Of Gloucester

Eventually your correspondents made it to our destination. Gloucester, MA is a real New England-y kind of town. It's got a charming downtown shopping street and a harbor and a bunch of clapboard houses and multiple Dunkin' Donuts. You may know it from such films as The Perfect Storm starring Marky Mark (or the Marky Mark-less book of the same name).

And speaking of the tragic events described in that book, did you know that 10,000 Gloucester fisherman have died at sea since the town was founded? That's a lot. A poster in The Lovely Katherine's parents' home made a similar claim, which your correspondent thought was hyperbole. But this memorial and various press support a figure somewhere in that ballpark. Think about that next time you have a Gorton's fishstick.

Also, did you know that coastal New England really is this gray in December? Well, not all the time, but on this day it was -- the staff photographer has done no fidgeting with the color in this picture, it's just a kind of gray place some days.