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My View of Life on the Dock
You should have seen my boys’ eyes when we told them that we were renting a car for our weekend getaway to New York City….and then pulled into the Maserati Dealership…and then moved right along to the waaay back of the lot to the rental agency to pick up our mad minivan.
I’m still laughing.
But, really…who do they think we are?
Thatcher and Finn have become more than a little obsessed with cars lately. While a part of me is super impressed with how much they know, part of me could handle a day off from answering questions like, “What do you think goes faster? A mustang or a corvette?” or “Would you rather have a fast little sporty convertible or a big 4WD SUV?” “Well, what if you lived in Florida? What if you lived in Alaska? What if you lived in Australia” (Oh, for the love of God). Then there’s, “Which do you like better? A Bugatti or a Ferrari?” I had to Google Bugattis. Or the more elaborate, “If you had a mega yacht what type of car would you put on it to drive around all of the islands you visit?” Ummm. Hmmmm. Good one.
Sometimes I get caught up in it and actually select my answers carefully….you know, because someday it might matter. Other days, I just answer absentmindedly (don’t tell them…please). Last week my mother was in the car with us and Finn announced, “There’s Nammy’s (their name for my mom) favorite type of truck!” as he pointed to a massive Dodge Ram. I looked at my mom with a raised eyebrow and she whispered, “Sometimes its just easier to give them an answer.”
She’s right. They’re relentless. Always have been.
That having been said, they do love their cars….and they would be as happy as the Autobahn is fast just driving around looking at cars (and boats). I know a couple of kids who will be attending some lawn events at the Lars Anderson Car Museum this summer, for sure.
So, while we didn’t actually take one of the Maseratis to NYC, the boys insisted that we give them some time on the lot to take photos and ooh and aah their little hearts out.
While they were running around all awestruck, I took a second to look around too. In doing so, I learned a few things. First of all, Maseratis cost a shit load of money! Secondly…and insanely…many of the cars on the lot were actually SOLD. What? To Whom? And thirdly, Maseratis cost a shit load of money. That bears repeating.

I always remember today is Little Christmas, because it’s Grandpa Joe’s Birthday (grandpa Capt. Joe, with the Wharf )! Did you know today that today is also the Roman Catholic Holiday called the Epiphany? On this twelfth day after Christmas, Sicilians call this this Roman Catholic holiday of the “Epiphany/ The Three kings day”, ” Little Christmas.” In New Orleans Three kings Day is Celebrated with the Traditional Kings cake. Below is my Sista Felicia “King Cake” recipe posted last spring… I always knew my grandfather was a king! Happy Birthday Grandpa. You will be forever in our hearts. Enjoy!
Mark your calendar…Fat Tuesday will be celebrated on March 4th this year. Fat Tuesday is often referred to as “The Last Hurrah” marking the end of 2014 Carnival season. It’s the last day of eating sweets and rich foods before the fasting ritual of Lent season begins! King Cakes are traditionally made throughout all the days of Mardi Gras season. Every year I prepare this sweet treat for my kids, and each year we crown a new king or queen. The jeweled crown charm shown in the photos below is a charm my twins found in their very first “King Cake” given to them by my mother in-law Marsha, 12 years ago. I encourage you to whip up this sweet cake for Fat Tuesday this year, and indulge in it’s rich sweetness!
Formore photos and Mardi Gras King Cake recipe details~ …click see more
Continue reading “Celebrating “Little Christmas” with Mardi Gras King Cake!”
Abby here and I am an Extended Stay Club member at the Christopher Cutler Rich Animal Shelter. That means I have waited far too long to meet my Mr. or Mrs. Right! I love sleeping at the foot of your bed and following you around the house. I am a big fan of long walks, tummy rubs, toys and a good snack. I am not interested in making any canine friends and need a home with no other dogs. I am looking for a dog experienced family; maybe you can make my dreams come true? For more information on adoptable pets and upcoming events visit www.capeannanimalaid.org
Marine Forecast :
Tue W winds 10 to 15 kt with gusts up to 20 kt… Becoming SW 5 to 10 kt in the afternoon. Seas 1 foot or less. A chance of snow.
Tue Night W winds 5 to 10 kt…increasing to 10 to 15 kt after midnight. Seas 1 foot or less. A chance of snow.
Pod Cast Weather :
http://www.spreaker.com:80/episode/5442274
Hourly Forecast :
COLD WEATHER REQUEST TO RESIDENTS
THE ROCKPORT POLICE DEPARTMENT AND ROCKPORT COUNCIL ON AGING ARE ASKING RESIDENTS TO REGULARLY CHECK IN WITH THEIR ELDERLY FAMILY MEMBERS, FRIENDS, AND NEIGHBORS.
THE WINTER MONTHS BRING ADDITIONAL HAZARDS TO SENIOR CITIZENS , WHICH INCLUDE SNOW AND ICE, HYPOTHERMIA, AND POWER OUTAGES.
CONTACT THE ROCKPORT POLICE DEPARTMENT ( 978-546-1212), EMERGENCIES 911, AND THE COUNCIL ON AGING (978-546-2573) FOR ADDITIONAL ASSISTANCE AND REFERRALS TO OTHER AGENCIES.
“To see the earth as it truly is, small and blue and beautiful in that
eternal silence where it floats, is to see ourselves as riders on the earth
together, brothers on that bright loveliness in the eternal cold.
”
Archibald MacLeish
(1892- 1982)
An Illinois native, MacLeish attended Hotchkiss, Yale, and Harvard Law,
where he was an editor of the Law Review, but only practiced for three years
before marrying and decamping to Paris to join the expatriate community of
the 1920’s, where his friends included Hemmingway, Stein, Dos Passos,
Fitzgerald, Parker and Benchley. During this time his poetry began to be
published and he was awarded the first of three Pulitzer prizes for his
writing. He was Franklin Roosevelt’s controversial choice to be Librarian of
Congress, and although he lacked formal training in Library Science, he is
credited with transforming the Library of Congress from an out of date
backwater to the literary archive of record is still is today. He was
instrumental in establishing the post of Poet Laureate, and was a founding
representative to UNESCO. He returned to Harvard in the late forties and
taught there until his retirement despite the opposition of Joseph McCarthy
and other Red Scare proponents. In addition to his multiple Pulitzers, his
writing garnered a National Book Award, a Tony for one of his plays, and an
Academy Award for a documentary. In 1977 Jimmy Carter recognized his
contributions to literature with the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Greg Bover
Lights of Love raised more than $14,500 to support Addison Gilbert Hospital’s cancer program and provide special care packages to new cancer patients.
Lights of Love was launched in 2008 by Gloucester residents Shawn Wilson and Sue Kyle as a tribute to Cape Ann families whose lives have been touched by cancer and as a symbol of their gratitude for the exceptional patient care Sue received at the Gorton’s Specialty and Cancer Care Center at Addison Gilbert Hospital. This year’s event was a tribute to Sue Kyle, and was presented in honor of long-time Addison Gilbert Hospital colleague Tina Ketchopulos. Over the past eight years, Lights of Love has raised more than $130,000. For more information or to make a donation, please visit http://www.beverlyhospital.org/locations–services/locations/addison-gilbert-hospital.
The O’Maley Middle School Vocal Performance club sang festive holiday carols during the event.
BAKE FOR GOOD: KIDS
In King Arthur Flour’s FREE Bake for Good: Kids Program, nearly 500 kids from Gloucester, Massachusetts will LEARN to make bread from scratch. They will discover that math, science, reading, and baking know-how add up to delicious bread! Kids are excited to take ingredients and their new skills home to BAKE two loaves; one to keep and enjoy and one to SHARE with The Open Door food pantry.
COMING TO Gloucester, Massachusetts
SCHOOL: O’Maley Middle School
WHERE: 32 Cherry Street, Gloucester, MA 01930
WHEN: Thursday, January 15, 2015 – 8:45AM and 9:50AM
TEACHERS SAY THAT KIDS LOVE TO LEARN, BAKE, SHARE
“I cannot tell you how fabulous the program was… I have been receiving emails and personal calls from many of the teachers who couldn’t say enough about how much their students enjoyed the program.”– 5th Grade Teacher
Police Chief Leonard Campanello announces that The Gloucester Police Patrolmans Association represented Gloucester Police Department at the weekend services of slain NYPD Officer Wenjian Liu.
Five officers from Gloucester Police Department made the journey to New York to pay their respects to their fallen brother officer.

Pictured left to right: Officer Mark Foote, Detective Thomas Quinn, Officer Anthony Giacalone, Officer Kevin Mackay, Officer Brendan Chipperini.
“We were very humbed to take part in the memorial services for Officer Liu,” Chief Campanello said. “I would like to thank the officers of the Patrolmen’s Association for making the trip to New York and honoring our fallen brother. We hope that our involvement, and the involvement of so many law enforcement agencies in this service, shows how police remain strong for each other and for the public in the aftermath of such a tragedy.”
Snowy Owls have captured our imaginations partly because Harry Potter’s faithful companion Hedwig is a Snowy Owl, but also because unlike most owls, Snowy Owls hunt during the day, allowing us to observe their movements and struggle for survival more easily than their nocturnal cousins. Like all owls, the Snowy possesses a superb sense of hearing, binocular vision, and the ability to turn its head 270 degrees. A Snowy Owl’s hearing is so astute, it can capture prey under snow, without ever seeing the intended prey!
The Snowy Owl that was spotted in East Gloucester several days ago displayed this very behavior. Perched on a rock wall with a panoramic view of the surrounding fields, it held its body stone still all the while rotating its head around and around, up and down, and side to side. At one point, its head seemed to rotate in its socket nearly 360 degrees. In the two photos you can see the head turned seemingly backward from its front facing body, the second photo to an even greater degree than the first. By comparison, a human’s neck bones would snap if rotated to that measure and the blood vessels would close down. Owls not only have 14 very flexible neck bones, they have specialized blood vessels. When the circulation is cut off, others open to allow blood to flow.
Snowy Owl Irruption Update
Are Snowy Owls having a second irruption, two years in a row? It’s too early to tell. Just as with last year’s histoic incursion, they are again showing up all over eastern Massachusetts. My brief encounter with the Snowy Owl only left me wanting more!
You can learn much about the Snowy Owl from the tremendous film, The Magic of the Snowy Owl, linked here from a GMG post during last year’s widespread irruption. GMG FOB Mary McCloud shared this article from an Annapolis magazine, published last January, 2014.
The fjords, glaciers, islands and passages of southern Chile stir up all kinds of emotions. These were the waters explored by Magellan and by Robert Fitz Roy aboard the Beagle. Charles Darwin went ashore and explored Wulaia Bay and in 1895 Joshua Slocum, having sailed from Boston on the Spray, had a few very nervous days in this area when he encountered a less than friendly welcome by the indigenous people of Tierra del Fuego. However, that did not stop him from completing the first solo circumnavigation of the world.
It is hard to describe the glaciers of this region. The U shaped valleys and massive moraines give testimony to the awesome power of these slowly moving rivers of compressed ice. Some of the glaciers we saw are receding in size and mass at an accelerated rate due to climate change. Others, with larger and higher snow collection areas, are stable or growing.
Although the wind was stiff during most of our voyage, the Via Australis rarely rolled, pitched or yawed. I felt significant motion only once, when we rounded Brecknock Peninsula at the southwest extremity of Tierra del Fuego, where the protected waters of the fjords and inland passages briefly meet the open Pacific.
I hope this short video gives you a sense of what this portion of our trip was like. Come with us as we not only explore and discover the power and beauty of nature, but also get to spend some time among the 140,000 penguin inhabitants of Magdelana Island.
The music business is in undergoing a huge transformation — but you already know that, so why are we stating the obvious? Two reasons:
1) Once in a while when you find yourself in the middle of a major paradigm shift, it’s worth stepping back for a moment to notice what’s going on before you arrive at the next level and exclaim, “Oh! Look what happened.”
2) 2014 was a dramatic turning point for music as evidenced by two Earth shattering stats that you might not be aware of:
Even with all the tech advances that empower musicians to record and distribute their own music relatively inexpensively and without getting “signed” by a major label, it’s harder than ever to make a living as a musician. We believe that recorded music sales will never again be the major source of revenue for musicians — just like sheet music sales are no longer a major source of revenue.
Vickie and I believe that live music holds the most promise for the future of the music business, both for musicians and fans. In this new world where we spend more and more time staring at a screen of some kind, we find people crave live concerts where we make powerful connections with musicians and other fans that transport us to a magical place we just can’t experience any other way. Musicians who can draw fans to their concerts are able to make a good living doing what they love most–playing music. Everybody wins!
We’re embracing this musical paradigm shift by focusing our efforts on presenting and promoting live music even more than we have in the past. Our new focus is reflected, in part, by changes to gimmesound.com. We’ll continue to provide live music listings while we transform the site into something new that helps musicians and venues promote their live shows better and works well on all devices, including phones. You’ll notice that songs on gimmesound can now be played on phones and tablets (including the iPhone and iPad). More mobile enhancements are coming. Stay tuned . . .