GloucesterCast 181 With @KimSmithDesigns, Kellen O’Maley and @Joey_C Taped 5/16/16International Dory Fundraiser
Schooner Challenge June 6th Now including the Adventure people can sign up-
My View of Life on the Dock
GloucesterCast 181 With @KimSmithDesigns, Kellen O’Maley and @Joey_C Taped 5/16/16Schooner Challenge June 6th Now including the Adventure people can sign up-
Poppies popping, tulips resplendent, and flower pots poised to bedazzle, The Mary Prentiss Inn, conveniently located near Harvard University, is an utterly charming bed and breakfast, outfitted with all modern amenities (and a secret garden around back). Homemade breakfast is served daily, along with freshly baked treats for afternoon tea. Jennifer, the proprietor, and Lisa, who runs the front desk, could not be more welcoming. For graduation, business, or simply a romantic get away in the heart of Cambridge, The Mary Prentiss Inn is tops!!
The Mary Prentiss Inn front dooryard garden
Tulips in the city were hard hit by a cycle of freezing and thawing, after they had started to emerge. Nonetheless the tulips at the Inn are still blooming great guns!



Last Friday evening at the Rocky Neck Cultural Center the most recent episode of Fish Tales, a live story-telling event from the Gloucester Writers Center, was presented to a full house of listeners. Each story, lasting about five minutes, was a true story from the lives of the women pictured above. Although I have been attending these events that occur every month or so for more than three years, I don’t think there has ever been a more powerful line-up than these women represented. From left to right: Virginia McKinnon (Storyteller in Residence), Grace Schrafft, Natalie Simon, Kim Lord, Maureen Aylward (Show-runner and MC), Karen Ristuben, Kathy Lordan, Barbara Boudreau. Audio of this show is available at the GWC website. http://gloucesterwriters.org/archives/. Give a listen, you’ll be glad you did.
And stay tuned for the next Fish Tales, Friday, July 8, on the theme Play Ball!





Is it just me….or does that look like a whale in a tree?

More Cape Ann Health, Fitness and Wellness News-
http://www.capeannwellness.com
“Being more peaceful and passive is not what will help us overcome the obstacles of modern life. We need a raging dharma to help us face the raging challenges that we face as modern people making money, raising families, and living our vision in the world.”
Cape Ann Power Yoga is thrilled to announce that we’re hosting meditation and provocative discussion with David H. Wagner this Thursday, May 19 from 6-7:30.
This is a discussion and meditation practice so we encourage you to bring a bolster or comfortable seat. If you want to practice before hand we will have our regularly scheduled 4:30-5:45 all levels power yoga class.
GHS girls win easily in game with Salem. One of the highlights was rare triple play by the Fishermen.
Shadblow blooming with Red-winged Blackbird coming in for a landing
Male Yellow Warbler hopping through the Shadblow branches eating small insects
Shadbow, Shadbush, Chuckleberry Tree, Serviceberry, and Juneberry are just a few of the descriptive names given the beautiful Shadblow tree lighting up our marsh and woodland edges. With lacey white flowers, Shadblow (Amelanchier canadensis) is one of the first of the natives to bloom in spring, growing all along the Atlantic coastal plains.
A fantastic tree for the wild garden, over 26 species of songbirds and mammals, large and small, are documented dining on the fruits of Shadblow (including bears). The small blue fruits are delicious, though rarely consumed by people because wildlife are usually first at the table. The foliage of Shadblow is a caterpillar food plant for the Red Admiral Butterfly. Look for her eggs on the upper surface at the tip of the leaf.
Shadblow in bud  at the water’s edge with dewdrop necklace
Fruiting in June at the same time of year as the annual spawning migration of shad, is how the names Shadblow and Juneberry came about. The common name Serviceberry is derived from the flower clusters gathered for use in church services.
Shadblow in bloom Loblolly Cove
The Shadblow and reeds create a beautiful symbiotic habitat for the blackbirds, Grackles and Red-wings, especially. Reeds of cattails and phragmites make ideal nesting material and sites, and come June, above the nesting area, a songbird feast of Shadblow berries ripens.

Male Common Grackles nest building in reeds
Female Red-winged Blackbird perched on cattail while collecting fluff for her nest and calling to her mate.
“What happens in this race anyhow?” Racing, of course, with some cheating too (as revealed in the video), along with photo competitions, songwriting contest, creative knot tying, and much more! Everyone is welcome to participate, but hurry and sign up today because tickets are going fast.
Check out this super fun video from Barry O’Brien, featuring our Gloucester Captains Tom and Heath Ellis of the Schooner Thomas E. Lannon, Captain Stefan Edick of the Schooner Adventure, and Captain Harold Burnham of the Schooner Ardelle.
JOIN THE 4th ANNUAL SCHOONER CHALLENGE! Monday, June 6th, 6 to 8 pm. The Schooners Adventure, Lannon, and Adelle join forces to help us to protect and preserve the Schooner Evelina M. Goulart here at the shipbuilding museum. Schooners sail from The Maritime Gloucester dock on Harbor Loop. More fun than you can imagine. Sign up at www.essexshipbuildingmuseum.org, or call Marcia at (978) 375-3337 today! Tickets will sell fast!
Video by Barry O’Brien, with footage lent by Marty Luster


When Lilacs Last  in the Door-Yard Bloom’d by Walt Whitman, is, in my very humble opinion, one of the greatest works ever produced by an American poet. At first reading, it is an exquisite elegy for Abraham Lincoln who was loved by Whitman and whose assassination shattered the poet. Slowly and carefully reading (preferably aloud) the poem’s 200-plus lines reveals a greater and deeper treasury of meaning through a rich orchestration of poetic devices.
I first encountered Lilacs in about 1960 while attending Long Island University in Whitman’s hometown of Brooklyn, NY.  My teacher was Professor Scott (I don’t remember his first name) who, like the Robin Williams character in Dead Poets Society, brought Whitman alive for me and made him my life-long companion.
If you’ve never read Lilacs, or if you’ve not read it since college, give it a go.
Here it is:
http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poems/detail/45480

If you haven’t been to Foreign  Affairs in Manchester  you don’t know what you’re missing ESPCIALLY for Brunch!
The infamous  Bloody Mary bar!
Tyler was feeling southern with some chicken n’ waffles

I couldn’t resist the Fried Oyster  Benedict

Seriously get there ASAP! You won’t  be disappointed! Chef Ryan and team are Unbelievable!

There is a three day science meeting I go to in a secret location on Cape Ann. I go to all three days because Willow Rest caters it. Rubber Duck gains three pounds.