Someone is twisting Rubber Duck’s little rubber wing to post a story about bringing her boat up from Woods Hole to Gloucester.
Woods Hole Yacht Club. Flares, horn, fire extinguisher, PFDs, VHF radio, Sudafed, check check check.Up Buzzard’s Bay to the Cape Cod Canal, Wind 7 knots from the west. Familiar territory.Cape Cod Canal Railroad bridge. Still a train a week. Last time through the canal was 1972. Looks bigger. That bridge is way the hell up there.Bourne or the Sagamore Bridge, always mix them up. FYI: if you have a head cold and you just took a football sized antihistamine cocktail do not look up at an eighteen wheeler crossing the bridge as your boat squirrels around in the current.The wind freshened from the WSW to 25 knots so too wet to take photos of Plymouth, Duxbury, Scituate, Cohasset, the Graves lighthouse. From the Graves, aimed at the Salem powerplant stack then picked up the windmills of Gloucester.
Arrived 11:30 AM, 93 miles, four hour trip. Take home: This is an easy trip if you can pick your day. It’s all about the wind. Having VHF and a paid up SeaTow membership (the triple A of the water) helped too. The boat is faded blue. Rubber Duck is christening it “Blue Duck”.
“Blue Duck request opening Blynman Bridge.” Went out for a spin on Saturday up the Annisquam then over to Rockport and Straitsmouth Island. Flat calm tried out the 225HP Suzuki topped out at 30.9 knots, 35 mph. Dialed back to 22 knots, a nice cruising speed.
Photo of Navionics Track
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From Brenda Grimes Davis: “Fred…Here’s a picture of Barney Marnoy who managed Benny Schred’s fabric store…which was located where Passports (temporarily Village Pharmacy) is in the 1960s…he’s standing just outside the door..I believe Benny was Barney’s father-in-law.” Notice the Rexall sign on the left. That was the original location of Connors Pharmacy on Main Street.
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An HBO contractor on the Olive Kitteridge mini-series lays the Rx letters on the mortar and pestle. I’ll bet they’ll be doing a few more adjustments tomorrow, Sunday. Filming is scheduled for Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday.A sign painted on the wall of Gabriel’s Antiques, on Center Street. Made to look old and weathered. “From Nuts to Bolts.” HBO production.
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Halloween Bash at City Hall Last Night! The Adventures of Scuba Jack and Kids Unlimited hosted the Halloween Party last night at City Hall. Hundreds of goblins and ghouls had an amazing time being entertained by the haunting tunes of Leo Francis! Also, Charlie the Balloon Man created amazing balloon sculptures for all who attended! Many prizes and treats were given out all evening!! Thank You! Beth Costanzo The Adventures of Scuba Jack
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Seven year old Sam Palazola, the robot boy. Love it!The Seahorse girl! This is Ellina Parson of Gloucester. What a creative costume, and she wears it well.GMG’s Donna Ardizzoni costumed as Cindarella, and Andromeda Lamotte is the other princess. What a great pair.
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Donna Ardizonni stopped by, and said she was going to try and get onto the HBO set. No luck, but if there was anyone who could, it would be her. She’s the little photographer who could, and does. She’ll be on Main Street tomorrow dressed as Cinderellla. I’ll be the pirate and we’ll be handing out candy to the young goblins.Donna shows her Red Sox colors. She is an avid Sox fan. So much so that she gets nervous during the series. I admire how she finds time to give us great photos here every day, and still works full time. Thank you Donna!
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The view outside my window. What did I ever do to deserve this – and to have such great neighbors, friends and amazing community to live in! I am truly blessed, as are we all who live here.
E.J. Lefavour
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You can question my haphazard route, but it’s hard to question the picturesque nature of where we live. Amazing. Home to Manchester from Gloucester, via Magnolia.
Stowed and ready for Winter
Last light on the spire at St. Ann’s Church
Blyman Bridge House
Cut Bridge
Overlooking pond and Black Beach
42.577834-70.767597
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Twenty five of us, authors, contributors, and friends, and family converged on Captain Joe’s lobster dock. We entered singing Happy Birthday. There was only one time I felt this level of camaraderie, and that was with my fellow rowers at the Maritime Gloucester rowing program. There they are right off the dock. This is a very industrial space, with herring parts on the floor. But the view isn’t bad. The mug up was held up in Joey’s office. Industrial.
Joey was totally surprised. Kim Smith made the tiramisu birthday cake and delivered it with candles burning. Melissa Cox is on Joey’s left.
Good luck! All the candles were blown out and Joey apologized to Kim for blowing a cocoa powder storm onto her blouse. That cake was consumed in short order.
Here’s a man truly enjoying his birthday. There’s the expression of: “For me?” So happy.
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This summer, a guy came into my gallery wearing the GMG hat. He was pretty cool. I went outside to photograph him and his dog for GMG, but in no time a Brazilian woman walked into the shot. He gave me this knowing look of: “Hey, this just happens.” What is the magnet here? Is it the guy, the dog, the shiny green truck, the woman, or the hat? You tell me! After a few minutes, she walked on. I think we’ve got the beginnings of a short story here. I don’t know who’s happier, the guy or the dog.
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Maritime Gloucester is celebrating Halloween on their Facebook page all month long. There’s a lot of scary looking fish in the Ocean that I’ve never heard of. You got to check out the Great photos and information. Maritime Gloucester is really starting to emerge as a true Gloucester Treasure. Go to Facebook and like their page so you can be updated with all the great stuff going on down there on their Docks.
Benjamin Franklin writes a letter to his daughter Sarah Beche in 1784, criticizing the appearance and choice of the Bald Eagle as the national bird of the United States, presumably preferring the Wild Turkey, “…I am on this account not displeased that the Figure is not known as a Bald Eagle, but looks more like a Turkey. For in truth the Turkey is in comparison a much more respectable Bird, and withal a true original Native of America… He is besides, though a little vain & silly, a Bird of Courage, and would not hesitate to attack a grenadier of the British Guards who should presume to invade his Farm Yard with a Red Coat on.”
What does this young lady, Nicole Kelley, have to do with us on Cape Ann? Read on.I made contact with David Grimes, who has relatives here. I asked him to send a few photos of Keokuk. One is of Chief Keokuk of the Sauk tribe. (1767-1848) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keokuk_(Sauk_leader). David told me that this is the 100th anniversary of the Chief Keokuk statue, in the park where he is buried.The crowning. This is not your ordinary beauty queen. Miss Iowa, Nicole Kelly, is a 23 year old Keokuk resident.. So here she is, and goes to the same church as David Grimes, who has Cape Ann connections. From her website: “Nicole, who was born without a left forearm, says that she was overwhelmed at first by the outpouring of national and international attention she received after being crowned Miss Iowa.” “I’m not interested in starting a revolution just for those who look physically different, I want to hear the stories of those of you who have felt different, who have overcome a hard challenge in your lives. I want this to be a campaign of empowerment, inspiration and celebration. I want this to be a place where you can see and be seen.” missiowa.com
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A great window display! Walk by 15 Washington Street in Gloucester for a great Fall scene. The window display is better than the pictures but I admit got caught in a “Peter Pan” moment seeing the boy floating…
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Two very fun folks. On the left is Heather Chalk, who works at the Mt. Adams Bar & Grill, which was the first bar in Ohio to obtain a liquor license in Ohio after Prohibition. The establishment has a very interesting history: http://www.mtadamsbarandgrill.com/history_bg.htm. On the right is is Ed Gollar, also of Cincinnati, who manages a company, and ironically sells a keychain device, which will measure your blood/alcohol content. You can see it at breathkey.com. Do you think they met in the bar?
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This is the “Old Pearce Cellar” in 1923. Dogtown was an open landscape and abandoned at that time. Now it’s a jungle, and I advise visitors not to go there late in the day, never alone, and always with a charged up cell phone. I’ve been to Dogtown 50 times, and I always get lost. People will cry and panic when they’re lost there. But you can hear the car traffic not too far away. Bushwhack your way out. That’s never easy or comfortable with the swamps and pricker bushes. But it can be done.
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Looking forward to Sunday night’s episode of CNN’s Anthony Bourdain Pars Unknown: Sicily, which airs at 9:00pm–especially the part where he adopts a Sicilian granny!
Can I Please be hired to work on the camera crew of this extraordinary show? Anthony Bourdain, amazing; cinematography, doubly amazing.
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Good Morning Gloucester 