2018 July - Hydrangea Hoopla and Vacations With a Vengeance

Cape Codders are so crazy about hydrangeas, 
we have a whole festival devoted to them.

Can't decide on a color?  Embrace diversity!

My July

Sea breeze

Choppy seas

Shady trees

Shots in knees

Sunny skies

Clam fries

Seagull cries

Black flies

July rolls over the canal into Cape Cod with a vengeance and great expectations.  The Cape Cod Times describes the bridge traffic on a Friday afternoon as "worse than the smell of low tide on a hot day".  You can count on a two-mile backup to get over the bridges, going either way on weekends.  But, while you're creeping your way to the Bourne, or the Sagamore bridges, Soooo close to your destination yet Soooo far, I saw where you can get in the mood by listening to [click the link] THE CAPE COD FUN SHOW.  It promotes itself as "all about having a good time in the most beautiful place on Earth!  Our zany cohorts will give you the scoop on beaches, restaurants, upcoming events and peculiar adventures."  I definitely wanted to see what peculiar adventures I might be missing out on, but quickly got an overload of zaniness before we could get to them.  To each his own.

A better use of your time while you're idling and crawling might be to download the Sharktivity app, courtesy of the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy.  Their mission is to support scientific research, improve public safety, and educate the community to inspire conservation of Atlantic white sharks.  And, you'll get useful information like this:

I thought I'd probably heard all the March Nor'easter stories there were to be told by now, but the Cape Cod Times reported a happy one this month having to do with two memorial benches that had disappeared during the storms.  There are dozens of these tributes that line Cape Cod in places that were special to those who died.  When two 10-year-olds came across a piece of wood poking through the sand at a Dennis beach, they spent most of the afternoon digging with their hands and part of the next day with garden spades in the rain.  They were rewarded by finding a bench that memorialized a 20 year old Dennis summer resident, who was killed in a car crash.  Another missing bench from an Orleans beach was discovered 12 miles south in Chatham by people walking the beach.  This one memorialized a 35 year old man, and the plaque was found separately.  Both benches were set in concrete and still had the concrete attached, which gives another perspective of the strength of these storms.  With help, both are now back in their original locations where the families can again sit and remember their loved ones.  The ocean is always full of surprises. 

There's a new option in the Cape Cod Times called Curious Cape Cod, in which one can write in questions and have them researched and answered.  Being an Eastham resident, this one caught my eye:  How do you pronounce Eastham?  Is it East-HAM, or EAST'um?   

A lot of Massachusetts towns have peculiar pronunciations, like:  

Worcester, pronounced Woo-stah, 

Leominster, pronounced Lemon-stah

and, Quincy, pronounced Quin-zee

But, what about Eastham?  I never really questioned how I was told to say it, but now I might at least know why we do.  Terri Rae Smith, a member of the Eastham Historical Society says that Eastham was named after a suburb in England called 'East Ham'.  There was an East Ham and a West Ham, two words, which is why we pronounce the 'ham'.  It seems reasonable, although maybe not to the town of CHAT-um [Chatham].

Indoors, or out, it's all good.

A friend recently brought to our attention that squirrels don't like safflower seed.  I thought about all the 50 pound sacks of sunflower seed we buy all year for the birds and commented that safflower was more expensive than sunflower seed.  She said yes, a little, but the squirrels aren't chowing down on it, and the birds love it, sooooo... the great safflower experiment is on.  So far, it does appear that the squirrels have little interest in climbing the feeders with the safflower, so with fingers crossed, we hope to get bad reviews from the squirrel population and they will take their business elsewhere.     

Look who else likes safflower seed.

Out of all the stories about visitors to the B&B, this one certainly took us by surprise.  About a year ago, our elderly neighbor across the street moved closer to family, where he could be better looked after.  The house sat for sale for the better part of the year and this Spring we heard we'd finally be getting new neighbors.  When I saw activity, I went over to welcome them and my new neighbor responded, "Actually, we met a couple of years ago when I stayed in your B&B with a friend."   What are those odds?  This month we've hosted two teachers taking a 3-week break from teaching assignments in Thailand before they begin again in Malaysia.  And, we hosted a French family visiting the family of the teenager they hosted in France during the school year.  Also, a number of people taking Continuing Education Credits at the Cape Cod Institute and various other classes.  A couple returned with their new baby, who was only a tummy bump last time they were here.  A 40th anniversary celebration drew another couple.  Many others visited who just love Eastham, and even some members of my own family at least tried to make the schlep to come see us.  The drive from Amherst was uneventful for one sister, but the other had flights out of D.C. cancelled two days in a row because of stormy weather and had to give up.  Once again, I'm reminded that the origin of the word 'travel' is 'travail'.   

I could wax on about all the reasons Cape Cod is a vacation destination for so many, as well as, home to the determined people who love it enough to work hard to stay here, and let's face it, that's what this blog is all about.  But, here's a video I just received from Eastham's Chamber of Commerce, that shows what words fail to convey.  Enjoy this beautiful tour of my own little town that is only 3 miles wide.
   

[click on link]  VIDEO: EASTHAM