Tuesday, December 16, 2008

For the Love of Birds

Fascinated by the rare and beautiful Puffin? Learn more at an article by by Suki Casanave '86G(UNH) and at Project Puffin


For the Love of Birds: "For years afterwards, Schubel spent every summer working on one of Audubon's seven Maine island sanctuaries, sometimes alone, sometimes with a couple of other scientists. Her world was a rocky, treeless outpost, surrounded by sea. And birds. She didn't mind the constant calling of the gulls, the severe weather, the isolation. She didn't even mind the fact that most of the time she was covered with bird poop. Or the oily, fishy vomit that came up when an adult bird she was handling was nervous. It was all part of being Seabird Sue, the name she's earned through the years for her passionate love of her work."

Do Lobsters Travel from NH to Maine or MA?

Caption: UNH Ph.D. candidate Jason Goldstein holds a lobster with a temperature logger, an ultrasonic transmitter and a return tag. These items are secured to the lobster like a lightweight backpack to help UNH researchers learn about their migration patterns.
Credit: Rebecca Zeiber, NH Sea Grant


Traveling Lobsters?
Questions: How far can a lobster travel?
Answer: about 10 miles in a couple of days...or so say researchers at my alma mater: University of New Hampshire at Durham.


Below you'll find and excerpt of an article on research on the subject of migration of lobsters. Why might the Maine traveling public care? Why not - I don't eat lobster myself, but I find them fascinating and know that my neighbors rely on them and many savor lobsters. To learn more and why it matters check out this link: UNH Researchers Track Lobster Migrations to Improve Population Estimates: "UNH Researchers Track Lobster Migrations to Improve Population Estimates
Media Contact: Rebecca Zeiber
603-749-1565
NH Sea Grant
December 9, 2008

DURHAM, N.H. - Jason Goldstein checks his lobster traps in New Hampshire's Great Bay Estuary once a week, but not for tasty crustaceans to sell. Instead, the University of New Hampshire Ph.D. candidate is fitting these lobsters with transmitters and tracking their migrations year-round.

Goldstein has tracked lobsters along the New Hampshire coastline and into Great Bay throughout the past two years. This research, funded by N.H. Sea Grant, will provide more accurate information about the sources of juvenile lobsters and interactions between the population stocks in New England. The information could improve the management of this economically valuable fishery, thus allowing lobster to remain front-and-center among the New England menu choices.

Goldstein and UNH professor of zoology Win Watson are particularly interested in the movements of 'berried' females, those carrying eggs. This year, they are comparing the berried females' movements with those of the large- and small-sized males and females without eggs. Where the berried females go, so go their eggs, and those movements likely have implications for New England lobster populations.

'We often go diving one day and there are a lot of lobsters"

Tuesday, December 02, 2008

TRAPPED: Maine lobster towns try to weather a global economic storm | Portland Press Herald

Lobstering isn't as fun as it sometimes looks to summer tourists. Take a few moments and learn more about the current plight of Maine fishermen - these are our friends and neighbors in Georgetown - same story.

TRAPPED: Maine lobster towns try to weather a global economic storm | Portland Press Herald: "The cold November winds have Mike Floyd wondering if it's time to surrender to the stock-market plunges, bank collapses and credit freezes.

Someday soon, Floyd knows, the costs of steaming from home on Long Island and hauling his lobster traps will exceed the income he and his helper can earn selling their catch in a market scuttled by the global economic crisis.

'What it's going to come down to is how long we're going to keep doing this at this price,' he said.

There are still lobsters to catch, but lobstermen up and down the Maine coast have been hauling their traps back to shore as much as two months earlier than usual. Many in southern and midcoast Maine are now fishing for other jobs to pay the bills, while those in more isolated parts of the state are simply hunkering down for a long, lean winter.

The plunge of prices since early October has lobstering families and communities closing ranks and buying time. And what worries lobstermen even more than the approaching winter, they said, is the chance that the market won't recover by next spring or summer."

Monday, November 10, 2008

Potato candy? That's sweet.- Mainsweets-Georgetown

Oh MY GOSH! Now I'm craving these darn things! We have a cottage in Georgetown and I only get these Needhams once a year when I visit there. The rest of my family goes crazy for her Whoopie Pies, but me, I covet these delicacies! This is worth the drive from anywhere...and I don't even like candy much!

Potato candy? That's sweet. - The Boston Globe: "GEORGETOWN, Maine - 'What's a Needham?'


MAINSWEETS 284 Five Islands Road

(Route 127), Georgetown, Maine. 207-371-2806. www.mainsweets.com.

That's a question Patty Mains gets countless times a week at her trailer-sized candy shop and bakery in this woodsy coastal town.

For the record: Needhams are chocolate candies - Mains dips hers in dark Belgian Callebaut - filled with coconut, confectioner's sugar, butter, vanilla, and mashed potatoes. You read that correctly. A key element is potato - a fitting secret ingredient in a state famous for its spuds.

Also called 'potato candy,' Needhams are a vanishing treat, but they're still beloved for many native Mainers. The vegetable tempers the sweetness, and the butter and coconut add richness.

'The mashed potato makes it much more moist and not so sticky-sweet,' says Mains.

Mains got her Needham recipe from her grandfather, and the chubby little chocolates have become a signature item. She launched the business two summers ago after retiring from Bath Iron Works, where she had worked for 32 years.

For much of her life, Mains was known as 'the little candy girl,' the relative and co-worker who brought sweets to family gatherings and office events.

Before opening MainSweets, she took....

Sunday, September 14, 2008

Prime time in midcoast Maine - The Boston Globe

Prime time in midcoast Maine - The Boston Globe: "There's a sign outside Rock City Books & Coffee in Rockland, Maine, that reads:

The air has a freshness . . .
The mornings are cool . . .
The light . . . well, it makes everyone
Want to be a painter or photographer
This is autumn's love song

Nowhere is that song more sweetly sung than in midcoast Maine, a region that encompasses such postcard-pretty communities as Camden, Rockport, Rockland, Lincolnville, and seven others. Through Columbus Day and often beyond, activities include sailing, golf, visiting world-class museums, browsing shops for everything from antiques to kitsch, and consuming the state's fabled lobsters."

Thursday, May 22, 2008

Maine's Bounty: Lobster, Literature, and Dahlov Ipcar

It's funny, my first reaction to this article headline was "No Fair" - that little school in Maine gets to have the First Lady (Bush I thought) AND a magnificent artist read to them? At my children's schools, much larger than Georgetown Central, got me as a guest reader on these "reading days" - never famous people! I did get chastised once though for "rumpus-ing" too much while reading "Where the Wild Things Are" since the teacher next door could hear me!

I wonder if anyone has ever chastised Dahlov Ipcar - the wonderful artist and illustrator for being to rowdy while reading?

Read the article here (it's Maine's 1st Lady by the way):MaineToday.com | News Update: First Lady, Dahlov Ipcar, read to students

Or take some time and explore the works of Dhalov Ipcar who resides in Georgetown, Maine. The art of this fine woman is not what you expect of Maine artist check it out at Dahlov Website

Maine, Five Islands and 6 Degrees of Separation...

While checking my ranking (which now stinks after enjoying a top 10 position for a year or more) for my vacation rental web site on Google, I came across a new listing for "Five Islands Maine" that I'd never seen before. It's a personal reflection written in 2006 by a woman related to the Pinkhams of Five Islands ME. It's nice to know that some things really don't change. This area of Maine is still pretty rural and we still drive past the homes of her memory to reach our summer cottage - which ironically is next to a Pinkham home...

Read on if coastal Maine and Five Islands is in your heart:
Maine.gov: Facts & History: Maine History Told by Mainers

Sunday, April 27, 2008

River Run Tours in Woolwich Maine Opens for the 2008 Season!

Ed Rice at River Run Tours reports that "The River Runner" (that's their high function pontoon boat) is in the water and ready for the early season trips, or Island Transportation needs. Looking forward to a great 2008!!!!

This great company will get you on the water in Maine even if you don't have a boat. Transportation, tours, and dock side service at our Georgetown Cottage is available - just let him know Melinda from Five Islands sent you!

Please Visit:
River Run Tours, Inc
28 Walnut Point
Woolwich Maine 04579
207-442-7028 Business Office
207-504-BOAT

Monday, March 31, 2008

Morrigan McCarthy Photography: Dahlov Ipcar

Check out the gorgeous light in the studio!

Morrigan McCarthy Photography: Dahlov Ipcar: "Last spring I had the amazing opportunity to photograph the artist Dahlov Ipcar at her studio in Georgetown, Maine for a wonderfully written piece by Leah Chernikoff. I have only just had the time this week to start scanning my negatives from the shoot and I thought I'd post a couple of them here as I go through them..."

Monday, March 17, 2008

jen of the north: pottery beach

I found this little blog piece via Google Alerts tonight, and I can't believe this was right under my nose! This beach is just a few miles from our cottage, and I cannot wait to get back and go look for some pottery shards, and my favorite: sea glass!! Enjoy.

jen of the north: pottery beach: "welcome to the land of pottery beach....david & i found this little little scruffy beach on the side of 5 islands lobster shack up in georgetown, maine many many moons ago...we were just walking around and ended up on it & we were struck by how much pottery we found in this one area...the place was just saturated. this was right about 1995 & we were on a serious mosaic jag...we were sticking shards of pottery on everything...i even did a small wall in my house in georgetown when i lived there & david & i actually applied a mosaic to a dried out stump...it was a garden piece! stumpy!"