Cape Ann Images: May 2017

Why I created this......

Born and raised in Gloucester, Ma fishing gets in your blood. Surrounded by the sea, kids here have a boat almost as much as kids elsewhere have bicycles! As I grew older my fishing ambitions gave way to what's around me. Although I still "drop a line" every so often, my attention wanders to the majesty of the natural light that make this place so special. Never is each day the same. The subjects may be the same but the light from the sea & sky will morph the subject into a form of art. For that reason artists have been drawn to these shores for several hundred years, they followed the light painting and sketching these surroundings. What artists capture with paint on canvas, I attempt to capture with a click.....if I'm lucky!

I guess that's a sort of Fish'n!

Jay Albert

Jay Albert 2023 all rights reserved

Click on any post image to enlarge.

Monday, May 29, 2017

2017 Memorial Day Weekend!

With Memorial Day here I always think of what it must have been when Pearl Harbor was attacked. That's when I look back into my dads past and see it as a life changing event. Not for just him but all Americans! In his case he was an all scholastic athlete who was then a freshman at Villanova University playing football. Right after the attack he was on the road hitching rides back to Gloucester to say goodby to his parents and join the Navy. He became a naval aviator as a radioman and gunner aboard a PBY. He and his squadron VP-53 participated in both the Atlantic and Pacific theaters of war. In his first action while on patrol March 8 1943 at 1:10 pm they spotted a surfaced U boat and began the attack. The pilot, Lt Dryden positioned the plane in a perfect alignment with the sun. That way the U boat's crew couldn't see the approaching aircraft. My father manned one of the guns and started to rake the deck in an effort to keep the subs crew from manning their guns. After dropping 4 contact depth bombs the sub split in two and quickly sank. Spotting survivors the PBY's crew dropped two life rafts and circled the site for several hours waiting for a rescue vessel to pick them up. With fuel getting low they had to depart never knowing the fate of the subs surviving crew. My dad never knew the the story of the U-156 until many years later when I read an article about the sub in his American Legion magazine. At one time the U-156 attacked the oil refineries of Aruba
with little success. But later they attacked the British liner Laconia in what was to be known as "The Laconia Incident". In the American Legion article it mentioned details of the U-156 sinking. Out of curiosity I looked through my dads log book and there it was.....March 8 43...."Sunk Sub"! That's all he wrote and not until the 1970's did he tell me the details!

My Dad right, somewhere in the Pacific with captured Japanese flag.

Flags of Stacy Boulevard.

Stage Fort Park

Tulips & flags!

Fishermen's Wive's statue.

Fishermen's Memorial

Proud gull

Close up profile.

You look'n at me?

Those beady eyes!

Looking over the city.

Watching!

Swan Wake!

Gloucester night glow.

Dawn breaks!

Monday, May 22, 2017

Fire and Daybreak!

Most time I post images from the past week but every so often a news item may be happening that I either stumble upon or have the time to check it out. Just after 5:00 pm Saturday I hear over the scanner a fire on Centennial Ave. here in Gloucester. It's a tight neighborhood which always reminds me of the opening scene of the 1970's TV show "All In the Family". When police arrived they reported heavy smoke, a short time later the arriving firefighters reported heavy fire showing from 2 houses possibly a third. Soon firefighters declared a 3rd alarm and by the time I arrived it was a 4 alarm fire. One house was destroyed while the second suffered heavy damage and the third home exterior heat damage along with interior smoke damage. Considering this fire had a fast head start in this tight neighborhood, the firefighting efforts prevented a far worse outcome. The best news of all....No one hurt!

From Commonwealth Ave.