I highly recommend the LGBTQ mystery: "A Body to Dye For" by Grant Michaels. I have not previously read anything by the author and thought I would give it a try- and it was great! It's about Stan Kraychik, a gay Boston hairstylist, who decides to play detective when a Park Ranger whom he meets briefly through one of his clients, is found dead. He was obsessed with trying to get to know the ranger before the murder, thus, his obesssion with finding the ranger's killer. In the meantime, Stan finds himself as one of the lead suspects and has to clear his name. The mystery goes deeper and deeper as you read. Once I got half way through the book, I had to read it to the end! It's a 5 Star Mystery! (BTW, there are no PG rated parts). I already ordered another book in the series and look forward to reading it.
FUN SIDE NOTE: Stan's character reminds me of my friend Monique Toosoon" - the only drag paranormal investigator in the country, whom in his day job is a hair stylist. So, I kept thinking about Monique's "civilian identity" while visualizing the main character.
ABOUT THE BOOK: Boston hairdresser Stan Kraychik finds himself implicated in murder when a national park ranger turns up dead, and comes up against an intolerant police lieutenant as he searches for a killer in order to clear his name.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Michael Mesrobian (1947 – July 2, 2009), better known by the pen name of Grant Michaels, was an American writer of mystery novels. He published six novels with St. Martin's Press in the 1990s, centering on Stan Kraychik, a gay hairdresser turned amateur detective. All six novels were shortlisted Lambda Literary Award finalists in the Gay Mystery category.
HIS BOOKS: A Body to Dye For (1990)
Love You to Death (1992)
Dead on Your Feet (1993)
Mask for a Diva (1994)
Time to Check Out (1996)
Dead as a Doornail (1998)
Source:Wikipedia
AUDIBLE Presents: Haunting of Emery Estate by Rob Gutro & Monique Toosoon
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Triple Haunting of Emery Estate
A 5-hour paranormal investigation at the Emery Estate in Weymouth, Massachusetts was coordinated and hosted by Monique Toosoon and led to chilling communications with 3 ghosts. They included one innocent boy, another attached to a special furnishing, and a third who revealed his terrible nature. Follow along with one team as they encounter and learn about these three #ghosts, why they stayed behind, and how the team confirmed their identities. The end of the investigation will surprise you and show the darker side of human nature in an earthbound #ghost.
Climate change and global warming have been changing the Earth more quickly since the Industrial Revolution. It's a fact. Pollutants are speeding up a changing world climate, and warming it, which is creating extremes (from polar vortex outbreaks to more droughts and floods). Visual proof is seen in these satellite images of Alaska, taken from NASA satellites. Here's the story.
Caption: NASA satellite image showing melt in Alaska. (Image credit: NASA Earth Observatory/Wanmei Liang)
Alaska's ice is melting in front of our eyes, staggering satellite shots show
Unusual weather patterns and climate change have been driving stark changes in the northwestern state. Now, new satellite images show the extent of this transformation.
New satellite images reveal the stark pace of global warming in Alaska, with last year's snow vanishing and leaving behind miles of bare ground.
The images, taken by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instrument on NASA's Terra and Aqua satellites, show Bristol Bay Borough in southern Alaska. Anchorage, which is located to the northeast, had an average January snow depth of 13 inches (33 centimeters) between 1998 and 2025.
But this year, the station, alongside other parts of the state, reported next to no snow on the ground. What is left behind are large patches of ground visible from space.
"Since December 2024, temperatures across the state have been 5 to 10 degrees Fahrenheit (3 to 6 degrees Celsius) above normal, according to NOAA, and isolated areas have experienced even greater anomalies," NASA Earth Observatory wrote in a blog post accompanying the new images. "The warm temperatures caused existing snow and ice to melt and new precipitation to fall as rain."
As climate change heats up the planet, Arctic regions such as Alaska are experiencing dramatic rates of warming, with temperatures increasing up to four times faster than the rest of the world. Anchorage's average temperature was 29.3 F (minus 1.5 C) in January — 13 F (7.2 C) above average and warmer than readings taken in three dozen other states.
The reasons for this are twofold. First, unusual weather conditions across the North Pacific fueled a marine heatwave across North America this winter. This warming was worsened in Alaska thanks to a warm, high-pressure ridge of air hanging over the state.
Did you know that the flag of the United Kingdom was a compilation of various flags? Here's a fascinating video from Flag and Banner to explain it!
The flag of the United Kingdom, or the Union Jack as it is often called, is one of the most recognizable flags in the world, but where did it come from? Well, the design is actually a combination of symbols from England, Scotland, & Ireland.
Is one of your feet slightly larger than the other? Here's some interesting science for you and answers why sometimes one shoe fits better than another.
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The right and left sides of our bodies are often thought of as mirror images of each other. However, the same does not hold true for the feet. So why are our feet often two different sizes?
"Nobody's feet are exactly the same," Dr. Corrine Renne, a podiatrist at New York Foot and Ankle, told Live Science. "Our bodies are somewhat symmetrical, but not always symmetrical."
A 1983 study of 4,000 women and 2,800 men across the United States found that none of them had a pair of feet that were exactly alike in size or shape. Supporting that earlier research is a 2018 study from the SATRA Bulletin, a trade publication on footwear and leather. After analyzing 2,890 people in the United Kingdom, the study discovered that up to 19% of people there may have feet that differ in length by more than about one-sixth of an inch (4 millimeters). That is about half a shoe size in the U.S. and the U.K.
Which foot is usually larger: right or left?
There does not appear to be consensus on whether the left or the right foot is usually the larger of the pair. For instance, the Center for Foot Care in Liberty Township, Ohio, said about 80% of the U.S. population has a larger left foot than their right foot. City Chiropody and Podiatry in London concurred, attributing this difference to how the majority of the world's population is right-handed, which means the left foot gets exercised more and becomes slightly bigger to keep the body balanced.
The 1983 study noted that, although it is generally assumed that the left foot is usually larger than the right, the researchers found there were actually equal chances that a person's larger foot was their left or right one. In contrast, the 2018 study found that the right foot was usually the longer one, with 50.7% of U.K. women, and 54.8% of U.K. men, having their right foot longer than their left.
Why our feet are different sizes
There are also other factors that can lead to these size differences. "For instance, women can experience a bit of discrepancy in foot size during or after pregnancy," Renne said. They can experience ligamentous laxity, a condition in which their joints have a wider range of motion than usual, and their feet may end up differing in size if they naturally favor one side of their bodies over the other. "Sometimes their bodies go back; sometimes they don't," she said.
A number of birth conditions can lead to one foot being a significantly different size than the other. For instance, "if you're born with a club foot, that whole extremity is smaller than the opposite side," Dr. Jacob Wynes, an associate professor and chief of podiatric services at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, told Live Science.
Injuries can alter foot size as well, especially during childhood, when the bones are still developing, the Center for Foot Care noted. Wearing a cast on your foot for a prolonged time can also lead its muscles to weaken and shrink, City Chiropody and Podiatry added. Renne added that differences in foot size could result from using one foot more often than another, such as might happen with a ballet dancer — this could increase muscle mass and thicken a foot's structure.
In most cases, though, having feet of different sizes is just a nuisance. If you simply want to find shoes that fit, there are several options available. One way is to buy a pair of shoes that matches the larger foot and use custom devices from podiatrists or orthotists, such as fillers in the toes or heels "to make shoes fit better and be more symmetrical," Renne said.
Another way is to buy shoes in two different sizes, Wynes said. Renne added that specialty shoe stores can sell just one of each shoe size.
On Feb 22nd, we joined a 40th birthday celebration for our friend Kevin. Organized by his wife Lauren, and best friend Doug, it was a gathering of family and friends at a restaurant in Kennebunk, Maine.
(Photo: Rob, Tom and Kevin the birthday boy)
In downtown Kennebunk we gathered at Ryan's Corner House Irish Pub. It's a small, locally owned place with a bar and a small seating area and lots of dollar bills tacked to the ceiling (which I'll about explain later).
Doug and some of Kevin and Lauren's friends created little temporary tattoos with Kevin's face on it, and 1" high stickers of Kevin's face wearing a birthday hat, AND everyone got paddles with Kevin's face, that we held up when he walked into the restaurant.
(Photo: Kevin holds up the paddle with his face on it and Lauren leans in!)
Everyone was seated at a long table in the front of the restaurant, near the door, so when Kevin walked in first, we all held up his face picture on the paddle and wished him happy birthday.
(Photos: Kevin and Lauren walking into the restaurant and seeing everyone at the table)
Friends and family came from New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Maine for the gathering!
RYAN'S RESTAURANT SIGNATURE -Ryan's Corner House Irish Pub is the proud home of Maine's largest selection of Irish Whiskeys, which dominate a substantial portion of the bar shelves.
(Photo: Doug, the party planner is sitting on the left wearing sunglasses. Notice others are holding the "Kevin faces.")
We were happy that they played lots of 70s and 80s pop music during the celebration. It's fascinating to me (who worked on air as a DJ in the 80s and 90s) that 70s and 80s music remains much more popular than music of the 90s and early 2000s, but I'm not complaining!
ABOUT THE RESTAURANT - There are Ireland posters, pictures and postcards adorning the walls. There are also posts about popular Irish brands such as Guinness, Bushmills, and Murphys. In 2009, the owners Joe and Tracy Ryan moved there from Ireland and opened the restaurant.
(Photo right: Doug, the handsome party planner with amazing arms and a great smile)
ABOUT THE RESTAURANT'S CEILING - One of the employees told me that when the pub was first opened, one of the owners tacked a dollar bill on the ceiling after signing it. It then became a tradition. The walls and ceilings are filled with autographed dollar bills, including dates posted. When you get the menu, you'll also get a plastic cup of tacks and black markers to autograph your own dollar if you want to make a statement!
Sadly it is closing in September 2025 after 14 years of business.
This week's IDIOT is Laurel Libby, Republican member of the Maine State House of Representatives. She used a student to push her MAGA hate agenda against a high school trans athletes and shared the student's name and school, which opened the student and family up to MAGA hate and threats. Libby pushed this up to Trump, who is now after Maine with his typical vengeance.
She used an innocent high school student for her own political gain. She has bullied this child herself and invited hundreds of thousands of people to do so as well on her social media page. She shared this child’s school district, name, and photograph. Representative Laurel Libby can have her own beliefs and share them, but they should not come at the cost of another human being. Mrs. Libby could have gotten her point accross without putting a target on this child, their family, and their school.
Libby claimed on Facebook that a transgender student at a Maine high school won a girls’ pole vault competition. Although transgender women athletes have become a source of controversy, the number of transgender student athletes is thought to be very small.
CNN reported: Maine officials, including the governor, the Department of Education and the statewide sports governing body, have maintained that the state has an obligation to provide equal opportunities to all students, including transgender students, under the Maine Human Rights Act. The law was amended in 2021 to include gender identity as a protected class against discrimination in employment, housing, education, extension of credit or access to public accommodations. ***THAT'S THE LAW IN THE STATE***
Why not leave sports players up to the schools? They can decide perfectly well who gets to actively play sports on a team and who doesn't. They always have. I knew quite a few straight or gay males in high school who never got accepted onto sports teams, from baseball to volleyball.
Now that Libby pushed her MAGA hate agenda to the White House, the felon is now making it a focus for hate and attacking ALL schools in Maine. She's single-handedly opened the door for the fool's retribution on all of Maine.
Further, anyone who supports a lying felon who does nothing to help people and only hurt people, has the same kind of character. Instead of hurting a group of people what has she ever done to help a group of people who are not white, well to do, christians?
SIDE NOTE- On her facebook page she showed her stupidity. She wrote "Democrat leadership." It's "Democratic" leadership, not "Democrat leadership." Sounds like she needs some schooling in addition to empathy and learning how to care about people unlike herself.
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WHAT ACTION TO TAKE: I encourage you to reachout to represative Laurel Libby to remind her that her political views don’t make her a bad person, it’s her actions that make her a bad person.
Laurel Libby’s Office: (207) 632-7619
You can also reach out to Mr. Ryan Fecteau, Maine Speaker of the House, and bring this unethical issue to his attention.
Speaker of the house contact information:
(207) 287-1300
Ryan.fecteau@legislature.maine.gov
Today, February 22, 2025, marks the 20th anniversary of my dog Buzz's passing. It was on February 22nd 2005 and it just took me 20 years to realize that the number 222 is a sign from him. Since our dog Dolly gives me repeating numbers every single day, I saw these at the same time on my weather station. Hers was 444 as the time. Of course they always nudge me to look at the right place at the right time. Just as your pets do in spirit.
It seems to be a thing in northern New England and in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. Almost every week the heroes of the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department are called upon to save winter time hikers and snowmobilers. This week, it's about how they saved 3 hikers on Mount Lincoln.
(File photo: Mount Lincoln. Credit: https://www.jamesjusthiking.com/2012-trip-reports/lincoln-falls-13-mount-lincoln-2)
ABOUT MOUNT LINCOLN: Mount Lincoln is a 5,089-foot-high mountain within the Franconia Range of the White Mountains of New Hampshire. Lincoln is located between Little Haystack and Mount Lafayette. All three overlook Franconia Notch.
Three Mass. hikers rescued from dangerous snow in N.H.
“The group was fairly well prepared for winter conditions but lacked experience above treeline.”
Three hikers from Massachusetts were rescued Sunday in New Hampshire after they encountered whiteout conditions and suffered cold-related injuries, officials said.
Authorities received an SOS alert from a Garmin device in the area of Mount Lincoln around 5:30 p.m. on Sunday, the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department said in a statement. Officials learned from the emergency contacts listed for the device that three men from Massachusetts embarked around 9 a.m. on a winter hike on the Falling Waters/Bridle Path Loop.
“Eventually it was learned from the group that they were experiencing whiteout conditions and suffering from cold related injuries, eventually stating [through] text that they needed help,” officials said. “Tracking of the device showed that they were slowly moving towards the summit of Mount Lafayette.”
Rescuers began hiking up the Old Bridle Path around 7:30 p.m., reaching the hikers around 9:10 p.m. just below the Greenleaf Hut. The rescuers and hikers returned back down to the trailhead around 10:20 p.m., officials said.
The hikers — a 24-year-old from Boston, a 24-year-old from Cambridge, and a 25-year-old from Boston — told rescuers that deep snow and whiteout conditions made it difficult for them to follow the trail and that they determined after going over Mount Lincoln that turning back wasn’t prudent with the conditions.
“Admittedly they panicked when they activated the SOS on their device but they knew it would take hours for rescuers to get to their location,” officials said. “The group was fairly well prepared for winter conditions but lacked experience above treeline. This was a training hike for Mount Washington which is now put on hold.”
New Hampshire authorities said the three men had Hike Safe cards, which generally protect hikers from having to pay for a rescue, even if they acted negligently.
Last week, two Massachusetts women were rescued from the upper slopes of Mount Washington after they became stranded in chest-deep snow and whiteout conditions.
If you're on Facebook, sometimes ads will pop up for the types of books you read. That's how I learned about Steve Higgs, a British author who has written many short books with a paranormal tinge to them. His series is called "Blue Moon Investigations" and I read "Jailhouse Golem" which is book 18 in the series.
The book keeps your attention, and the main character, Tempest Michaels is a very skeptical paranormal investigator. In this book, he lands in jail for punching a policeman, and is then recruited by the warden to investigate the reappearance of a golem (man of clay temporarily given life by a living person). The golem has mysteriously appeared after 100 years and murdered some inmates and an officer.
The book is pretty fast-paced (after all, it's a Novella), and has a good twist to the story at the end. Although I wanted more "paranormal" in the story, it was still enjoyable. Especially the main character and his cellmate. And the cover features a handsome man with a golem- so it was eye-catching, and gave me an image of the main character to visualize as I read.
ABOUT THE BOOK:Incarcerated for a crime he gladly committed, paranormal detective, Tempest Michaels, has been enjoying the peace and quiet. But all that is about to change …
… there’s a monster roaming the prison’s passageways at night and it’s just taken a life.
The legend of the jailhouse golem is more than two hundred years old and though it has been investigated in the past, no one has ever come close to solving the mystery.
He won’t get paid for this one, but there’s something more valuable at stake … his life.
Surrounded by inmates who want to kill him, facing a creature that cannot be killed because it isn’t alive, and worried the very guards employed to protect him might be the ones behind it all, Tempest Michaels faces his toughest challenge yet.
Worse yet, he’s all alone.
Get ready for a tale so fast-paced you’ll lose your breath!
The paranormal? It’s all nonsense, but proving it might get him killed.
In World War II, I read that the Nazis stole 650,000 works of art from 1933 to 194. Some of the stolen pieces were created by some of the world's most heralded artists, including van Gogh, Picasso and Chagall. In addition, the Allies, through their intelligence and diplomatic sources, knew that the Nazis had looted hundreds of millions of dollars worth of gold from many central banks of Europe. So it makes sense that countries were hiding treasures to keep them safe. Now, some medieval crowns that were hidden during that time have finally been uncovered. That's today's blog.
(Photo: A tarnished gold crown ringed with fleur-de-lis type flowers sits on an off-white piece of fabric A medieval gold crown recovered from inside the wall of the Vilnius Cathedral (Image credit: Aistė Karpytė, Vilnius Archdiocese)
Medieval crowns of Eastern European royalty hidden in cathedral wall since World War II finally recovered
A set of 16th-century royal burial regalia concealed in a niche under a staircase for nearly a century has been recovered from the Vilnius Cathedral in Lithuania. The gold crowns, rings and other accessories have been missing since 1939, when they were hidden at the start of World War II.
A team of experts found the objects on Dec. 16 while using an endoscopic camera to peer into holes, fissures and cavities in the walls of the cathedral's underground chambers. The discovery was announced at a press conference Monday (Jan. 6).
In an email to Live Science, Mykolas Sotincenka, coordinator of the Vilnius Archdiocese's communications, explained that the treasures were initially collected in 1931 after a flood damaged the cathedral's crypt, revealing the sarcophagi of three key 16th-century rulers in their burial finery.
The royal insignia — which had been made for funerary purposes and placed into the sarcophagi at the time of their burial — included several crowns, rings, chains, a scepter, an orb and coffin plaques that identified the rulers as Alexander Jagiellon, the Grand Duke of Lithuania and King of Poland, and two of the wives of Sigismund II Augustus, who was also a Grand Duke of Lithuania and King of Poland: Elisabeth of Austria (also known as Elizabeth Habsburg) and Barbara Radziwiłl.
The Jagiellon and Habsburg dynasties were among the most powerful families in Europe, Sotincenka said, and they ushered in the Polish Renaissance or "golden age."
"The discovered burial insignia of the monarchs of Lithuania and Poland are priceless historical treasures," Vilnius Archbishop Gintaras Grušas said in the statement, and are "magnificent works of goldsmithing and jewellery."
(Image credit: Aistė Karpytė, Vilnius Archdiocese)
A newspaper dated September 1939 was wrapped around the royal accessories before they were hidden in a niche under a staircase in the Vilnius Cathedral crypt. Although experts knew from historical records that this cache of precious objects existed, it took several attempts over the years to find it.
"These symbols are important both for the State and for each of us," Rita Pauliukevičiūtė, director of the Vilnius Church Heritage Museum, said in the statement, "as a sign of the strength of our roots."
Lithuania has few authentic artifacts from this important historical period, Sotincenka said, so the rediscovery of the royal regalia in the Vilnius Cathedral proves that this was the burial ground for the elite of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.
The treasures have been documented and cataloged, but they will undergo restoration before being displayed publicly later this year.
In the blogs of February 8 and 9th, I posted links to Part 1 and part 2 of the amazing time we had on "The Grave Talks". In today's blog, I'm posting BOTH links so you can hear the entire show in one sitting. :)
LISTEN! NEW FULL PODCAST the Grave Talks Haunting of Emery Estate!
Carol, the host of the Grave Talks podcast welcomed back Rob and Monique to talk about their first collaborative True Paranormal Book! This is PART 2 of a 2 Part podcast
In their new book, “Haunting of Emery Estate,” Rob Gutro and Monique Toosoon recount their paranormal investigation at the notorious Emery Estate. What began as a routine ghost hunt soon spiraled into an unsettling experience when they encountered not one but three spirits – a young boy whose presence was both haunting and heartbreaking. The second spirit seemed mysteriously bound to an object, its energy tied to something from the past. But it’s the third entity that truly raised the stakes—a dark, troubling presence that seemed to leave an air of fear and unease in its wake.
Restoration experts uncovered Centuries-old angels painted in the Old North Church in Boston. That's the church made famous by Paul Revere. Here's the story of this amazing discovery from the Boston Globe.
Conservator Gianfranco Pocobene, of Malden, Mass., climbs down scaffolding after working to restore nearly 300-year-old painted angels on the walls of Old North Church, Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2024, in Boston. – AP Photo/Steven Senne
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Centuries-old angels uncovered at Boston church made famous by Paul Revere
A popular stop for tourists visiting Boston's North End, the Old North Church is best known for the two lanterns hung from its steeple on the night of Paul Revere’s 1775 ride to warn of the British army’s approach.
Conservator Corrine Long, of Dover, N.H., restores nearly 300-year-old painted angels on walls of Old North Church, Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2024, in Boston. AP Photo/Steven Senne
BOSTON (AP) — Straddling the scaffolding high up in a historic Boston church, murals conservator Gianfranco Pocobene is working to uncover eight angels that were hidden under layers of paint for more than a century.
The painted angels — with round childlike faces and wings — once were among the defining features of Old North Church when they were painted around 1730. But officials at the church, a seminal location of the Revolutionary War, painted over the angels in 1912 with thick coats of white paint, part of an austere renovation that restorationists are trying to reverse.
Conservator Corrine Long, of Dover, N.H., top, hands equipment to conservator Gianfranco Pocobene, of Malden, Mass., center, as they climb down scaffolding after working to restore nearly 300-year-old painted angels on the walls of the Old North Church, Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2024, in Boston. – AP Photo/Steven Senne
What lies beneath the paint?
“When we first looked at the project six months ago, we had no idea what was here,” Pocobene said as the church, the oldest church building in Boston, was preparing to remove the scaffolding earlier this month to reveal eight of the 20 painted-over angels. “It’s really been quite a revelation to find these really interesting and historic works of art on the walls of the church that nobody has seen in our lifetime,” he continued. ”Just to be part of a project where we are revealing something from colonial America is really extraordinary.”
(Photo: Recently restored, nearly 300-year-old painted angels adorn an arch at the historic Old North Church in the North End neighborhood, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024, in Boston. – AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
Returning the church to its roots
But as the 250th anniversary of Revere’s ride approaches in April, church officials also want to draw attention to its beginnings in 1723 and its identity, both as a beacon of liberty but also its connections to the slave trade — many of its first congregants profited off slavery. The church was built to house Boston’s growing colonial Anglican community and its interior was much more colorful and dynamic than what visitors see today.
“For much of the church’s history, people who were coming here to the church would have seen those angels, would have seen the colorful interior,” said Emily Spence, the associate director of education at Old North Illuminated, which operates the church as a historic site.
“The color scheme was an important part of the identity of the people who worshiped here as members of the congregation of a Church of England church,” she said, adding the interiors would have set the church apart from Puritans who dominated Boston at the time.
Spence said that exploration started in September with efforts to restore the sandstone and teal-colored angels — eight completed this month and another eight by the spring. They were made to look like stone sculptures and it remains unclear why they were painted over.
A nearly 300-year-old painted angel appears on a wall of Old North Church, Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2024, in Boston. – AP Photo/Steven Senne
Bringing angels to life
Researchers knew from the historical record that the angels were on the walls and they still have a copy of a contract signed with John Gibbs, a congregation member who painted them. A paint study completed in 2017 confirmed their presence but their condition was unclear.
Corrine Long, a painting conservator who works with Pocobene, said one of the challenges was removing seven layers of paint without damaging the angels. The team first applied a solvent gel to soften the layers of paint and then manually removed it with a plastic scraper. After that, they cleaned the angels with cotton swabs before retouching to remove any signs of damage.
A statue of an angel rests in an elevated position at Old North Church, Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2024, in Boston. – AP Photo/Steven SenneStatues of angels rest in an elevated positions at Old North Church, Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2024, in Boston. – AP Photo/Steven SenneAn 18th century organ reaches toward the ceiling of Old North Church, Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2024, in Boston. – AP Photo/Steven Senne
Once Pocobene and Long started removing the paint, they knew they’d uncovered something special.
“They all have their own character — they’re not copies,” Pocobene, who has his own studio in Lawrence, Massachusetts, said. “The artist John Gibbs painted them individually and they’re all in different poses, which gives them a really wonderful rhythmic kind of pattern across the surface of the church.”
For Long, one of the most satisfying parts of the project was returning parts of the church to what the founders had intended — and what tourists should see.
“Whenever I go into a building with history, it amazes me to be surrounded with paintings or the decorations that were there originally,” she said. “When it’s been repainted to be white, it takes away some of that majesty and some of that history.”
On a recent day, the church was mostly empty except for the conservators. But two tourists, Sean Dixon and Sarah Jardine from California, did slip in. They walked the aisles and stared up at the scaffolding. It was hard to see the angels through all the steel but what they did see inspired them.
“I was kind of shocked when I first saw it,” said Dixon, an account manager from San Francisco. “It looks really cool and I’m really excited to see the full picture once the scaffolding comes down.”
Recently restored, nearly 300-year-old painted angels, at top right, adorn an arch at the historic Old North Church in the North End neighborhood, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024, in Boston. – AP Photo/Charles KrupaPassers-by walk near Old North Church, center, Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2024, in Boston. – AP Photo/Steven Senne
I'm a simple guy who enjoys the simple things in life, especially our dogs. I volunteer for dog rescues, enjoy exercising, blogging, politics, helping friends and neighbors, participating in ghost investigations, coffee, weather, superheroes, comic books, mystery novels, traveling, 70s and 80s music, classic country music,writing books on ghosts and spirits, cooking simply and keeping in shape. You'll find tidbits of all of these things on this blog and more. EMAIL me at Rgutro@gmail.com - Rob
