Monday July 27

Monday and it's Girl's Day.


The girls and I planned a little day for ourselves today. We're in the last few days of having Jordan with us on the Cape and we're making sure we do stuff we really like together. So, breakfast at The Daily Paper and Thriftstore Shopping and it's a day.


The Daily Paper is a nice restaurant chef-owned and operated and the food is creative and delicious. I had a Salmon Plate which is bagel, lox, cream cheese, capers, tomato, red onion, and a wedge of lemon. Oh, sweet mama, it's good. Makenna got a Chocolate Chip Pancake and a side of bacon. Jordan went for the Sliced Baguette French Toast. She and I had Ethiopian coffee. Dark and Good. Good food, good service, good company and a good time.


Jordan had the thrift store shopping all planned out, thanks to Google and Google Maps. After we left The Daily Paper we hit High Hopes, the Baptist Church thrift on Main St. Hyannis (closed except Tues and Thurs, and closed it was) the Salvation Army (a bit nasty, and NO cHanGing RoOmS, dear god in heaven, and I quote from a worker "We don't have any changing rooms, but there's a mirror over there and there's not too many men in here."), and Goodwill (50% off a certain color every Monday). Goodwill was by far the nicest experience, mostly due to the fact that they have lot of great clothes, and that 50% off sure helps because they are not cheap. The place is pretty clean, isn't offensive in its smell, and is pretty much normal and not too creepy. These are good qualities in a thrift store. We all found some good items, Jordan being very happy with finding 2 pairs of jeans (Gap and Old Navy) and both of them fitting great and (bonus) having the color of the week for the 50% off. These things just don't happen like that, but today, for Jordan, they did. Kenna was also a happy girl. She found tops from brands she likes right now, Abercrombe and Fitch, and Hollister. I also got a couple of tops and was happy to add a bit of variety to the wardrobe.


We all can only take so much thrifting, we just get shopped out, and so we headed home to chill, get some lunch and see if we could beat the weather and have some time on the beach. It stayed great, even though they were calling for rain, and the three of us headed down to the little beach at the end of the road. It was nice just talking, sunning, looking for shells and rocks and just being together. We watched the ferries and boats going in and out of the harbor and watched a pair of Canada Geese hang out with a seagull (weird).


After a while we all came home and I got ready for dinner with Aunt Cheryl and Geoff Rose, the man who runs Cape Cod Community Club, the organization I've been working with while I'm on the Cape. We went to The Steak House and had a great meal and nice company. We were home by 8, Geoff had a ferry to catch back to Martha's Vineyard.

It's a cool and lovely evening, and nice to have had a full and fun and relaxing day, and plenty of evening to just chill and be here in this house that we all love, together.

July 19-July 26

Here it is Sunday night and as I look over the past few posts to my blog I'm horrified to see exactly when the last "Cape Activities" type post was. Last Saturday's activities! Unbelievable, and I had such hopes for keeping up with this. I suppose instead of Detailed Travelogue-ing I'm just going to have to do Summing Up, or Brief Overviewing. Or maybe even List Writing.

Sigh.

It's not what you're used to, nor is it what I am used to. The standards have dropped, the rain around here has made me rusty, the habit is not yet set in, or the laziness factor had yet to be calculated, it's uncertain what's going on. Or maybe it's just business as usual.

With no further procrastinating here's a brief update on the last week.....

On Sunday July 19th the girls, Aunt Cheryl, Torin and I went to a kettle pond in Yarmouth. It was very much like a lake. I was in the middle of the woods, sort of, and the water was nice and very lake like. Jordan said the kettle pond she, Sadie, Metie, and Cheryl went to in 2007 was crystal clear, cold, and out in the middle of nowhere. This one was very populated by families, and was (like I said) lake like.

I've been interested in exactly what a kettle pond is. I live in Florida an I'm aware of how our natural springs are formed, but how was a kettle pond formed? Here's what I found out. The Cape (and surrounding areas) was once covered by a glacier. Kettle ponds mark the site of ice blocks that were left behind by the retreating glacier and buried by the outwash deposits. The buried ice was well insulated from the warmer post-glacial temperatures and may have persisted for several thousand years Kettle holes that are deep enough to expose the water table contain ponds or lakes. In many kettle ponds certain processes have smoothed the shoreline so that the ponds are almost circular. I read about this here at the U.S. Geological Survey site.

After we all got home from the kettle pond, I went out and cleared out the whole van of all of our travel stuff so we could make a large living room/bed for our night at the Wellfleet Drive-In. Makenna and I put down her sleeping bag, a rag rug, the wool blanket and my sleeping bag over all of that. I got the big down body pillow, the bolster from my bed and two throw pillows for leaning against. We also had the girls microfiber blankets. It was like a big nest back there! We popped 3 bags of microwave popcorn and hit the road. I wanted to be there when they opened, by 7, because I remember getting some outside parking the last time we went. We ended up being there by about 7:30 and it was early and we had good parking spot picking. Because of the height of the van we had to be in the front 2 rows or the back rows. The girls and I were worried about being too close in the front 2 rows, but Torin insisted we try it and that's where we stayed. It was a big screen up there, but it was good. I thought I'd do well letting the kids be in the van and I would have the camp chair at the tailgate, but I just couldn't hear very well so I ended up squishing in with them. It was tight and snuggly but FUN! We watched the new Harry Potter and listened on our radio. I was worried about the van's battery dying, but it wasn't even a problem. I still think we could have used more padding in the van, believe it or not there were lots of numb butts. Maybe next time we'll try an air mattress!

Monday was Torin Fly Home day. He was with us for 3 weeks and it was very nice having him be part of our family for that time. No one could believe it was time for him to go. Aunt Cheryl said "I don't want my boy-man to leave!!"

Jordan, Torin and I drove into Boston, parked at the Charles St. Parking Garage-which was great by the way, connected to a little center of town type terminal (check out the bathroom token meters-and worked off of our list of Cheap things to do in Boston.

Jordan did all the research for us and she did a great job. We walked everywhere. We went to the Boston Public Library - incredibly fabulous ; checked out Trinity Church-an amazingly beautiful and impressive church; walked around Boston talking pictures of everything-it's a cool town; ate lunch at The Pour House-cheapest lunch we could find and not a chain; shopped a little-Anthropology and a cool, inspiring paper store; spent tons of time in the Public Gardens-lots of great flowers, swan boats, sculpture, and peaceful land in the heart of the city; and last but not least enjoyed Torin playing the $93,000 Steinway grand piano at M. Steinert and Sons. He practically ran across traffic when he saw the sign for the shop.

It was a beautiful end to a wonderful day. We all got in the car and drove to the airport. Despite Aunt Cheryl's grim prediction of what driving in Boston might be like, we got very lucky and it was pretty much like navigating any other big city.

Team-work, yeah!

For the rest of the week, the girls and I tried to stay dry out of the rain, watched movies, went thrift store shopping, mall shopping, exchanged tickets for a play in Dennis and ate at Captain Frosty's, worked with Aunt Cheryl on the puzzle we bought at the thrift store (that's been good fun), went to the library, got ice cream and went to the beach. We went to Kalmus Beach at the end of Ocean Avenue this week. I've been wanting to go since Jim and Daphne were here and finally we made it. It was a very nice beach, lots of seaweed and TONS of Lady Slipper shells. There are hills of them at the end of this beach. It literally looks like the tide dumps them there by the front end loader full.

We also went to a BBQ at Midge and Jim's, cleaned the house - more teamwork - and I made a homemade apple pie.

I am sure there were other things we did, but I believe this is a good recap of most of it. Oh, these are flowers from Aunt Cheryl's garden, I love doing her gardening, and this bit of rainy-ness inspired me to bring some sunshine in. The next morning sun was streaming through the glass. Have I mentioned sitting on the porch. It seems that a day is not over until there has been at least some porch sitting done. My preferred way to start my day here is by taking a cup of coffee out to the porch, with my book and reading, sipping, and saying hi to the neighbors. I truly love that. I've had some really good conversations out on that porch. It's a great place to spend time. It's a great place to be.

Cat Vomit, a Vole, and a Little Birdie

Good morning Cape Cod.

This morning woke me up, gently, with a loving caress as the harbor breeze blew in from my open bedroom window and played across my face. White bedroom, soft white sheets, gentle breeze, sweet little girl asleep next to me, blonde, with a shell pink tank pj top accenting her brown little arms, her angelic face.

It was a pleasant good morning.

I wanted to get right up and do a little work, maybe blog, check out what's happening for the rest of the week, but my mind wanted to take the time to soak this in, make it linger, not to rush out into the world of doing, but to savor.

I spent another hour an a half doing just that, in bed, dozing on and off, lingering.

When it was time to get up I headed downstairs and into the living room. I was greeted by the vision of my laptop on the hassock, a nice cat vomit half on it half on the furniture, the nice felty dry part of the vomit being actually on my laptop, the juicy part on the footstool.

I walked around the corner to the kitchen to get some paper towel to clean it all up and there, on the floor, was a dead vole, not so juicy, and a dead little bird, very juicy, blood smeared across the floor.

Little gifties from the kitties. Could this be the work of one kitty? Is that possible? Or are they working as a team, Bennie and Rusty, lovely little killing, gifting machines?

Who knows, but I spent a bit of my morning Swiffering like a mad woman.

Good Morning Cape Cod.

White, wheat, or maahble?

Saturday on the Cape and it seems the world has arrived for it's weekend of fun.

I worked this morning at the Sea-Mist Resort, just for a couple of hours, selling vacation memberships to the Cape Cod Community Club. It's a buy-local savings plan for restaurants, shops and services on the Cape.

Heading home and I realized I'd like a bit of adventure myself. After much discussion, which sometimes feels like 4 heads trying to go in 4 different directions(Jordan, Torin, Kenna and me), we decided to go to Falmouth. You say this Fal-muth in cape speak. A few years ago we went Coonamessett Farms in Falmouth and then to the beach. But this year no one seemed interested in the Farm, or the beach (other than me). We decided to drive on out and putter around.

It was a lovely day here, upper 70's, breezy, sunny so a day in town was very comfortable. By the time we hit town Makenna was hungry so we looked for a little sandwich shop to get something to eat. Artie's Cafe fit the bill. She ordered their soup and half a sandwich special. Clam Chowder is not to be missed while here on the Cape and Makenna loves clam chowder. When she ordered her lunch the woman asked about her sandwich "white, wheat, or maahble?" After a beat or two Makenna made her selection. While we were outside eating I had to laugh when Makenna said "Did you hear when she asked me about the bread? At first I didn't know what she was saying!" We had some fun saying white wheat or maahble over and over. You gotta love the Cape, it's filled with lovely local flavor. It makes life fun.

We puttered around town a bit, I fell in love with a little garden spinner that was in the shape of a toadstool. The base was stuck in the ground but the little red mushroom cap was a spinner. I'm silly, I know, but I love toadstools. Throw in a snail carrying a gnome on it's back and I'm sunk. Someone please send help. There was a vintage knockoff store, a few clothing places and some stuff like that, the usual. There is also a great little organic cupcake place called CupCapes of Falmouth. I got a little cupcake, plain with jam fillng and cream cheese icing, fresh berries on top. They gave me a sweet little to go carton for it and I carried that thing around with me all day. Eaten with tea that night and I was happy.

We headed back to where we parked, in the lot behind the Coffee Obsession coffee shop and hit the little stores right there. On the way Kenna and I walked around a garden that looked private, but had a sign on the door to come on in. We took pictures in there, Kenna a bit uncertain that we were actually allowed, but ok with it after a bit. It was so nice in the way of gardens around here. Loose. Flowey. They move you through slowly. Granite brick shaped stepping stones and little sections of lavender, pink roses, cosmos, and all sorts of plants I can't identify. The crowning glory of this garden was a huge hedge of gorgeous white hydrangeas right along the fence line. The hydrangeas themselves were massive and the large amount of them made for a very dramatic show. Very nice.

Where the coffeeshop is a nice little pocket of loveliness. The Paper Tyger paper shop is beautiful. Its wide-open floor plan flows nicely, it's decorated with big paper flowers, and hanging shells and all sorts of things. It has this great selection of cards, paper, hand-made books, notebooks, wrapping paper, all sorts of yummies!! We loved it in there. All of us. And not just me who is so easily marketed to.

After shopping a bit we all wanted to crash, and Coffee Obsession is the kind of place we love. It has these great wide planked rough wood floors, a large book shelf full of pottery, a couple of cool tshirts for sale, comfy chairs, WiFi, and some Great coffee. Heaven. We chilled for a while, Torin and Jordan did stuff on the laptop, Kenna read.

I headed down to Surf Drive Beach because I need to at least see the beach if I'm near it, at the very least. I walked a bit, shot some photos, enjoyed just being. Feet in the sand......

Working through the week

This week has been an active, busy one, but not with a lot of touristy things. We've been working around Aunt Cheryl's house and I've been working on fundraising for Cape Cod Community Club. Through it all, I have tried to keep my feet in the sand at least once a day. A girl has to have goals, you know.

This week the porch got painted. Torin and Jordan cleared the furniture and then Torin bleached and sanded the porch. Jordan trimmed the privet hedges with the clippers and I weeded all over the place and planted Nasturtiums (I love them!). She and I worked together to bag the trimmings and clean up. Makenna worked inside. She was having some sort of hive type skin reaction and the sun was baaad.

The next day had Jordan working on a filing job inside and Torin rolled the porch out. Makenna and I painted the outside edges and the parts that Torin couldn't roll. It was a good team effort. Aunt Cheryl was out networking and working hard and when she came home she was jumping up and down she was so happy with her beautiful new porch.

We had computer problems all week so I got behind on a lot of my computer work. No blog, no working on CCCClub stuff, bills, email, etc. We all were frustrated but it seems to have worked itself out.

I was balancing play with the work and that makes me a happy camper. I spent time walking down to the beach, Kenna and I went to the pool at Trader Ed's, I hit the Goodwill and Trader Joe's (for fun, not for serious shopping). I spent time reading on the porch - my novel and the long lasting joy of a week of the NY Times.

Kenna and I also went to the outdoor movie in the park in Hyannis. They were playing Hotel for Dogs. We brought a big beach towel to lie on, and I brought 3 cozy couch blankets and a big bedroll for our heads. I also brought a jacket and wore socks and sneakers. Can you tell I've been a bit chilly here when the sun sets and the wind blows!? Let's just say we were comfortable. I popped popcorn at home and we chowed down and watch the movie. Afterwards, Makenna treated me to ice cream at McGees. Thank you Makenna!

On Wednesday before we painted we all went to breakfast at The Daily Paper. I love this restaurant, it's so delicious and clever and the food is very good. We had the choice of 4 different types of coffee and we all chose the Ethiopian. Imagine that, good, dark coffee at breakfast. I ordered the breakfast burrito, with avocado, Torin ate a kielbasa and caramelized onion omelet, Jordan had a grilled coffeecake muffin and strawberry yogurt, and Makenna ate her fav, pancakes and bacon. I want to go back again.

After breakfast we all headed over to the Hyannis Farmers Market. It's small, but lovely. There is a great foodie magazine here called Edible Cape Cod and a lot of the folks who go to the farmer's market have been featured in this mag. I bought a jar of Peter Rabbit's Carrot Marmalade from Green Briar Jam Kitchen. It is made of carrots, sugar, lemon and almonds. This was one item featured in an article entitled Cape Cod's Jelly Fix by Ellen Petry Whalen.

Ellen oftentimes does articles about her adventures with local foraging, and this interests me a lot, but this time she featured jelly making and the local people who make jelly. Within this article was some very good information about foraging for good sweet summer preserve ingredients. She talks about beach plums, which can be hard to find and how local foragers will protect the secrecy of their harvesting places much like the French and their well-guarded truffles locations. There was also good info about Rosa Rugosa, or the Cape Cod beach rose, which was brought to the cape from the Orient in the 1800's for erosion control. It's a member of the apple family, has huge rose hips and adds beauty to the beaches around here.

So, this food magazine inspires me, and the farmers market is full of the people who inspire the magazine. And that made for a nice addition to a lovely morning with the kids.

July 13. Chatham

Today the kids and I went to Chatham. It's a nice little town towards the "elbow" of the Cape. As is usual with the cape towns there are wonderful flowers and landscaping. Chatham seems to have some rolling hills too which make it very beautiful.

We hit town, parked in our "lucky parking spot" behind the park, by the bathrooms in the tiny little lot, and went to grab sandwiches. We wanted to eat before we went to the beach, but not walk around town until after. So, we ordered sandwiches from Chatham Cookware and took them over to Memorial Park to eat. Very nice picnic-y time.

After that we hit the Lighthouse Beach. I love this beach although the wind is a drawback. It just always seems windy on the Cape so maybe it's not any windier than anywhere else. Another drawback is the 30 minute parking. You have to move your car every 30 minutes or a ticket you will find. The beach is pretty big so the walk alone takes about 5 minutes. None of this spoiled our time there, though. Makenna and I played backgammon a bit and we saw two seals bobbing out in the water. By the time we went to get Jordan and Torin the seals were gone, though. There was also this fishing boat that must have been dumping chum because it went through the water with a huge flock of seagulls flying around it, and in the water and all over the whole thing. It was cool to watch, but made me think...

As you walk up (or down) the step to the beach the whole hill is covered in Cape Cod Beach Rose. These are wild roses that were imported from the Orient in the 1800's and grow well for erosion control. The amazing thing about them is the size of the rose hips. They are larger than crab apples. They are edible, dark orange being preferred to red, and good for making jellies and other things. This plant is member of the apple family and the taste is tart. They seem to be all over the place around here, and I like them very much!

After the beach we headed back into town and puttered around a bit. We got ice cream and sat on this triangle shaped garden green in the center of town. The Chatham Garden club maintains it and does a beautiful job. Kenna and I poked around the Ben Franklin 5 & 10, which was fun and packed with all sorts of stuff, toys, beach stuff, crafty stuff, all good 5 & 10 kinda stuff. We also hit the Tibetan store, and the Yellow Umbrella - a great bookstore.

All in all, a very nice day. Next time I go, I'm hitting Marion's Pie Shop - No Kidding!

July 12. Jim and Daphne go home

So, it has come. As usual, faster than it ever seemed like it would. Jim and Daphne must leave.

But, the day they leave is another wonderful day with them. I've never seen anyone take their time and make even their last day a wonderful day like Jim and Daphne can.

We started the day with the New York Sunday Times. If you've never read one, treat yourself and do it. It's the gift that keeps on giving, I'll read that paper all week long. So, the NY Times, and of course coffee on the porch. This day feels like a day that can unfold all day long. But it's not to be. They pack the car, and Jim and I walk to the beach for good-byes and final photos.

And at 2pm, they head on their way hoping to make Buffalo where a good bed and a quiet room awaits, and then peaceful sleep and the rest of the trip tomorrow.

Good-bye dear friends, thank you for coming.

July 9th, 2009

Happy Birthday to me!

It's my birthday and I have a dear friend and his daughter visiting me, and I went mini golfing at Brigham's, and I had Chocolate Torte and happiness. Details....please.

Jim and his lovely daughter came up to the Cape to help me celebrate my birthday. They were visiting his family in Delaware for Gram's 92nd birthday. Hurray, Gram! Anyway, apparently if someone gets an invitation to the Cape someone should never ever even consider saying no. They got one, and they said YES. Hurray, Me. So, they get the Cape, and IIIII get friends and good times and what I like to call.....the Birthday Week.

Here's what it looked like.

We spent a few days puttering around Hyannis, buying candy, eating fudge, bowling, hitting book stores, eating pizza, making fun of the Duckmobile girl...you know, the usual stuff. We made some good dinners together - Chicken Enchiladas (from Scratch, ahem) and Lasagna - drank wine, walked on the beach, played backgammon, went to the movies and Thai dinner, drank lots of coffee on the porch, talked and talked and talked, and just generally enjoyed each other.

On the day of my birthday I got pastries from Aunt Cheryl for breakfast, coffee on the porch with gifties and love from the girls, gardening and puttering during the day while Jim made my most fabulous Chocolate Torte birthday cake and mini golf in the late afternoon. We went to Brighmans, the place with the whale, and it's old fashioned, and secluded and landscaped in a lovely way and I happen to love it. Then we ate ice-cream after mini-golf. Yup, ice-cream, right before dinner. It's my birthday, after all. After that, we all came home and Jim, Aunt Cheryl and I set to making dinner. We had Salmon ala Lynnie, with the crusty cheesy mustard sauce, and we had smashed red potatoes, and steamed veggies. I think there was even some raw kale salad. The girls and Aunt Cheryl set the table in a very lovely way, all white linen....tablecloth, and napkins, and we had fresh daisies in a vase, and candles everywhere. It was just so wonderful. It felt like a birthday party. And not the kind you can't wait until it's over because it's so embarrassing and torturous.....no, not that kind. The good kind. The kind that seems sublime. After dinner, Torte and fresh raspberries, and whipped cream. Big Sigh.

Thank you all for helping me to make my birthday feel so wonderful and special, and for making me feel oh, so loved.

July 6

Here's what I did for Job Hunting today.....

1. Replied to Craigslist for a Bed and Breakfast all around helper.
2. Replied to Craigslist for a Jewelry Designer Helper.
3. Printed an application for Soft as a Grape, from an ad on Craigslist. Delivered the app to the store on Main Street in Hyannis.
4. Called back on the Hampton Inn front desk job, it was filled
5. Called back on the waitstaff job at DiParma, not hiring any more people, but they referred me to their other location Yarmouth House. I went there and need to go back tomorrow to speak to the owner.
6. Went to Gringos to put in an application, they were filled.
7. Stopped by the Anchor Inn and filled out an application; they aren't hiring.
8. Stopped by Fresh Produce, a wholesale produce business. Had a good convo with Adam, but my short time here on the Cape is a negative for his business. Would be cool, and he'll see if he needs any fill in people, but unlikely.

That's a lot, right?! I feel like I'm busy with this job hunting. I'm going to stop by at noon to see Teddy at the Yarmouth House. I keep checking Craigslist and I've replied to several positions, but have not once gotten a reply. I'm starting to wonder if Craigslist works on my computer! lol. I'm doing ok with the job thing. It has become my getting-a-job training. Stay focused.

After the day spent job hunting, I needed to de-program so it was either a nap, or go to the beach. Makenna and I decided to go to the beach. This area is surrounded by beaches and so we just picked one and went. Sea Gull Beach in Yarmouth was the choice and it was after 4pm so we could pop on over there and not pay or use the pass. It was so nice to have my feet in the sand. We brought our chairs but mostly I laid faced down on the towel and let the sun warm me and the stress melt away.

The beaches around here are different, obviously, than the beaches other places and one way they differ is the seashells. On Sea Gull beach there are tons, and I mean tons, of Lady Slipper shells. There are also a lot of these very thin, mica like shells in vibrant pastels colors of orange, yellow, some clear or white, and dark grey. I don't know what they are called but would like to find out. Makenna found two very nice scallop shells. She couldn't get over how perfect they were. You know how it is when you expect to find what looks like a perfect shell and when you pick it up the part that was hidden in the sand is broken. Well, no broken parts this time and it was a little moment of glee.

Jim and Daphne come tomorrow for my birthday, so that is a good, happy thing. I'm looking forward to them coming. When I asked Aunt Cheryl if it was ok, she looked at me and said "Sure, you know I like to stack 'em High and Deep!" My dear sweet loving auntie. So, visitors, and a birthday, and life in the Cape.

Gratitude.

July 5

Sunday. The day after the 4th. A nice low-key day.

We had a nice slow start to the morning and then the kids and I headed out to Dick n Ellies Flea market. We poked around a bit, checking out the junk and stuff, got french fries and a burger, and headed back home.

Makenna and I went to the beach at the end of the block (on the harbor) and hung out. Makenna skipped stones, and we took photos, I sat on the rocks enjoying the breeze, and Makenna brought me rocks to look at. Very relaxing.

When we got home Makenna and I did some serious weeding of the front garden.
Then we all ate some delicious Chicken Cacciatore. Oh, sweet mama, it was good.
This was a very nice, unfolding, balanced work and fun kinda Sunday. I feel good. I think I'm becoming a nice, unfolding and relaxing, balanced work and fun kinda Human.

Wrap it all up with hanging out on the porch with Makenna and Aunt Cheryl (and Reggie the kittie), a video with the kids, and it's a good day.