Male American Bullfrog mating serenade
Reinventing our culture to benefit the many, not just the few.
Pitch Perfect Pandemic Precautions –
Blue Collar Lobster Co – Steamers!
Wolf Hill native noneysuckle (Lonicera semervirens) and super Hummingbird attractant ‘John Clayton’
Common Eider Duckling Rescue with Hilary Frye
Thank you Jodi from Cape Ann Wildlife Inc!
Piping Plover Chronicles –
Exclosure installed by Greenbelt’s Dave Rimmer and Gloucester’s DPW’s Joe Lucido.
Huge Shout Out to Essex Greenbelt and Dave Rimmer, director of land stewardship.
Huge thank you to Joe Luciodo!
People’s Letters Really Helped. Thank you, thank you for writing!
Castaways Vintage Café Street Boutique
Charlotte Pops In <3
The flags that you see lining the boulevard are organized each year by Pauline Bresnihan. She owns the gift shop Pauline’s Gifts, on Essex Avenue in Gloucester, with many lovely hand painted and whimsical items for your home and garden.
Good Harbor Beach open to half capacity.
Sending thanks and gratitude to everyone who wrote emails <3
Piping Plovers are on the agenda for the City Council meeting on Tuesday night, which will be live streamed at 7pm.
Alexandra and Jon at Alexandra’s Bread
Castaways Vintage Café
Caffe Sicilia
Short and Main
Incredible job at Fisherman’s Wharf Gloucester
Tree Peony, Rock’s peony, divinely scented,five blossoms
Please report your Monarch sightings. .
Timelapse Sunrise Twin Lighthouses at Thacher Island
To clarify about My Blog. Several friends have written with confused questions re my blog. I have been writing, filming, designing, photographing, and painting all my life. I started my own blog long before I began contributing to a local community blog. I both wrote and illustrated a book on garden design, Oh Garden of Fresh Possibilities!, which was published by David R. Godine, and have written many articles for numerous publications including a weekly column on habitat gardening. Here is a link to my blog and to my book, Oh Garden of Fresh Possibilities! Notes from a Gloucester Garden.
Baltimore Orioles arrive when the pears and crabapples come into bloom in our garden. Great idea for an Oriole feeder from friend Robin!
Shadblow (Amelanchier canadensis) question from Morgan Faulds Pike
Caffe Sicilia reopening May 20, Wednesday. What are you going to order?
Castaways Vintage Cafe
Piping Plover Smackdowns
Still no threatened/endangered species signage. Please write to your councilor.
Piping Plover Smackdown
This is what snow in May looks like!
1816:The Year Without a Summer
Sea Salps at Good Harbor Beach
Cedar Rock Gardens Opening May 15th for Warm Weather Seedlings. See complete list here.
Gardening Tip – when to plant warm weather seedlings outdoors
A behavior shared by all Plovers is called “foot-trembling.” Also called “foot-tapping” and “foot-pattering,” the vibration caused by the PiPl shaking its foot brings worms and other prey closer to the surface of the sand.
Please send in your wildlife stories, restaurants and businesses you think we ought to know more about and help support, fun recipes, and anything else you would like to share about.
Castaways Vintage Cafe has a lovely selection of succulents potted up in sweet pots with bits of shell tied in. They sold out their first batch, but will have a brand new selection ready to purchase Saturday morning.
These will sell out quickly at this price, so get them while you can! Plan your stop over to include one their delicious and nutritious acacia bowls and coffees.
Castaways Vintage Cafe is located at 65 Rogers Street, Gloucester. They are open from 8am to 2pm and are offering curbside contactless pick up of acai bowls, lattes, coffee, smoothies and juices.
Good News Cape Ann! – Episode #5
Sounds of Cape Ann, fog horn, songbirds, boats
Red-winged Blackbird singing across the marsh and calling to his mate in the reeds below.
Musing over name of show- Good News Cape Ann, Finding Hope, my friend Loren suggested Beauty of Cape Ann, and husband Tom suggests Coastal Currents – what do you think?
Loren Doucette beautiful pastels and paintings. Follow her on Facebook and Instagram.
Cedar Waxwings, Hummingbird, Yellow-Rumped Warbler, Baltimore Orioles, and Palm Warbler
Mini tutorial on how to plant a hummingbird garden
TWO MONARCH CONTORVERSIES! Is it okay to raise Monarchs at home? What is the problem with Butterfly Bushes?
Jesse Cook new release “One World One Voice”
Beautiful Piping Plover courtship footage – Piping Plovers in the field, what are they doing right now?
Charlotte stops by.
Take care and be well <3
Alex’s Scallop Ceviche Recipe
1 lb. sea scallops completely submerged in fresh lime juice
Dice 1/2 large white onion. Soak in a bowl with ice water to the reduce bitterness.
Dice 1 garden fresh tomato, 1 jalapeño, and cilantro to taste
Strain the onions.
Strain scallops but leave 1/4 of the lime juice.
Gently fold all ingredients. Add cubed avocado just prior to serving.
Castaways Vintage Cafe is located at 65 Rogers Street, Gloucester. They are open from 8am to 2pm and are offering curbside contactless pick up of acai bowls, lattes, coffee, smoothies and juices.
In addition Castaways is offering delivery or pickup of assorted fresh veggie bags and fruit bags. Deliveries are on Tuesdays and Fridays and must be ordered the day before. Order through FB or call the cafe 978-559-7984 to order. These are an offering to provide for our community while hopefully keeping people out of the grocery stores.
Topics Episode #4
Thank you Friends for watching! Links to topics provided below
Timelapse sunrise over Salt Island (see end of video)
Ospreys catch a Skate!
Coronavirus – Sending much love and prayers to my family of friends who are suffering so greatly.
Nicole Duckworth’s birthday parade
Cape Ann List of ToGo Curbside Pickup TakeOut Restaurants
Fisherman’s Wharf Gloucester and Sole Amandine Recipe
Chocolate-dipped almond biscotti recipe
Please write if there is a Good News topic you would like to share. I am thinking about changing the name of the show to Finding Hope, what do you think about that?
My friend and neighbor Melissa Tarr, you may know her from her lovely Main Street shop Design of Mine (or from her daughter Bianca’s cafe, Castaways Vintage), shared this amazingly simple naan bread recipe. She makes it often and serves with warm hummus. I am planning to make it this week with a curry dinner. So excited to try this. Thank you Melissa!!
Good News Topics include Castaways Big Red Heart, Massachusetts DCR Protecting Piping Plovers, and Snowy Owl final episode.
Jeff Weaver, Cape Ann’s preeminent painter, gets his morning joe from Castaways!
Although Jeff’s gallery is temporarily not open due to coronavirus, you can contact him via his website: Jeff Weaver Gallery
About Jeff Weaver
Jeff Weaver was born in 1953 in Framingham, Massachusetts. He began drawing and painting at an early age, accepting portrait commissions by age fourteen. In his high school years, he won awards in drawing & sculpture in the Boston Globe state-wide art competitions. During this time his teacher was Eleanor Marvin, accomplished sculptor and graphic artist, who nourished his draftsmanship skills. After graduating from high school, he entered the Boston Museum School. In 1972 he took up residence in Gloucester, sketching and painting the waterfront on an almost daily basis.
In his early years in the city, he supported himself at various waterfront jobs, as well as from commissions for boat portraits from fishing vessel captains, and for murals in commercial establishments and private homes. This eventually led to many years of commercial work, including over 30 murals painted in different parts of the city.
Returning to fine art pursuits in the 1990s, Jeff again focused on depicting Gloucester and its environs in various media. He currently operates a studio/gallery at 16 Rogers Street on the Gloucester waterfront.
Castaways Vintage Cafe is located at 65 Rogers Street, Gloucester. They are open from 8am to 2pm and are offering curbside contactless pick up of acai bowls, lattes, coffee, smoothies and juices. In addition Castaways is offering delivery or pickup of assorted fresh veggie bags and fruit bags. Deliveries are on Tuesdays and Fridays and must be ordered the day before. Order through FB or call the cafe 978-559-7984 to order. These are an offering to provide for our community while hopefully keeping people out of the grocery stores.
