping Plover on the scene with very pale coloring
Good Harbor Beach is currently home to three different species of plovers. We all know about our beautiful Piping Plover family. The lone surviving chick and Dad were last seen heading deep, deep, deep into the salt marsh. Since that time, several new Piping Plovers have joined the scene, two females and a male. We can tell they are different from our original mated pair by their feather pattern and bill color.
Earlier in the summer, four Killdeer chicks hatched at the edge of the GHB salt marsh. It was pretty scary filming the Killdeer family because all six were running willy nilly every which way throughout the beach parking lot on a very busy weekend morning. In the next photo, taken several days ago, you can see that the family has grown quickly.
Killdeers are the largest of the the three species of plovers seen in Massachusetts, nearly twice as large as the pocket-sized Piping Plover. That fact didn’t stop the male Piping Plover from defending its nesting territory. Notice the two dark bands around the neck and chest of the Killdeer.
Half the size of his foe, our male Piping Plover is vigorously chasing the intruding Killdeer from his nesting territory
The Killdeer has a dark band encircling its neck and a second band across its chest
The third species of plovers at GHB is the Semipalmated Plover. Although only slightly larger than the Piping Plover, the difference is easy to spot by the darker brown wings. Compare the single neck ring of the Semipalmated Plover to that of the Killdeer’s double set of rings. Unlike Piping Plovers and Killdeers, Semipalmated Plovers do not breed in Massachusetts but in northern Canada and Alaska. At this time of year we are observing their southward migration to the southern United States, Caribbean, and South America.
Semipalmated Plover
Semipalmated Plovers are often seen in mixed flocks with Semipalmated Sandpipers and Least Sandpipers. Semipalmated Sandpipers have black legs. Least Sandpipers have distinctly colored yellowish legs.
Semipalmated Plover and Semipalmated Sandpipers
Least Sandpiper
Note that all of the shorebirds mentioned here are also currently at Wingaersheek Beach.
Semipalmated Plover
Least Sandpiper
Semipalmated Plover resting
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Another Beach day on Saturday, Riley and Hanna came to spend the weekend with Papa and Nonnie, plus the Magnolia Beach Club had their Sand Castle contest that the little kids do. Riley made a little castle and even earned a Ribbon. All the little kids get a blue winner with a description of their castle. On Sunday we went sightseeing and the kids had a great time.
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Leonard Lopate welcomes poets, painters, politicians, novelists, dancers, Nobel and Pulitzer winners, filmmakers and actors to talk about their work each afternoon on WNYC’s acclaimed arts and culture interview program. The Leonard Lopate Show has been the proud recipient of three James Beard Awards and three Associated Press Awards.
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The Gloucester Harvest Music Festival is coming up on September 17th and they are accepting applications for Vendors to set up during the event. It is a $30.00 donation to the Addison Gilbert Hospital Citizens Fund for your space (you bring your own tent and table). If you are interested, contact Alex Kadim, alexkadim@gmail.com for the Sponsor Pack. Check out their website for the musical lineup!
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While spending an afternoon at Cape Hedge Beach the other day, this kind of rare sight flew (or glided) overhead. I’m guessing it was a hang glider…..which, I kid you not, I always thought was called “hand gliding” until yesterday….or maybe a microlight. It was hard to see in the sun and my iPhone couldn’t zoom in too much.
Anyone else see it?
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HELP WANTED – GLOUCESTER , NORTH SHORE. STERNMAN – LOBSTER BOAT
Experience preferred. Must be hard working with fast hands. Non- Smoker, Non- Drinker. Completely Drug free. Must have own vehicle.
Leave Name and phone number. Mike – 781-249-2818. No calls after 6 p.m.
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In 2005 Steve met Amy, who had just recently moved back from Portland, the coffee mecca of the US. Coffee quickly became a hot topic between the two of them. When they married two years later and found out they were having twins, the idea for Twin Lights Coffee was born. They bought the domain name and then and there – a dream for someday.
Fast forward 8 years – Steven still, crazy about coffee: the craft, the process and the product. He perfected a small batch cold brew recipe at home – rich, tasty and so smooth it went down like ice velvet. He was so excited with the results, he mentioned it at his workout class, more than a few times — until one day his friends said, “Well, bring it in!”
Emerson Inn was purchased by the Migis Hotel Group in 2015, again renovating the Inn to further hone it’s historic charm and local character. The on-site restaurant, formerly known as the Grand Cafe, was rebranded and reopened as the Pigeon Cove Tavern, an ode to the legacy of the Norwood Family and the original Pigeon Cove House.
Nathan Brackett Executive editor of Rolling Stone Magazine Rockport native speaking on Music and media at the Rockport Public Library Monday August 8th at 7PM
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Look for this unmistakeable gull at Good Harbor Beach. It has been here for several days. You can’t miss his distinguished black head and deepest slate gray wings. If lucky, he may even laugh his funny laugh for you. This is a first for me, seeing a Laughing Gull at Good Harbor Beach. When I was a child we would see them often at my Grandparent’s beach on Cape Cod. If you have seen Laughing Gulls on Cape Ann please write and let us know.
Mass Audubon’s historic status on the Laughing Gull reports that this smallest of our breeding gulls has had a difficult time reproducing in Massachusetts. In the mid 1800s, Laughing Gulls reigned over Muskeget Island, off the Nantucket coast, but within a 25-year period, commercial eggers reduced their population to but only a few nesting pairs. “By 1923, however, protective actions taken by the keeper of the island’s lifesaving station helped the Laughing Gull population rebound to the thousands. Further bolstered by the protection afforded by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918, Laughing Gulls expanded their colony at Muskeget Island to 20,000 pairs by the 1940s. Unfortunately, a preponderance of Herring Gulls also benefited from the protection of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, as well as from the increase in food available to them at open landfills at that time.” The rise of the Herring Gull has ultimately led to the severe decline of breeding Laughing Gulls in Massachusetts and today there are thought to be only about 500 pairs. Imagine, from 20,000 pairs to only 500!
One interesting fact is that not only do they nest in Dune Grass, but also have a penchant for dense patches of Poison Ivy. The Good Harbor Beach Laughing Gull has been foraging on crustaceans and invertebrates at the tide pools.
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So I’m in the hardware store and Rebecca shows me some fly paper. Remember that brown sticky tape your grandpa hung in the shop to catch flies? It still works and comes complete with a large thumbtack.
Then I found a Spearow at the info booth and he was trying to sell me a thermometer that I could “Hide-a-Key” and I told him, “Well if I was a burglar and saw this thermometer on the front porch I would know exactly where the house key was” so I threw a Poke Ball at him and I’ve already traded him in to Professor Willow.
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Old Cold Tater, with Chick & Ellen concert on Wednesday, August 3, at 7pm Antonio Gentile Bandstand, Stage Fort Park, Hough Avenue, Gloucester MA.
These outstanding acoustic musicians promise a great evening of Bluegrass at its best. This concert is sponsored by Cazeault Solar & Home. The concert is free to the public. Parking is free and the venue and rest rooms are wheelchair-accessible. Bring a blanket or chair and perhaps picnic dinner.
For further information please visit DavidLBenjamin.com or call 978-281-0543
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Good Morning Gloucester 