Entering Bourne

Happy Bourne Day

Bourne Independence Day!!

April 2nd marks the 125th anniversary of Bourne's split from Sandwich.

Yes, that was almost the Sandwich Rotary and the Sandwich Bridge. While the physical land of Bourne is among the earliest of European settlements, the town was a part of Sandwich until 1884.

There's a whole party scheduled at the Veteran's Memorial Community Center. There will be a speech by a selectman, the whole story of the split as told by a historian, and a student essay will be read. There will also be a proclamation sent from Governor Deval Patrick, who is too busy bungling the economy to come here.

If you want to go, the event is being held Thursday, April 2nd, at 4 PM. The VMCC is on Main Street in Buzzards Bay.

All you Sandwich people... don't show up and start making trouble.

National Marine Life Center Growing

We paid a visit to the National Marine Life Center in Buzzards Bay today, to see what that big hole in the ground was about.

It's for a series of pools for seals and turtles, as well as some bigger quarry. The NMLC is part of a do-gooder bunch that rescues sick/wounded/stranded sea animals, then nurses them back to health with the goal of mainstreaming them back into the ocean. They are thos hospital, so to speak. They also provide some educational services, as they are staffed with experts in a very child-friendly field. If you're ever walking down a Cape Cod beach and find a stranded dolphin, these are the people to notify.

It's a great place to visit, especially if you have children. Every kid loves turtles, and the NMLC has really big suckers. They also rescue seals, who are even cuter than turtles are. They hope to even be able to help dolphins and smaller whales.

It's a long process. They are just breaking ground on the pool grounds, and have early November (turtles need rescuing more in winter, as the cold water stuns them and compromises their immune system) as a finish date. You can't just fill it up with the garden hose, either. Wounded animals require delicate handling, and maintaining the proper salt/water ratio is a critical and never-ending cycle of sampling and altering.

They will truck in seawater, as well operating a pumping station. The pumping station utilizes horizontal drilling techniques to get sea water, very similar to the Kuwaiti oil drilling methods alleged by the Iraqis before their 1990 invasion. This should have a happier ending than Iraq/Kuwait did. The water is also circulated out through a complex series of filters, so no 20 foot seal hybrid nightmares should arise from their work here.

This $1.4 million Life Support System Building was financed by a generous grant from NOAA, as well as the donations made by visitors to the center. The whole center is expanding, and will be a Mecca for oceanographic-type stuff. They'll be open to the public around Memorial Day, but they'll show you around if yoy just show up at the door. We operated this way, and you should have that story soon enough.

Celtic Dancer Gets Her Ring Back!!

Home slice and original Celtic dancer Cherie Blier recently lost her absolutely stunning Celtics championship ring, resulting in an article that you can read here.... http://www.capecodtoday.com/blogs/index.php/2009/03/05/title-208?blog=46

Good news! I saw Cherie's mom (she runs Baker School Of Dance in Buzzards Bay), and was told that the ring was returned by a secret benefactor, and that all is well. My camera had no batteries, so we have to use this old picture:

Local Eatery Re-Opening!!!

Lots of activity around the Mezza Luna, which looks ready to open on the week of April 6th or so.

The Italian eatery, founded in 1937 by Speranza Cubellis, initially made a living selling 35 cent plates of spaghetti and meatballs to soldiers stationed at the nearby military bases. They expanded to become a local institution, and a bedrock business on the street. Sadly, the original was destroyed by a fire in 2007.

Reconstruction is complete, and special invitations have been sent out to the town's true Players. Of course, I have one... that I stole from the printer's website:

We call this Yummy In The Tummy, and I want the veal.

This re-opening will be a huge shot in the arm for the depressed Main Street area in BBay, which has struggled to draw people into their stores. The ML is expected to draw people in from miles around. Locals are already in a state of pure Psyched Hype.

We spoke to Mr. Cubellis today (we'll give you a photo tour of the place in a future article, but ooh-la-la!), and he wanted to make it public that, in order to open with 100% top-notch service, they will only serve 100 customers the first night they open. You can make a reservation, but I'd recommend hustling. They will increase patronage as they go, but they want to start off with everyone leaving Happy.

Reservations can be made at 508-759-4667. They have a website, but they'll have a better one if Mr. Cubellis buys my imminent Free Veal For A Website Upgrade pitch.

Finally....

No, I don't know what this means... I use the Other Brand: