The Last Fortnight, or so — pat morss

Posted on by patmorss

We’re in a lull waiting for spring activity. And the major bliuzzard that came across the country resulted in only a modest, rainy Nor’easter on the coast.

Odd “marshmallow” foam from swells before the Northeast storm
The storm’s manageable wind and waves, without the blizzard
A House Sparrow singing about spring coming
A grumpy song sparrow not singing
Puddle ducks – a Mallard pair enjoying a street swim after the storm
Several more Mallards in formation skimming the surface of Niles Pond
A Red-throated Loon in winter plumage, not displaying familiar colors yet
“How about a little privacy, please?”
Male Turkeys are back in our driveway – a Unicorn in a British Barrister’s wig and gown
This one doing laps around the car with his reflection shadowing him
Finally, a direct encounter with the intruder

Motif Roasters Special Offer

Posted on by Pat D

Eoin Vincent and Motif Roasters is donating $4 for every bag of coffee sold until April 17 to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. This is a great time to take advantage of this very generous offer! Here’s a link for Motif Roasters. Thank you Eoin!

Shennanigans From St Patty’s Day In Gloucester Manny and Jimmy At The Crow’s Nest

Posted on by Joey Ciaramitaro

Manny Likes His Bud In The Can

Barns Along the byway On Washington St.

Posted on by Pat D

I’ve had my eye on this classically tired barn along Washington St for quite a while. It seems to just beg for its story to be told, so here’s a prompt in case you want to pick up pen and begin.

One very close matchup in the first round of the GMG best beach brackets. Round one ends at 9AM today.

Posted on by Joey Ciaramitaro

Here’s where to vote: https://goodmorninggloucester.com/2023/03/17/good-morning-gloucester-best-beach-brackets-voting-is-open/

*votes as of 6:33AM

Preparing For The Spring Market

Posted on by Joey Ciaramitaro

Jameson Malgeri's avatarCape Ann Home

What To Know About Home Inspections Before You Shop

Spring is just around the corner and once the weather gets nice a real estate shift typically happens fast. Buying a home is an emotional process and many experienced agents will tell you to make as many decisions upfront as possible. Make sure you have a plan and are not making judgment calls in the heat of the moment. I would argue selecting an experienced real estate agent who really cares for your best interest is the most important first step you can take. That being said I am a home inspector so for this article I am going to focus on understanding more about how inspections and your personal plan for the inspection process.

Expect Pressure

One thing that will happen for sure is there will be some level of pressure to sweeten your offer by going no inspection. Todayโ€™sโ€ฆ

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Complimentary Wine Tasting Saturday, March 18, 2 – 4 pm, at Savour

Posted on by Joey Ciaramitaro

THIS SATURDAY, March 18, 2 – 4 pm

COMPLIMENTARY

FINE WINE TASTING @ SAVOUR WITHย HARRY ZARKADES, CO-OWNER MAIN STREET WINES

We always enjoy it when Harry, co-owner of Main Street Wines, comes to Savour to pour his selections. Main Street specializes in quality wines at a reasonable price, many of which are organic, fully natural, or biodynamically farmed. Along with some great choices for the weekday dinner table, Harry is pouring a luscious Maceratino from the Marche and a remarkable value priced Morellino from Tuscany.  Come join us on a beautiful fall day and celebrate the season!

ย WINES

Octopoda 2021 Sonoma County Chardonnay, Russian River Valley, California

Varietal: Chardonnay Alc.14.5%

Precision Wine Co. presents a distinguished and diverse collection of wines. Each wine is made with meticulous attention to detail and a commitment to quality; from harvesting the grapes in the vineyards to designing original packaging, every step of the winemaking process is handled with precision. The wines are made to showcase the complexity of flavor, diversity of terroir, and distinct characteristics of Californiaโ€™s appellations and wine regions. Proprietor and vintner Trevor Sheehan started his journey to create a top wine collection when he became a winemaker 10 years ago. His first wines were eight barrels of Chardonnay from the Beckstoffer Vineyard and Cabernet Sauvignon from Howell Mountain. Octopoda Chardonnay offers notes of white flowers, grapefruit, baked apples, buttered popcorn and a beautiful, toasted oak finish.

Pairs well with creamy cow and sheep-milk cheese, pan-seared salmon, and roast chicken. $19 .99

Duck Pond Pinot Gris, Dundee, Oregon, Varietal: Pinot Gris Alc. 13%

Established in Dundee, Oregon, in 1993 in Willamette Valley and Dundee Hills AVAs, Duck Pond makes wines that are organically farmed, and hand harvested. Winemaker Julia Cattrallโ€™s mission is to preserve and uphold the natural beauty and legacy of Oregonโ€™s wines, and to craft delicious wines free of harmful chemicals. Duck Pond is the first commercially farmed vineyards in Oregon to have received the Clean Label Project Purity Award. Duck Pond uses sustainable and organic farming practices, rigorous testing protocols, ingredient labeling, and third-party testing and certification. Bright aromas of pear, lemon and peach jump from the glass of Pinot Gris along with hints of herbs, delicate flowers and minerals. The fresh fruit flavors of crisp citrus and pear are balanced with a light texture. The fruity finish is rounded out with a mineral-focused complexity.

Pairs well with fresh vegetables, sushi, and shellfish. $16.99

Fontezoppa Asola 2017, Marche, Italy

Varietal: Maceratino Alc. 14%

Cantine Fontezoppa is a young company in central Italy on the Adriatic coast in the province of Macerata between Civitanova, Marche and very close to Civitanova Alta, an ancient 14th century village. The company, which takes its name from the ancient source of water that gushed out where the rows of vineyards now grow, was born thanks to the acquisition of the land in Civitanova Alta by the Luzi family in the late 1990s. Made from hand-picked Maceratino (or Ribona) grapes, this wine has an intense straw yellow color and a strong and complex nose, with aromas of ripe fruit, citrus peel, peach, yellow flowers, united by a deep mineral note and a touch of vanilla. It is balanced and consistent on the palate, with a pleasantly long and fresh finish.

Pairs well with anchovies and other fish, white meat, truffles. $31.99

Firriato Le Sabbie Dellโ€™Etna Rosso, Sicily, Italy, Varietal: Nerello Cappuccio, Nerello Mascalese Alc. 13.8%

Made from grapes grown on the north side of Mount Etna, the only active volcano in Europe, this rosso is perfect for the friend who insists on drinking red wine even though your menu really calls for white. The wineโ€™s minerality, ripeness, and elegance, with hints of black currants, licorice, pepper, and wilted violet, itโ€™s sure to please your contrary friend.

Pairs well with seafood and lobster. Serve it to the red wine lovers when everyone else is drinking white with their lobster! $25.99

Spineto Morellino di Scansano 2019, Tuscany, Italy Varietal: Sangiovese, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot Alc. 13.5%

Erik Banti has been producing wines in the Maremma Toscana region in the south-west of Tuscany for decades. In 1981 he produced his first vintage of Morellino. At the time, Morellino was a new and relatively unknown DOC. Today, the area is well known for producing full-flavored wine. The Spineto Morellino pours clear, bright, ruby red. The nose is lightly fruity, with hints of black cherries and violets. On the palate it is dry, tangy, and lightly tannic with good balance, body and lingering aromas, and a long finish.

Pairs well with fish baked or grilled, light pasta dishes, white and red meats and soft cheeses, such as Robiola, and fresh pecorino. $19.99

Chateau Gigognan 2016 Clos du Roi Chateauneuf du Pape, Rhone, France, Varietals: 70% Grenache, 25% Syrah, 5% Mourvรจdre Alc. 15%

In the heart of the Rhรดne Valley, close to the famous papal city of Avignon, Chรขteau Gigognan encompasses 110 hectares of vines in a landscape of rolling hills, parasol pines, and olive trees. Born of a winegrowing tradition dating back to Roman times, Chรขteau Gigognan is a long-established wine estate and part of the historical heritage of Provence. It produces red, white and rosรฉ wines in the appellations of Chรขteauneuf-du-Pape, Signargues, Cรดtes-du-Rhรดne Villages, and Cรดtes-du-Rhรดne. Vivid ruby, this Chateauneuf-du-Pape has aromas of highly perfumed red fruit complicated by suggestions of garrigue, licorice, and white pepper. Spicy and focused on the palate, it displays vibrant raspberry, bitter cherry and floral pastille flavors, along with a building smoky nuance. It finishes with resonating spiciness, a suggestion of Chambord, and youthfully chewy tannins.

Pairs well with barbecued beef ribs, duck, mushroom dishes, lamb chops. $49.99

And donโ€™t forget to check out whatโ€™s new in our beer case. We just got in a new shipment of Maine Beer, with the IPAโ€™s โ€œLunchโ€ and โ€œLittle Whale Boatโ€ leading the charge.  We have a rich brown ale called โ€œBrown Dogโ€ and the wonderfully dark but slightly hoppy Robust Porter, both from Smuttynose.

Find out about new wine arrivals and other events atย Savourย by following us nย Facebookย andย Instagram.ย 

Kathleen’s Price-Value Gems:

Unique to SAVOUR our three price-value collections, with

each category ($9.99ers – $14.99ers -$19.99ers) offering hundreds of wines.

at one price, personally curated by Kathleen, some have limited availability.

9.99ersโ€ฆthe quality is taste delivering above-price enjoyment โ€ฆValue!

14.99ersโ€ฆexhibiting qualities of complexityโ€ฆElevating the Experience!

19.99ersโ€ฆvalue laden wines by innovative vintnersโ€ฆExpect Exceptional!

Adding to this Saturdayโ€™s wine tasting with Harry is Savourโ€™s Everyday Tech Tastings at the North Shoreโ€™s Only Digital Wine Machine. Fun to use and enjoy!  Taste up to 20 wines with new selections regularly addedโ€ฆ& yes, complimentary. Kathleen welcomes your questions for food pairings.

Welcome Your Donation in any amount for Pathways for Children.

Thank You! โ€ฆKathleen

 For Your Mobile Calendar – July

๏ปฟSavour Wine Tastings!

GRAND TASTING! – MARCH 25 AND 26

OVER 60 WINES TO TASTE OVER 2 DAYS!

Continuing to offer a case discount 0f 10% on wines and all items purchased with the case to all customers. Wine Club members get 5% off on 6 bottles and all items purchased with the 6 bottles. Thanks again for your support!

 We continue using our 5 Molekule high performance air purification units that clear the air of 99.9% of viruses, bacteria and allergens every hour, store wide.

We are pleased to continue curbside pickup service

Savour Wine & Cheeseย lย 76 Prospect St.ย lย Gloucester lย 978. 282 .1455

Happy St. Patrick’s Day! Listening to Clancy Brothers Moses Ri ToorA(h)l-i-Ay And Reading Torah Scroll Article in the Gloucester Daily Times by Ethan Forman

Posted on by Catherine

What music are you listening to on St. Patrick’s Day?

While I was mulling a great story by Ethan Forman in the Gloucester Daily Times about our community, a Torah scroll and Jewish life in Ireland, a Clancy Brothers album was playing in the background, a St. Patrick’s Day ritual ever since I was a child. I sang along instinctually and smiled even more at the poetry and word play of Torah and Too ra loo ra when that track came on.

“Rabbi David Kudan, the new interim rabbi at Temple Ahavat Achim on Middle Street, was instrumental in helping a small but growing Jewish community he is close to in the port city of Cork, Ireland obtain a sacred Torah scroll from his former congregation in Malden.

โ€œThey have graciously decided to bequeath this sacred scroll to help to renew Jewish life in the south of Ireland,โ€ Kudan said during services in Gloucester on Saturday.”

Ethan Forman. “Gloucester rabbi helps Irish Jewish community obtain Torah scroll from Malden.” Gloucester Daily Times, March 16, 2023.

Here’s the Clancy Brothers intro before playing Moses Ri-Toora(h)l-I-Ay Live at Carnegie Hall 1963

“There was a friendly son of St. Patrick by the name of Robert Briscoe who became Lord Mayor of Dublin, twice. He was a great Irish rebel as a matter of fact, a great Jewish Irish rebel, which gives us an excuse to sing a song that is the only Irish Jewish rebel song in captivity. And for those of you who don’t know, it needs a bit of explaining, it’s sort of old. At one time, the Irish language, Gaelic–at least it’s called Gaelic everywhere else–but in Ireland naturally enough it’s called “Irish”. This language is forbidden by British law, and this song was written to ridicule that situation. It’s about a Jewish merchant who came to Ireland and went to a small country town where he opened up a store and over his store he put his name in Hebrew. Now this very ambitious British policeman came along, took one look at the Hebrew and assumed it was Gaelic and dragged the Jew into court. And the song is concerned with the trial of the Jew. The song wasn’t written so much to show the great love between the Irish and the Jews so much as it twas to show the stupidity of the British…”

Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem concert Live at Carnegie Hall 1963 Intro 4 – Moses Ri-Tooral-I-Ay

Although laws banning Welsh and Irish languages were lifted, and Welsh permissible in Wales courts, it’s English solely for courts in Northern Ireland to this day.

One of seven children of Lithuanian-Jewish immigrants who came to Ireland to escape persecution, Robert Briscoe (1894-1969) studied electrical engineering in Germany, opened and shuttered a Christmas lights manufactory in NY ahead of US engagement in WWI, was active in Sinn Fรฉin and IRA under Michael Collins before Ireland’s War of Independence, served in the Irish parliament (from 1927-1965), raised money to help Jewish immigrants escape Nazism (sadly failed to make that happen in Ireland, including some 100+ he was related to), and was the first Jewish Lord Mayor in Dublin–a title equivalent to Gloucester’s President of the City Council–which made international news. His cross country advocacy tours in the United States drew hundreds of thousands in New York, Boston and Chicago. One time, parade organizers moved the day of the parade out of respect for Briscoe’s faith.

“Briscoe’s twinkling eye, his wit and his pride in Ireland and Judaism captured the hearts of his countrymen. His 1950 election as Lord Mayor of this heavily Catholic city raised no eyebrows here but introduced Briscoe to a world in which he championed his beloved Ireland.”– 1969 obit

Roars of 450,000 Rock Old Southie Boston Globe, 1957, by Ian Forman. You can read the article here on GMG which I posted in 2021. Gloucester residents participated in the parade.

Here is how Briscoe described the parade in Boston:


“…Four miles it was, and by the end of it I was shuffling my feet like an elephant with corns. Incidentally, I clean wore out my best shoes and had to buy a new pair next day, which news being cabled back to Dublin made people there say, “A fine salesman for Ireland this Briscoe fellow! The first thing he does is to buy American shoes.โ€ One of the newspapers in Boston; greeted me with a great green headline saying โ€œAARON GO BRAGHโ€ in both English and Yiddish characters. The supposedly proper Bostonians gave me such a welcome as almost made me weep. There I made thirty- six speeches in thirty-six hours, and lost my voice. Between speeches they had to keep rushing me to the hospital to have my throat sprayed…”

Robert Briscoe, For the Life of Me, 1958 page 325

Briscoe boasted in his autobiography that he codified a law regulating loan fees and that it made certain that women couldn’t borrow money without letting their husbands know. Because, you know. Women. A lot to unpack:

“…It may seem odd to those whose ideas of the business methods of our race are formed by the unfortunate Merchant of Venice, but the people my father abhorred most of all were unscrupulous moneylenders. The first time I came back from America, cutting a rather dashing figure in my New York clothes, I began going out with a certain very beautiful Jewish girl. When my father learned of it he called me to his room, and said, โ€œI hear you are keeping company with Esther. You know her father is a moneylender and I am sure you know how much I love you. Now I solemnly tell you this, rather than see you married to a moneylender’s daughter, I would prefer to see your right arm cut off at the shoulder.โ€ Mother shared this feeling of his. One time a moneylender died who had never paid his subscription to the Jewish cemetery of which Pappa was a trustee. His relatives, who were forced to pay a large capital sum to get him buried there, came to Pappa to complain. Mother hearing the argument, said to them, โ€œThose good Jews who lie in the cemetery will rise when the Messiah comes. But your uncle will be there forever. He’s getting a bargain.” I was so impressed by Pappa’s abhorrence of moneylenders that when I first went into the Dรกil, I joined with Patrick J. Little to introduce a bill which would put an end to their worst abuses. They often juggled loans so that they received as much as a thousand per cent interest, and once in their clutches a man had as little chance of escaping as a rabbit in a boa constrictor’s jaws. My bill regulated the interest that could be charged and also made it illegal for a married woman to borrow money without the knowledge and consent of her husband, for these foolish ones are always the easiest prey of the moneylenders. The act was passed and is today the law of Ireland.”

Robert Briscoe autobiography, For The Life of Me, 1958, page 16

I haven’t researched how that law evolved if at all since.

Jumping back to 2023, Ethan Forman wrote that a dynamic leader from Cork, Sophie Spiegel, carried the Torah scroll from Massachusetts to Ireland this month.