In Which I Shoot My Universe

Steve's blog suggests that he is out of town. Who will take over his efforts to document the beauty of Cape Ann for the blogosphere? Guess I'll have to step in. As is our wont, Leon and I drove around Cape Ann just after Christmas.


We begain at White Beach. A small nor'easter was winding down. The surf was decent and the wind quite high. Rain early in the trip limited photography, and the low tide kept the surf from being as spectacular as I would have liked.


We saw ducks off of the Magnolia shore, but the low tide and wave action kept them too far off shore to see well.


At Eastern Point, the wind kept us off the breakwater





Waves kept crashing over the rocks. Gale force winds made it difficult to hold the camera steady. I had hoped to see purple sandpipers here, but if they were around, they were further down the breakwater.


We did see them over at Bass Rocks. Photography conditions were generally poor today- however bad weather often means that harlequin ducks are just offshore at Marmion Way in Rockport. They were!

Over at Halibut Point we saw the strangest water creatures of the day. Surfers in a nor'easter off of a very rocky shoreline are a sign of complete insanity.

Fun with Chilmark Girl

The end of my New England trip was all about family. I've already blogged about going to the Sox game with my dad on Wednesday night. Thursday, Chilmark Girl (my little sister, for those who don't know) and the BIL got together for lunch with Leon and I. Friday night they had us over for dinner.


I brought a round of Camembert with me and a bread called Ami de Fromage from a Chicago bakery. I was very eager to have CG try my cheese, because this is her first time tasting some that I have made with raw Guernsey milk. She seemed reasonably impressed.



Chilmark Girl has been one of my primary cooking inspirations in life (along, of course with Mom- however my cooking style is much more like CG's than it is like Mom's was). It was the kind of meal that I'd expect from CG- succulent pork tenderloin, amazing salad, fresh asparagus (perfectly steamed) Parmesan biscuits, and a wild mushroom risotto that I couldn't believe. Dessert was the orange-ricotta tart with blackberries that you can see us holding in the top photo.

The CG household gets on very well with Leon and I in part because they are fellow geeks. The BIL and the nephew spend lots of time building electronic gadgets from parts that they scrounge from old electronics that they find online, at yard sales, and in the trash. Sample invention: a zapper that discourages squirrel raids to the bird feeder. It was only natural that the group would spend the evening blacklighting in the back yard.

Still working on an ID for this tiny guy

Harris's Three-spot (Harrisimemna trisignata)

The blacklighting was notable only for the good company. Most of the latter half of the trip was cloudy and rainy. We did get a few good moths, however, including Harris's Three-spot, a lifer for me.

The weather improved on Saturday, which was beautifully warm and sunny. We had lunch in downtown Manchester and time in the park with my brother, SIL, and two nieces. The CG family arrived by boat, and took Leon and I out for some time in Manchester Harbor and out by Misery Island.

The outer harbor, looking back towards Manchester

I spent a lot of time on the water off of Cape Ann when I was growing up. It's been many years since I've been out there. I had a great time, and was surprised at how enthusiastic Leon was about being out on the water.

Me, the nephew (who's nearly 14) and Leon. The last time I say the nephew at Christmas, I was still able to look him in the eye. Now I'm definitely looking up at him. Yeeps!

It was a wonderful weekend. Thanks, Chilmark Girl!

Christmas Dinner and Boxing Day Birds

Christmas Day was a new venture for our family. Rather than doing the holiday at my Dad’s, Christmas dinner as at Chilmark Girl’s place, with dessert later at my brother’s. CG made dinner, which was also non-traditional: rack of lamb and some (for us) new vegetables, including an amazing cauliflower gratin. I participated in the appetizer, which was a fruit compote- raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, apricots and bananas- in raspberry coulis with tangerine sorbet. I made the sorbet. The entire meal was wonderful and memorable.

White Beach

Salt marsh behind White Beach

Today, Leon and I participated in a tradition of our own- a drive around Cape and with birding. We started at White and Black Beach. The weather was beautiful- sunny and in the mid 40’s. Unfortunately, good weather keeps the ducks further off shore and out of view. Still, the day held some real pleasures.

Eastern Point Lighthouse and breakwater

Navigational beacon at the end of the breakwater

Black-backed gull (Larus marinus) on the breakwater

Purple sandpipers (Calidris maritima)

The weather was so nice, that we were able to walk the breakwater at Eastern Point in Gloucester. The breakwater is about a quarter mile long, and connects the lighthouse at Eastern Point with a small navigational light at the entrance to Gloucester Harbor. In previous years either the weather was too cold, or the waves were crashing over the breakwater. Today it was only us and the birds. We saw mostly gulls, but there was a flock of about 60 purple sandpipers flying about and landing on the rocks of the breakwater. I managed to get a few pictures.

Roadside birders on Eastern Point. What are they seeing?

The real treat of the day came as we left Eastern Point. Passing a small pond, we noticed a group of birders lining the road with spotting scopes trained on a group of gulls out on the pond ice. I rolled the window down and asked if this was a Christmas Bird Count, or if they were seeing something special. It turns out that there was a slaty-backed gull from Asia out in the flock. It was the first-ever record of this species in Massachusetts. We were invited to look through a spotting scope and got pictures through it. My birding friends will be jealous of this one.

Slaty-backed gull (Larus schistisagus)
The characteristic pink legs are visible in this picture.

We continued our circumnavigation of the Cape through Rockport and on to Essex. The only noteworthy sighting was a hooded merganser in a salt marsh in Rockport. Lunch was fried clams in Essex. For a day when the conditions were not the best for duck viewing, we had an amazing experience.

Slaty-backed gull (Larus schistisagus)