Tag: Chickity check it!

Kim Smith Lilac Culture

Posted on by Joey Ciaramitaro

Dear Gardening Friends,

Baking temperatures and sweltering humidity have their appropriate months, but early June is too soon for the recent 95-plus degree days! I am grateful for this cooler weather—our newly planted vegetables and annuals will have an easier transition out of the melting temperatures of last week. On another note, our daughter Liv is preparing to attend NYU Steinhardt Masters of Music program this coming fall. To make this dream of hers come true she is working many long hours with a combination of three jobs. If anyone knows of an apartment to share or sublet please let us know. She is hoping to find something downtown, relatively close to NYU and/or public transit but will consider nearly any arrangement

This is the ideal time of year to prune your lilacs, immediately after flowering (attached article). See blog for photos of several native companion plants for lilacs. The photos from the lilac posts and the flower power post were shot with the new Fujifilm x100—a truly fantastic, albeit quirky, camera. I am so looking forward to spending fun times getting to know this camera and will once my design jobs settle into their seasonal rhythm.

Perhaps we will have another summer similar to last year’s, with days on end of warm temperatures and minimal rain, the ideal weather for butterflying (we can hope!). Last week’s warm temperatures brought a Monarch to Willowdale and our garden was rife with angelwings, azures, and swallowtails.

Happy Flag Day!

Warmest wishes, Kim

President Grevy

click here to view Kim’s site

Chickity Check it! The Bluenose II Reconstruction/Construction Project

Posted on by Joey Ciaramitaro

I have no idea how they call it a reconstruction as it seems like they are building an entirely new boat.  The Bluenose II was an incredibly beautiful boat but according to The Queens new Life in Canada blog, it’s keel was warped and they totally deconstructed it.

So they built this enormous structure to rebuild build another Bluenose II.

Click the thumbnail to go to The Queens New Life In Canada for fantastic photos of the construction process

Here are some of my pictures of The Bluenose II when she was in Gloucester August 31, 2008-

Captain Phil Watson Aboard The Bluenose II

Chickity Check It! Ken Knowles Featured On Wells Maritime Art

Posted on by Joey Ciaramitaro

Ken Knowles and Jonathan Cahill Talk About Art and John’s New Venture To Showcase Local Art www.wellsmaritime.com

Gloucester boy Jon Cahill recently built a an online gallery featuring local artists. Wells Maritime Art (www.wellsmaritime.com) is named after his great-great-grandfather William Wells, a schooner captain out of Gloucester. Featured artists include Ken Knowles, Ray Crane, David Curtis and Kurt Ankeny.

Check out the post explaining the venture by his Sister Abby Joy here

Chickity Check It! Lady J Fishing Charters

Posted on by Joey Ciaramitaro

Our buddy Dave Jewell is a tuna and groundfish assassin and now he has a webpage with info on how to book a charter-

Charters available!

Lady J. Fishing charters has trips available both weekdays and weekends throughout the year, though we do have many bookings there are still lots of available trips.

We offer both full and half day trips for:

  • Bluefish and Striped Bass

We offer full day trips for:

  • Cod and Haddock
  • Giant Bluefin and school Tuna*

Family fun fishing, bring the kids along for an adventure aboard the Lady J. and experience deep sea fishing and whale watching like never before.

Alternative arrangements can be made to suit your group please contact us for information.  We will make every effort to provide you with the trip that best suits your needs.


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Peter Van Ness Gives You The www.GloucesterMA.com Inside Skinny

Posted on by Joey Ciaramitaro

The Finale To The GMG 2011 Tourism Kick Off Week.

Can you just feel the energy after listening to the interview?

http://www.GloucesterMA.com Chickity Check it!

Angela Cook To Open Oasis Rockport Gallery On Bearskin Neck

Posted on by Joey Ciaramitaro

A big celebration is planned for Mother’s Day weekend. Oasis Rockport, the newest Bearskin Neck art gallery, is holding their Grand Opening. The gallery features fine art scenic photography from Angela Cook. Angela’s focus is on dramatic seascapes and breathtaking sunrises and sunsets as well as many beautiful floral, wildlife and wilderness images. When asked about her photography, Angela is quoted as saying “I enjoy sharing the beauty, emotion and simplicity of life with my images.” Angela is a local photographer who loves Cape Ann and wants to share the beauty of that with her customers. Oasis Rockport will not just offer photos. There will be regularly scheduled walking photo tours as well as outdoor portrait shoots. Angela also plans on including some beautiful semi-precious stone jewelry crafted by Sharon Lane in her gallery as well as select hand-made keepsakes designed by Suzanne Ouellette. The Grand Opening of Oasis Rockport will be held May 7th from 9am to 6pm and May 8th from 10am to 5pm. There will be giveaways, refreshments and a good time to be had by all. This new gallery is located at 65 Bearskin Neck, right next to Helmut’s Strudel and is well worth a visit. If you would like a sneak preview, feel free to check out the Oasis Rockport website at www.oasisrockport.com and be sure to Like their Facebook page, where Angela posts her most recent work.

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Chickity Check It!- Let Us Eat Fish By RAY HILBORN In the NY Times

Posted on by Joey Ciaramitaro

Thanks to FOB Kevin Henry who forwarded this to me-

Let Us Eat Fish

By RAY HILBORN
Published: April 14, 2011 NY Times

THIS Lent, many ecologically conscious Americans might feel a twinge of guilt as they dig into the fish on their Friday dinner plates. They shouldn’t.

Over the last decade the public has been bombarded by apocalyptic predictions about the future of fish stocks — in 2006, for instance, an article in the journal Science projected that all fish stocks could be gone by 2048.

Subsequent research, including a paper I co-wrote in Science in 2009 with Boris Worm, the lead author of the 2006 paper, has shown that such warnings were exaggerated. Much of the earlier research pointed to declines in catches and concluded that therefore fish stocks must be in trouble. But there is little correlation between how many fish are caught and how many actually exist; over the past decade, for example, fish catches in the United States have dropped because regulators have lowered the allowable catch. On average, fish stocks worldwide appear to be stable, and in the United States they are rebuilding, in many cases at a rapid rate.

click here to read the whole article at the NY Times Website

Chickity Check It! Magnolia Photos and History Through The Decades From Tim Moran

Posted on by Joey Ciaramitaro

Hi Joey,

Thank you for your GMG web site and what you do to keep us former residents “in the loop”.

My name is Thomas (Tim) Moran. While I currently live in Dallas , TX , my roots go deep into Gloucester , more specifically, into Magnolia.

My two sisters (Marcia and Alison) and I spent every summer between the mid forties and the late fifties (1944 – 1958 for me) visiting our grandparents, Mr. & Mrs. W.H. Ringer, at the head of the beach on Shore Road in Magnolia.

My grandfather, W.H. Ringer, was a principal of GHS when it was downtown, long before it moved to its present location by "the cut".

As I was looking at some pictures of the Fisherman’s Memorial the other day, I remembered that my mother, Beth Ringer Moran, at age 99, is probably one of the few still alive who, at age 13, was at the statue’s dedication in 1925?  She also remembers walking across the cut bridge from their home on Kent Circle to the high school every day in high heels and skirts, which is what ‘girls’ wore to school then.  She says it was very cold in the winter!

I wonder if anyone knows anybody else who was also there and is still living. That might be a good question for your web site.

My sisters and I have returned to Magnolia many times through the past 50 years and will return again, hopefully within the next few years.

I invite you to peruse a web page that I put together after sister Marcia, my wife, daughter, and I last visited in the fall of 2004. Tim Moran’s Magnolia MA History

Tim Moran

Chickity Check It! GloucesterAlumni.org

Posted on by Joey Ciaramitaro

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Dave Marsh stopped by the dock the other day and pointed out a website they developed for Gloucester School Alumni.

This from the welcome page-

Gloucester Alumni Association welcomes all persons who have attended Gloucester, Mass. Public Schools to use this website.

Please register using the menu on the left margin. Once you have registered,full access to the site will be granted within 24 hours by email message. Information provided to the Alumni Association is edited for accuracy and appropriateness. Information is protected and maintained under our Privacy Policy.

Tell Us Your Story

Members are encouraged to submit information about their experiences or other information that is relevant to Gloucester’s Schools. After registering as a member of the site, submit information of interest to the Alumni Community by using the Create Content menu on the left hand margin. The Create Content menu is created by the registration process.

Check it Out Here- http://gloucesteralumni.org/

The Latest From Kim Smith- Butterflies of Massachusetts

Posted on by Joey Ciaramitaro

I wanted to share with you a fabulous new resource—the Butterflies of Massachusetts website. Created by Sharon Stichter, Butterflies of Massachusetts “offers a comprehensive review of the current status of butterflies in the state. It is designed as a resource for all those interested in these charismatic insects, including butterfly enthusiasts, conservationists, biologists, land managers, and wildlife professionals.”  I find the Species List particularly useful for learning more about the earliest recorded sightings of Massachusetts’s butterflies, frequency and distribution, and caterpillar hostplants. My readers residing outside of Massachusetts but along the East Coast will find the information on the Butterflies of Massachusetts website nearly equally as valuable. Ecologically speaking, the Appalachian Mountains and Atlantic coastal plain are largely self-contained, allowing unrestricted north-south movement of individual butterflies and migratory populations. The information found on the new Butterflies of Massachusetts website represents many years of data compiled by Sharon Stichter and the Massachusetts Butterfly Club.

Check Out Kim’s Blog Here For The Full Post

Chickity Check It!- Never said about restaurant websites blog

Posted on by Joey Ciaramitaro

Beth Swan alerted the GMG to this beauty of a blog a couple of days ago.  Check It Out, and this BTW should be mandatory reading for all restaurateur and website developers.

The irony of it all is that I bet some of the people it is intended for may still not even get it after they read it much like how they can’t comprehend the value in tweeting a 140 character daily special “because it takes too much time”

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Click to go to-

Never said about restaurant websites

Beth Williams Studio Lobster Bead

Posted on by Joey Ciaramitaro

Beth Williams of Beth Williams Studio created this lobster bead after I read her tweet that she had just made a fish bead and I had suggested she make a lobster one.

The power of Twitter I tell ya!

So now I plan to head over to her studio and talk to her about the lobster bead.  Why?  Because I learned about it by casually following her on Twitter.   Funny how that works, huh?

Check Out and Follow Beth William’s Studio On Twitter-

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http://twitter.com/#!/BWilliamsStudio

Chickity Check It!- Kat Valentine Digs Up A Great Piece On How To Blog

Posted on by Joey Ciaramitaro

click on the graphic below to check it out-

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Click here for the post-which Ket highlighted at http://parlezmoiblog.blogspot.com/

7 Dos and 7 Don’ts for New Bloggers

Nathan Bransford has spoken. He says it’s never too early for writers to start using social media. Perhaps one day we’ll all be issued Twitter accounts in the womb.

Since Nathan is a Thought Leader in our industry (according to Klout) I have a feeling a lot of writers are scrambling around this weekend, trying to set up blogs.

If you’re a non-geek who doesn’t have a clue where to begin, I wrote a post last December on How to Start a Blog that people have found useful..

Here are some further dos and don’ts for creative writers who are thinking of plunging into the blogosphere.

Chickity Check It! The Rocky Neck Gallery New Blog

Posted on by Joey Ciaramitaro

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This woodblock print, designed by artist, Sigrid Olsen, is our logo. See this as our imprint on Facebook and Twitter and please follow us (here and there) for news and updates about the gallery and the artists.

We have an exciting summer ahead with plans for artist demos and talks, festive Nights on the Neck and a new Summer Artists Series showcasing solo and group art shows in addition to the gallery’s artists’ works. We are looking forward to 18 weeks of sunny summer days falling into beautiful autumn afternoons, salty sea breezes, fun nights, art, music, friends and family coming together on Rocky Neck. Stay tuned for more updates on all of the above and we’ll be seeing you, soon, in Gloucester on the Neck

Click here for The Rocky Neck Gallery Blog

Rocky Neck Gallery Facebook Page

Chickity Check It! A Gloucester Wedding Shot By Dan Gillan

Posted on by Joey Ciaramitaro

Click the picture to see the whole funky set at Dan’s site.  I like it!

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Chickity Check It!- The Roving Home Collections

Posted on by Joey Ciaramitaro

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I wasn’t sure if y’all knew but our Sarah Kelley who chimes in with the occasional searing rant also has her own online store of classic goods.  Check it out here-

The Roving Home- Collections

Chickity Check It! Sarah Kelley’s Latest At The Roving Home

Posted on by Joey Ciaramitaro

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Catalog Talk: Pottery Barn

If you’re an American of a certain age, you might just now be discovering that Pottery Barn is a relic of your youth. Those days when you were in your early 20s, just out of college maybe. You moved into your first apartment — the first chance you had to paint your walls beige all by yourself, or buy a pillow with a big button in the center of it. And now things have changed. You’re older, you extensively moisturize, and you don’t know if it’s your newly-strengthened glasses prescription or what, but the stuff from Pottery Barn looks like crap.

Why should you care, you ask? Because, I would argue, Pottery Barn is important to America. Pottery Barn has become as central to our middle class (that vaunted and vanishing class) sense of style as Starbucks is to our middle class taste in coffee. We cannot afford to lose either place to the that slow and steady decline that came to Department Stores and Tiki restaurants 40 years ago.

Pottery Barn democratized relatively good taste in an all-pervasive way that was extremely helpful, especially in the early days of the company’s ascent. Pottery Barn made it seem possible for you to own a couch of proper proportions, an upholstered chair with classic lines and attractively muted fabrics. You, too, could buy that giant mirror with the square black frame and lean it against the wall, just so, and all your friends would know that it was okay because they had seen it in Pottery Barn.

click here to read the entire entry

Chickity Check It!- Kyle Browne’s New Site

Posted on by Joey Ciaramitaro

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Exploratory Art : Learning from the world around us

About the Artist & Educator : Kyle Browne

Artist Statement

I create because I am compelled to. Creative expression drives my soul. A balance, a release, a meditative state of purity, a flow. Capture.

Capturing the moment, the movement, collecting the subtleties, the essence, a feeling.

A fleeting feeling expressed in painted color on a smooth delicate piece of hand-made paper, or collaged on a battered block of salty driftwood. To completely immerse myself in the quiet intense focus of excitement and discovery.

I create to clarify my mind, to allow deep thoughts to emerge, to unearth connections with images, textures and text in relationship to my world, our world. Our world – a beautiful disaster. So fragile, yet resilient.

I create to connect and build with nature, to bridge art with the environment.

To engage with the sounds, visuals, and conscious, of a swish of a flock of sand pipers simultaneously taking off for flight, the reflection and ripples of a street puddle captured between thawing ice, or the light riding a wave onto the hard sand, of a shell covered beach.

I create to understand humans’ relationship to our earth, our cultures, and to express my respect for its undying strength as it continues to amaze me.

Share. I educate because of my desire to share. I want to share these moments with others, share the artists mind, the contemplation of the beauty and life in everything. Lightness and heaviness, natural and un-natural, to release the burdens and routine of life and add a certain weightlessness to them.

To surprise the viewer and challenge their way of seeing.

I create to be whole…. will you create with me?

Here’s an interview with Kyle and some photos of her work

Click Here For Pictures Of Kyle Browne’s Art

Chickity Check It- Damn it McKinnon- From My FavoriteTattoo Artist

Posted on by Joey Ciaramitaro

The most angst ridden young person I know (well from her twitter feed that’s what I glean anyhow) and also the most talented tattoo artist, Molly McKinnon has a brandy new blog-

Damn it McKinnon

She’d be the one I would go to if I ever got the lobster tattoo that I’ve been dreaming of for years.

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This is the tattoo I’d like on my forearm-

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Bu if you know me you know I’m a hairy freak and I’m not sure that tattoos are all that attractive on a hairy arm.  So I put it off………..

in case you are new to the blog you can check out this link for the fishermen tattoo picture series I’ve taken from our local guys-