Afterwards….

This morning there will be a funeral Mass at St. Anthony’s overlooking Gloucester Harbor. I will attend with two friends who have offered to go with me. Afterwards they will take his body to Calvary Cemetery and he will be buried there. And then life will go on… such as it will be.

Ironies abound here.

Yesterday the man from Hollywood that he had been talking to about a possible movie deal showed up on his doorstep to talk about an offer. Why could he not have come a week earlier? That is the kind of question that will drive me crazy. Mark’s brothers talked with him. It remains to be seen what will happen but I keep asking myself why that couldn’t have happened sooner.

Yesterday a woman who had read Mark’s book called to ask about his death. In the last chapter of his book, F/V Black Sheep, there is a terrifying scene in which Mark was dragged overboard by a trawl line wrapped around his leg and the story of how he was saved. “He had a heart attack,” I heard myself say when she asked. “Well,” she said, “I guess that’s better than dying alone at the bottom of the ocean.” My head grew light and I nearly fainted. I wrote that very same bit of dialog years ago at the end of The Old Mermaid’s Tale! Toward the end of the book someone asks the heroine about the death of one of the characters and she replies, “He had a heart attack.” And the other character responds by saying that that is better than spending eternity on the bottom of the ocean. Good God. What a chilling experience.

Yesterday I attended the visitation at the funeral parlor. I hate such things and had vowed at my brother’s wake that I would never again look at another dead guy in a box. But I did. I did it for his mother because I love her, too. I know people say things like, doesn’t he look wonderful, and he’s at peace now and blah-blah-blah but I hated every second of it. Yes, they had done a wonderful job and all that but it was still horrible. It was still a knife in the gut every time I looked at that man, that body, stuffed into a metal box no matter how much satin and how many flowers had been added. He looked uncomfortable. His shoulders were too big to be in such a contraption. And all I could think is, “This is wrong. This is wrong.”

Yesterday a nice man left a photograph of Mark (left) from high school on his guest book. He is probably seventeen and is wearing his ROTC uniform. It is so sweet. I always thought he had the nicest eyes and in the photo you can see them so young and eager and full of anticipation for the life ahead of him. They remind me of another line in The Old Mermaid's Tale when Clair says that she "dreamed of a seaman with the constellations of the Northern Seas in his eyes". And my friend Jay Albert who photographed Mark’s boat for the cover of his book contributed a final, beautiful picture of F/V Black Sheep alone, loaded with traps, with the sun about to set (below).

I learned yesterday that Mark had been diagnosed with severe coronary heart disease a few months ago. There was talk of surgery but he kept putting it off. He had been sick most of the winter but he hid it. He was a tough guy, he didn’t want anyone to know.

And yesterday, over and over and over, I heard people tell me, “Mark loved you. He appreciated you so much. He talked about you all the time. You made his dream come true.” Those are nice words to hear but hard to bear. There is so much I wish I had told him but most of all this one thing --- he made my dream come true, too.

Thanks for reading.

With Deepest Sorrow

It is with deepest sorrow that I post here that my dear friend and fellow writer Mark S. Williams, author of the memoir F/V Black Sheep, passed away early this morning. Mark was 56 years old and had been a Gloucester fisherman most of his adult life.

I met Mark in May of 2004 when he hired me to edit the manuscript for his collection of stories about his life as a lobsterman. For over three years we worked on that book, spending time together nearly every day and, during that time, we became quite close. I loved Mark dearly. He could be exasperating and annoying and obnoxious and hard to get along with but he was also one of the sweetest and most sensitive people I ever knew. He loved Gloucester and he loved writing about Gloucester. He was keenly attuned to nature and could tell you the name of every bird and fish and creature that he saw.

When his book F/V Black Sheep was published in June 2006 he was happier than I could ever imagine anyone being. He was so proud of that book that he would drive around Gloucester giving away copies of it and telling people, “Read it. If you like it you can pay me for it.” Most people did. He loved to call me and tell me about people stopping him in the street to tell him how much they enjoyed his stories.

Throughout the time we spent together we had plenty of creative differences. He was the author and I was the editor and, even when I completely disagreed with his approach I learned to respect him as a writer. His writing in F/V Black Sheep was alternately tender and intense, hilarious and frightening. I still think Little League is a masterful piece of writing and that Garand Afternoon is one of the strongest pieces of writing I have ever read anywhere by anyone.

I simply do not have words to say how bereft I feel. We spent hundreds of hours together. We talked about writing and about books and about life and about our respective dreams for all the books we intended to write after our current book. He was dearer to me than I have words to say. Now he has left the world and there is nothing more to be said.

His mother called me this morning and gave me the news. She said she wanted me to know because she knew how much I loved him. It is deeply gratifying to me that, even when we were not part of each others lives, there was still so much there.

So, Mark, I hope you are on the water somewhere under a sunny sky with a light swell in the ocean and traps full of lobsters. I hope you will remember all that we shared and I hope that you will continue to see your world through your poet’s eyes. And I will close this with the words from your book that I loved the most because they were the most like you: My house sits on a tidal marsh behind Good Harbor Beach. I work on my lobster traps there and watch hawks soar.

Fare thee well, my dear Mark.

What Would Judge Judy Do?

A film crew from Belgium is in the area interviewing (or trying to interview) various players in the Defonseca Hoax. On Sunday they were here in Gloucester to film interviews with Jane Daniel and her attorney Joseph M. Orlando. Monday they were headed to Wolf Hollow in Ipswich to interview the owners there who had been entirely taken in by Misha Defonseca. Joanie Soffron, the owner of Wolf Hollow, I am told was in tears when she found out the truth about the hoax. She was devastated that this woman had lied to her.

Last night another journalist from France arrived. She is interviewing several people involved in uncovering the hoax. I have been invited to have dinner with her this evening. The European press, I hear, is in a rage over this entire story. That’s somewhat gratifying because so far the American press has been somewhat oblivious. I can’t figure out if we are so accustomed to being scammed by authors like James Frey and Margaret Setzer that hoaxes don’t interest us or that we are so accustomed to corruption that it has become no big deal.

There has been outrage. Karen Schulman, the woman who took the Defonseca’s into her home for 2 years when she heard Misha’s tale of woe about being swindled by her publisher, has started her own blog --- Silence Equals Permission. She was so angered by the deception she is asking others to share their stories through her blog. It remains to be seen if anyone will.

The forensic genealogist who discovered Defonseca’s deception has created a financial profile of the Defonsecas during the years they were crying about being financially wiped out by their publisher --- all from public records. According to the profile the Defonsecas had hundreds of thousands of dollars going through their accounts at this time. She has also sent me a copy of a letter that was circulated by a synagogue to its members telling them about how Daniel (named in the letter) had defrauded Misha and begging them for financial support for her. Many, many people responded.

And there is still the matter of the $33 million dollar judgment against Jane Daniel handed down by the Massachusetts court. So this has me wondering about how Judge Judy would look at all of this. I don’t see her program often but I like her. She’s good at cutting through the crap. I admire that in a person --- especially a judge. So here is the situation as I see it.

1.)The court found Daniel guilty of failing to adequately promote the book even though she managed to get Defonseca a shot at the Oprah show. The Oprah people halted their plans because Misha was so hostile and uncooperative but still the court said Jane failed to promote her. What would Judge Judy do?

2.)The court found Daniel guilty of withholding funds due Defonseca thus causing her to lose her home, become destitute and eat dog food yet bank records of the period show that Defonseca’s home was already being foreclosed upon before she even met Daniel. Mount Ivy’s accounts were frozen by the court and the money ultimately went to Defonseca. Bank records also indicate that the Defonsecas had hundreds of thousands of dollars going through their accounts at this period and they paid cash for two new cars and a new home at this time. What would Judge Judy do?

3.)The court found Daniel guilty of “deceptive business practices” yet Daniel turned over all her financial records to the court for examination during the trial. Daniel engaged a prestigious literary firm, Palmer & Dodge, to promote the book, yet Defonseca refused to cooperate with speaking schedules and set up her own speaking dates without telling her publisher. And, above all, Defonseca signed a statement saying she swore everything in her book was true and of her own experience, knowing full well SHE WAS NOT EVEN JEWISH --- let alone a Holocaust survivor! What would Judge Judy do?

Well, Judge Judy, if you are out there and want to weigh in your good common sense would be welcome. In the meantime the foreign correspondents continue to arrive and anyone who wants to have their say is invited to participate in Karen Schulman’s blog.

Thanks for reading.

A Shell of an Idea

I have this thing about water. Well, I'm a water sign -- Cancer -- so I suppose that explains part of it. When I was little and spending summer vacations on Lake Erie I was the sort of kid that nobody could get out of the water. Throughout my adult life I have lived close to beaches, the Gulf of Mexico, and now, for the past 20 years within a few blocks of the Atlantic Ocean. I love the fragrance of salt water. So I suppose it is no surprise that I have acquired quite a collection of seashells and beach glass.

A few years back I was on vacation in Wellfleet and saw an ad in the paper for a workshop on making jewelry from seashells. I had several treasured pieces of shell jewel from Mexico but this sounded like fun. It was.

Over the next few years I began collecting beads, shells and other beauties and I made several pieces of jewelry using the skills I learned in that class. What got me thinking about this is that I am in the process of purging my sewing room and I cam across the items at left. I don't know what they are, I don't remember where I got them, and I don't know what I am going to do with them. But I love them. So I got four of the necklaces I made from other shells for inspiration. I decided to post them here hoping that people might enjoy seeing them. Click on any photo to enlarge it.

The first (right) is made from a shell, some mother of pearl beads, bronze Czech glass beads and six Abalone rectangles. I've worn this one a lot and it goes with everything.

The next one (left) is also made from a shell, MOP beads, amethyst crystal beads, some tiny gold beads and amethyst colored seedbeads and a few odd pieces of abalone. It is very long and what I love about it is you can soak a piece of cotton in fragrance and tuck it inside the shell. It is nice with long skirts and sweaters.

The third one (right) is also long and features two beautiful triangles made from abalone and lots of chips of rose quartz. There are some carnival glass beads and some beautiful, plum-colored glass beads of mysterious origin. This one is medium length and looks perfect with a deep rose-colored turtleneck I like.

And finally (left) is the piece I made when I took that class. It is quite simple really featuring one large turquoise bead and several small ones, four pieces of carved bone, a few milk glass beads, 2 turquoise scarabs, 2 abalone triangle beads and those two beautiful large things that are shells of mysterious origin. They are hollow and quite light in weight with beautiful color and sheen. It goes with everything.

So, as you can tell, I really love wearing shells and I've got to come up with a great design for the ones above. Leslie tells me they are "blister pearls" --- pearls that became attached to the inside of the shells when fresh-water (cultured) pearls are made. She has volunteered to drill little holes in the sides so we can experiment with adding beads and stringing them into something lovely. With Leslie's accomplished assistance, I am sure that they will be!

Thanks for reading.

New Cocoons and Bed Jackets

I haven't talked much about knitting lately but, looking back over the projects I finished this winter, I've done rather a lot of it. Actually, what I did was make a commitment to myself to complete a number of works in progress, So while this might look like I've done a lot, most of it has been in progress for a couple of years. I just finished them up this winter and am definitely enjoying wearing the results.

The first is the What-Happened-To-My-Lady-Eleanor Shawl Cocoon: I have come to the realization that I have far more shawls than I am ever going to use. So I decided to turn a couple of them into cocoons. I did this by folding up the two short ends and stitching them to one long side, leaving a couple inches for the neck. Then I picked up stitches around each "cuff" and all along the remaining edge and knit an edging that makes it quite snug and comfortable to wear. This was knit holding three strands together --- one strand of Blue Heron fingerweight raw silk in a variegated blue-purple and 2 strands of Handpainted Yarns' laceweight wool in a number of colors which I changed off in alternating variations.

This sweater looks fabulous with blue jeans and a white tee.

That was so much fun to do that I took a second shawl made from Handpainted Yarns' Barbie Pink Boucle from Uruguay and did the same thing. The result is an incredibly elegant looking cocoon that I wore recently for a gallery opening with silk slacks and a silk shirt. It's shown here with one of Leslie Wind's gorgeous shawl pins as a closure.

I've come up with a formula (a opposed to a pattern) for the bed jackets I have been making. It's complicated but it gives me a chance to try out many different lace patterns. I have been trying to teach myself a number of new patterns so working them in these bed jackets with a textured yarn gives me ample opportunity to learn while working with a fiber that is especially forgiving and covers mistakes well. The first one is made of some yarn I bough on eBay ages ago. It is a recycled silk and rayon blend spun in Haiti. (left). The color is called Monet and it is a thick and thin, nubby yarn. It is another piece that looks great with jeans and a teeshirt. I had started this at least two years ago and am glad that I finally finished it because it will be good for coolish summer evenings.

Using he same technique I made a similar jacket in this luscious lipstick red and black silk-rayon blend again from an eBay auction. I admit I have no gift for photographing these things. The sheen of this fiber is just gorgeous but you can't tell that from my photos. Again this is shown with one of Leslie's Shawl Pins. This is much warmer than I thought it would be. I crocheted all around the cuffs and opening with a picot stitch to give it that finish.

And finally, my favorite, a beautiful, very soft, lightweight sweater made from Knit Pick's luscious Pima Cotton called Crayon in Periwinkle. This yarn may qualify for my very favorite yarn to knit with. I am currently working on a summer sweater in their Azure and I have a stash of their new color, Beach Glass, waiting. It is simply the softest fiber I have ever touched --- softer than angora and cashmere in my opinion. I have another bed jacket in their Crayon Pink and I wear it all the time. I'm showing the back of the jacket here so you can get a sense of the lace patterns used. It is going to be my friend all summer!

I also made a bed jacket similar to the ones above in a beautiful purple, nubby wool held together with a pastel-colored ladder yarn but my sister Lisa made off with it before I got a chance to photograph it. Oh well. At least it has a happy home.

So now that I have finished all these projects it is on to new stuff. I have a couple of scarves to photograph and post. I guess i should finish up all the scarves I've started next.

Sigh.

Thanks for reading.

Story: Nobody Cares About Middle Ground

As I mentioned before I’m completely engrossed in Robert McKee’s book Story. It is so loaded with profound observations and information on the nature of story --- of what story is --- that I feel I could write a blog about every page. I am proceeding slowly because there is so much to digest. And I am underlining and marking pages and … well, you get the picture.

One of the wise observations he makes is that the nature of story relies on the extremes of human reality. Nobody much cares about the middle ground of experience. Naturally it is the ability of an author to set those extremes in a highly believable and familiar setting that makes the extremes plausible to the reader. So authors seek that balance --- a familiar environment as the setting for extreme behaviors. As McKee says: A believable impossibility is more satisfying as a story than an unbelievable possibility. Wise words.

Yesterday a wrote a little story for some cyber-acquaintances about a situation that has been the subject of an on-going conflict for much too long. In recent months I have tried to avoid it but I decided to deal with it by concocting a story based somewhat on the truth and post it. Basically, the characters, setting, and situation is true but, because I am a writer, the telling of the tale veered into the extreme, mostly to add humor, drama, and entertainment. I used myself as the butt of the joke at the end and then I hurled it out into the world for all to see. The results were interesting but not surprising.

I was talking to a fellow writer last night who is also a teacher. He writes historical novels based on his areas of interest as a history teacher. He was complaining about his students and he said that he is beginning to believe that kids spend so much time on the internet which, of course, necessitates them reading a lot, that they are losing the ability to differentiate between what is real and what is not real. To them cyber-life is so real that they come to believe that what they read there is equally real. I want to make a distinction here between “real” and “true”. “Real” involves the willing suspension of disbelief as Samuel Taylor Coleridge said. Suspension of Disbelief is what every author, screenwriter, director, actor, etc. relies on heavily in order to practice their art. When you can convince an audience that what they are experiencing is real then you can take them to outer space where they experience attacks by aliens, or back in time where they suffer through the plague. Whether or not those stories are true doesn’t matter --- the reality of them carries them, and those who experience them, into a separate reality.

So what happens when hours of immersion in cyber-reality become as real as actual reality? Does that suspension of disbelief become easily confused with real life? Which brings me to my story. Mostly it was an attempt to find humor in a depressingly pervasive situation. The majority of people who reacted to it reacted accordingly --- “OMG! That is so funny!” They got it. They realized it was a story that contained some elements of truth and some of the extremes of human experience that creates story. Several more took it as the gospel truth and polarized according to their personal prejudices. All in all it was highly instructive albeit not surprising to read the results.

I’ve always said that the joy of being a writer is that no experience, however awful or depressing, is wasted, if you get a good story out of it. In an interview on his web site author Gregory Gibson talks about Gone Boy, the book he wrote about the murder of his son in a school shooting. In the interview he says that writing that book was therapeutic for him. His experience in losing a son is one of the farthest extremes of human experience one can imagine. But his point is perfect --- whatever life hands us, from the sublime to the horrific, can be transformed through the art of story. Let’s hope that we never become so distanced from ourselves that we lose the ability to enter into that place of story and experience what we cannot live but what we can come to understand.

Thanks for reading.

That First Perfect Weekend

It happens every year --- that first glorious weekend in Gloucester when the sun is brilliant and warm, the breezes off the ocean are salty and cool, the air is fragrant with sea salt and flowers and everyone is out wandering around drunk on the beauty of the day. We’re all a little bit daffy then. The temperature on the bank clock reads 57 degrees but nobody believes it. We put on summer clothes because we can’t stand wool and fleece one more day. There are people everywhere, walking, cycling, driving, sitting, basking in the sunlight. The dogs go nuts. Summer will come and soon.

It is hard to stay inside. Saturday was needleworker’s day and we gathered in Connie’s beautiful living room to work on our projects but the light was so beautiful shining down on the twin lighthouses of Thacher’s Island that we watched them all day. The waves were high and foaming white with little rainbows dancing off of them as they rolled and rolled and rolled. “Look at the waves,” we kept saying, “have they ever been as beautiful?”

There were so many birds at the feeders. The male cardinal showed up for the first time in awhile, so brilliantly red it was hard to look at him he was too beautiful. On the way home I bought sea scallops fresh from George’s Bank. They are not as big as the ones you see in the winter and darker in color --- the color of a baroque pearl --- but so delicious. They have so much more flavor but then everything does just now.

Sunday morning I met my friend for breakfast at Cape Ann Coffee and as we ate and talked and talked and talked blossoms from the cherry and apple trees swirled by on the wind. Everywhere there are flowers. Tulips like boldly colored eggs pop out of the ground and spread their petals to the light. It is Spring. It is Spring. The North Shore Arts Association opened today. Next Sunday is the opening party. I am giving a talk on blogs and how to use them. Somehow I find that funny.

And the best part of Spring, the white lilacs outside my front door are beginning to bloom. What smells more like promise than lilacs? Everything will be all right because it is Spring and the flowers are back and the waves are high and the birds are singing.

I went a little crazy and bought a bunch of fabric. I haven’t been sewing all winter and I miss it. For me sewing is a very peaceful, centering, nurturing activity. I started cleaning up the sewing room last week and then I saw all this gorgeous fabric and I couldn’t resist it --- pure, soft cotton in dusty rose, periwinkle blue and aqua the color of the light coming through the waves just as they crest and begin to turn over. I found a stash of sueded rayon, one of my favorite fabrics because it is soft and yet has such lovely drape. I can’t wait to have some time to myself in my sewing room. I know what I want to make.

And so it was that first perfect weekend . Today is cool and overcast but that doesn’t matter, it is Spring and Summer is on its way. (Below, photo by Dun Fudgin in front of East Gloucester School)

Thanks for reading.

What About the Money?

One of the more interesting aspects of being as involved in blogging the Defonseca Hoax has been some of the emails I have received. I am absolutely gob-smacked, stupefied by our collective schizophrenia about money in this country. On the one hand everything seems to be about money --- getting more, spending more, making more, investing better, etc. and, yet, at the same time there is this huge collective chip-on-the-shoulder about people who actually make money (or appear to, even if they don’t). I’ve gotten a LOT of emails from people claiming to be outraged for any one of a dozen reasons about this case but the big thing that dominates these emails is a question of the money involved.

I can’t tell you how many times people have said that they felt no sympathy for the publisher because she only published the book for the money. Well, excuse me but, DUH! Why does anyone start a business? Why does anyone try to sell their work? In fact, why in the hell does anyone even get out of bed and go to work in the morning? Next question please.

I got a seethingly angry email from a guy who said that regardless of what Misha Defonseca may or may not have done, Jane Daniel was still an unscrupulous business woman that the court found guilty of fraud, deceptive business practices, and mishandling of funds. Yeah, based on the testimony of an admitted liar, perjurer and Holocaust fraud! Is anyone dumb enough to think Defonseca would bring this case against her publisher and then get on the stand and say, “Well, yes, she treated me fairly.” What kind of world do the people who write these letters live in?

The truth is that during the entire trial there was no financial expert witness called, no forensic accountant involved, and, in fact, no public examination of finances. Everyone chose to believe Defonseca’s claims that she received no money. Even when financial documents were entered into evidence they were overlooked by the jury. Daniel’s lawyer has publically stated that when the judgment is overturned he will call for a full financial disclosure of all the monies involved by all parties involved. Who can be dissatisfied with that?

But what this has pointed out to me, above and beyond the case at hand, is how willing all too many people are to accept the judgment of Big Daddy Justice System and how fearful they are of believing that maybe an entire court case ruling could be just plain wrong. I’ve been watching a lot of courtroom drama movies lately (more because I am trying to learn how to write a screenplay than anything having to do with this case) and I am struck by how often “miscarriage of justice” is the basis for a story. It is actually a very good plot line and one that seems to generate endless variations on. So, given how popular these movies are, one would think that people would be more suspicious of court rulings than they tend to be.

Recently, Gloucester, like many communities, is making a concerted effort to bring more business into the community. I could write all day about the issues involved there. But there have been several business proposals --- ranging from a research facility to a boutique hotel --- discussed. I am, again, stunned by the number of people who have a negative reaction to these proposals and justify it saying, “They’re just about money --- they don’t care about the people of Gloucester.” And what, pray tell, do the people of Gloucester need more than an infusion of money?

I don’t get it. Why are we so obsessed with money and, at the same time, so dismissive of the efforts of people to make it? If anyone can figure this out for me, I’d love to hear from you.

Thanks for reading.

A Little Piece of the Past Today

Yesterday I visited a blog site in Erie, Pennsylvania and came across a wonderful video about that town. As most of my readers know I spent a great deal of my early life in Erie and there is a part of my heart that is always there. When I was writing The Old Mermaid's Tale I originally intended to set it in Erie but then, because I didn't want t cause any conflict over the placement of certain features and little details of history, I created a fictional town, Port Presque Isle. Still, readers familiar with Erie will recognize much of what I have written about.


This is the video. It is 27 minutes long and brought back many memories. The colleges it talks about especially - I attended Behrend (which I call Chesterton in my book), I dated a boy from Gannon (Hamilton in the book). My sister Anne attended Mercyhurst and my sister Chris Edinborough. So we have the colleges there pretty much covered.

But in the video there is a good deal of talk about the maritime history of Lake Erie and this is something that was very important to me when I was writing. I wanted to get it right and watching the video yesterday was reinforcing. I especially loved the photographs of the Old Customs House which is now a museum. Several scenes in my book are set in it. It is where Baptiste works while they are together and it plays a role in the ending.

So Ihope you will watch and enjoy this video. I love Gloucester --- but I love Erie, too...

Thanks for reading (an watching.)

SkyShots

When I write one of the things I have gotten in the habit of doing is using the internet to remind me of the places I write about. Usually they are places I have spent time in or at least visited but there are times, too, when I need to familiarize myself with a new area. One of the best tools I have found for doing this is Google Earth. I love to spend time studying the shape of the land and its features as I am writing. It gives such a different perspective. And the thing I am most struck by is how very artistic much of our world is when viewed from above --- maybe that's why God stays with us even when we are screwing up big time.

I started a short story this week and part of it is set out on the tip of Cape Cod. A place I have spent a few weekends at in the off-season and love when it is quiet and not crawling with people. I was looking at it on Google Earth and was so struck by the gracefulness of the land and the water surrounding it that is seemed more like a piece of art.

So, because it was a cold and rainy evening and I was tired and felt like wasting some time, I started flying around to a few other beloved places and found many more pieces of aerial art that just astonished me with their beauty. Of course, one of the main characters in The Old Mermaid's Tale is Lake Erie itself, a place I have known and loved all my life. This image is Long Point, a peninsula that juts into the lake on the Canadian side. When Baptiste seduces Clair on the top of a lighthouse he has taken her up there to look at the lights of Long Point.

There is something so mesmerizing about the way water shapes land and land shapes water. I have loved Niagara Falls all my life. I haven't been there in fifteen years now. I remember that because I was with my sister Lisa the last time I was there and she was pregnant with Cal at the time. He just turned fifteen. This is the Horseshoe Falls from the air. So lovely. The pattern of the water as it splashes into the river is something I would like to develop into a background pattern sometime.

Of course this is just a little taste of such beauties. There are so many more. But it is a good way to revel in the beauties of the place I am attempting to write about --- it reminds me of why I write.

Thanks for reading.

Gloucester Light

Gloucester seems to inspire a natural desire in people to capture the light and the beauty and the sense of place that is a part of living here. In recent months a few blogs have begun by local bloggers who post wonderful photography on their sites. I thought this might be a good time to share a few:

Captain Joe's Good Morning Gloucester: Captain Joe is the owner of Capt. Joe and Sons Lobster Company out on East Main Street. Joe is up in the wee hours of the morning and, as he drives about his morning routine, he photographs Gloucester. He has also done a spectacular job of documenting the working waterfront from which he makes his living. He also posts daily information on restaurants, artwork, and other items of interest in Gloucester. This is an excellent resource for people planning to visit here!

Jay Albert's Cape Ann Images: Jay is the best --- a great guy with a great eye for the beauties of our region and a camera always at the ready. He is the photographer who did such a great job of photographing the terrible fire we had here in December. Visit his blog for many excellent photos of our beautiful area.

JimB's Galleries of Birds and Bugs: Jim Barber is amazing when it comes to photographing birds and bugs. His galleries cover dragonflies, all manner of birds, sunrises and sunsets and more. He also has an online discussion group for bird lovers called For the Birds.

Les Bartlett's Follow the Gleam: Les is an artist with the camera. His artistry was the subject of a recent exhibition at Cape Ann Historical Museum. He has many prints for sale as well as DVDs of Cape Ann images. Les was once a performer with Le Grand David, the popular magic show in Beverly, MA. He is also a member of Cape Ann Artisans.

There are several other bloggers I'll talk about at another time but for now that should keep you busy. In the meantime, here are a couple more examples of Gloucester Light:



Thanks for reading.