2019 - NOVEMBER NEWS & The Prequels #14, November, 2010

Note to readers:  apparently, a November blog from 2017 inadvertently self-published again.  I don't know why, but at least it was somewhat timely, if not intentional.  

About four years ago, after six summers of taking our lives in our hands to turn left on the highway, we decided to inquire about the possibility of getting a stoplight installed.  After all, we reasoned, it was a street that accessed Fort Hill, a popular and well-advertised scenic lookout in the National Seashore, visited by tourists and locals alike, and one of the accesses to the bike trail was right across the highway.  We decided that our best option would be to write to our State Representative and ask the surrounding neighborhoods to do the same.  As we knocked on doors and stuffed mailboxes to accomplish this, we met a few neighbors who had lobbied for a stoplight years before we moved to the neighborhood, but had ultimately given up.  They wished us well and said they would write.  At every event I went to that I would see our Rep, Sarah Peake, I would introduce myself and ask if there was any progress.  The first time she said, "So you're the reason I'm getting all these emails...", but she had her assistant reach out to me with updates.  Long story short, we didn't get the light, but money was approved for a crossing beacon for pedestrians and bikers, and work finally began on it at our corner this month.  Apparently, when you're dealing with the State Department of Transportation, the National Seashore and the town you live in, it takes four years once the money has been approved to get through the amount of bureaucratic red tape to make something happen.  We're hoping the button will be close enough for car passengers to run out and push, but we'll have to wait until April to find out.  What's another five months?

I've always been very fond of Massachusetts, but I just read that it has been ranked the best state to live in, according to a new report by a financial news website 24/7 Wall Street.  The rating was based on a well-educated population a typical household income close to $80,000 a year, which is about $18,000 higher than the national average, a low poverty rate, and an average life expectancy of 80 years.  In case you were wondering, Mississippi ranked last.
   

It was the first weekend in November when I saw two woolly caterpillars on the same day, a harbinger of a harsh winter.  Not a week later, we received our first 'snow', a day of flurries, which if memory serves may be the earliest I can remember.  About a week after that, we awoke to a thin, white covering of snow and have had a couple of 40 degree drops in temperature that had everyone rushing to turn off outdoor water.  Maybe there is something to the wooly caterpillar warnings.  According to The Old Farmer's Almanac, "the woolly bear legend is based on the caterpillar's 13 distinct segments of either rusty brown or black. The wider the brown sections, the milder the coming winter will be. The more black there is, the more severe the winter."

Have you ever wondered what a whale is worth?  I can't say that I have, but I found it interesting that a Marine Conservation Research and Education Organization in Sri Lanka did and came up with a value of $2 million for their blue whales, the largest of all the whales, growing up to 100 feet long and weighing close to 100 tons.  They base this value not only on tourism revenue, which Provincetown can certainly confirm, but also because they're an important part of enabling the ocean to produce more food and store more carbon.  As they swim around the ocean eating food, and then relieving themselves, they move nutrients.  When they die, they take the nutrients and all the carbon they've amassed over a lifetime to the bottom of the ocean.  I guess that's going to put them out of my price range for a pet.   Perhaps a smaller turtle?

Sea turtles are federally protected under the Endangered Species Act; as such, it is illegal to harass sea turtles or transport them without a permit.  

When water temperature dips below 50 degrees in November, the tides are high, and onshore winds are blowing, it's time for volunteers to dress warmly and patrol the beaches on a search and rescue mission to save cold-stunned Kemp's Ridley turtles from freezing to death.  As winter nears, the turtles should be making their way south to warmer waters, but since the late 1970's, some of them have been getting trapped by the hook-shape of Outer Cape Cod and become disoriented and too cold to eat, drink, or swim.  When strong winds blow in from the north or west, they're pushed onto the beach, where hardy volunteers are watching for them and get them to the Wellfleet Audubon Center, to be driven to the New England Aquarium Facility for rehabilitation and ultimately release.  

Instructions for what to do if one finds a cold-stunned turtle on the beach:
1-Move it above high tide
2-Cover with dry seaweed
3-Mark it with obvious debris to make it easy to find
4-Call the Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary hotline

I think I'll just stick to cats.

Somewhere at a desk in Washington, someone who didn't have enough to keep him [or her] busy decided that it would be a good idea to change the exit numbers on all the highways in the country to reflect the distance from the beginning of the route.  So, in other words, instead of nice sequential numbers that everyone has grown accustomed to, they would change to random numbers.   Massachusetts, Delaware and New Hampshire are the only states that haven't begun renumbering, which is supposed to be finished by the beginning of 2022.  Cape Cod is dotted with small towns filled with people who are used to having very vocal town meetings about things they don't like, and they really don't like this at all, even though the old exit numbers would be shown under the new ones for two years.  Cape officials have asked the state to petition for an exemption, arguing that it is unnecessary, expensive and would require the reprinting of thousands of maps, pamphlets, booklets, business cards, stationery, etc. and will confuse tourists.  Exemptions have already been given for four other Massachusetts highways, so hopes are high that the status quo will reign on Olde Cape Cod.

Here's an idea: 
Let's change what we've been teaching kids about Pilgrims and Indians to the truth,
 and count our blessings every day. 

Eastern Standard Time returns us to early darkness.

The Prequels #14, November 2010

The month of November entered with a no-nonsense frost that made the front yard glisten and put an end to our beautiful hydrangea blossoms.  The Golden Rain Tree was true to its name, releasing hundreds of yellow leaves to the driveway.  The furnace woke up, and we’re down to the business of winter chores.  Traffic is mostly sparse except on nice weekends, more restaurants have closed for the season, and my Orleans consignment shop is cutting back hours.  In just another month, we will have completed a year’s cycle, and the early sunset and chilly air feel much like when we began our lives here.  The biggest difference is that when I go out, I’m greeted by people I know and I’m familiar with more of their local references.  I can even give a few directions without sounding like a tongue-tied first grader called upon to answer a question.  Our B&B is becoming an established concern that continues to become known worldwide through our own website and the ones on which we have listed.  Great reviews have been posted online by our guests, which encourage others to take a chance on us.  The months of preparation and practice have paid off in delicious validation, but it has not made us complacent.  We still start each day with a morning latte toast in appreciation for all we’ve accomplished.   A friend asked recently if we were feeling smug, and I replied that we felt too grateful for our amazing serendipitous timing to be smug, a comment certainly apropos for Thanksgiving. 

Barely out of the first week of November, we heard the ‘S’ word for the first time.  That’s right, possible Sleet and/or Snow.  Contrary to the Richmond phenomenon, there was NOT a stampede to the grocery stores to clear the shelves of bread and milk.  Nothing frozen developed either, but it was a wake-up call to finish winterizing and batten down anything in the yard that could sail away.   Right on cue, the brisk winds that pushed us towards our home for the first time last year and shushed us to sleep all winter, marched noisily back into town.   I found out that the roar I sometimes hear in our back yard coming from Fort Hill is not only the wind, but the pounding ocean when the winds are from the Northeast.  With a short drive, it makes for some pretty spectacular viewing from the beach, too.  And, at night, there’s something very soothing about being tucked under the covers and being played to sleep by the creaks and percussion of rattling things, tinkling wind chimes and the throaty whistle of the wind’s stories.  It makes me fall in love with our home all over again.   

The Wildlife Report took a new twist this month when while doing my morning stretches, I happened to look out the window, right into the face of a red-tailed hawk, who was using our porch roof as a lookout.  We exchanged greetings, which is to say, I nodded and he gave me a Clint Eastwood stare.  Hawks will allow you to come right up to them and even listen to what you have to say, but they’re not great conversationalists, preferring to keep their focus on a potential meal.  Moments later, after finishing up my exercises, I checked the Hav-A-Heart trap I’d set on the back porch for the latest scurry of marauding squirrels.  What I found instead was a rat (looking an awful lot like the one I’d caught and released across the street the day before), squealing in terror as the hawk was trying to pick up the cage and fly off with him.  It was a good thing I hadn’t chosen the smaller trap.  Then the dilemma of whether to deny the hawk his breakfast, or give the mouse a reprieve presented itself.  Thankfully, Ron came to my rescue, released the rat, which immediately ran under the porch, and life went on with its many agendas. 

The following day, on our way to the beach to see what 30’ seas looked like, we came upon a couple dozen wild turkeys crossing the road.  Now, I know this sounds like the opening to a joke, but there is no punch line, unless, you’re amused by 2 adults noisily gobbling out the car window and calling out Thanksgiving warnings.  If you haven’t tried doing that, you’ve really missed out on some fun.   

In our joy to be out of the middle of the woods and into the sunshine, our new, open yard was somewhat deceptive about how many leaves there would be to rake.  The many large trees around the perimeter of the yard, make waist-high yellow drifts against the fence after gusty nights. This provided the incentive to learn how to utilize another ‘new toy’ left by the former owners.  Put simply, it’s a giant vacuum-mulcher that attaches to the riding lawnmower they also left, and I imagine they were as giddy to leave the machinery to us as we were to leave the care of an in-ground pool in the middle of the woods to our buyers in Richmond.

With the return to Eastern Standard Time and chilly weather, the temptation of sleeping-in has grown too great to resist and it’s amazing how easy it is to justify.  Most mornings we don’t need any reason at all, other than because we can.   A new subscription to the Cape Codder newspaper, which is delivered weekly, is another indication of my willingness to slow down long enough to see what the rest of the Cape is up to.  Inactivity doesn’t come naturally to me, but given the right incentives, like a roaring fire on a raw day, I’m open to giving it a chance. 

With the capture, finally, of Squirrel #35, also came the return of our hopeful winged predator, who sat patiently on the fence waiting for the release.  Not taking any chances of an escape, only to further ravage our bird feeders, Ron took him for a 2nd Chance Ride to the park.  Our tenant, Ellen, who was also enjoying the show from her kitchen window, speculates that what we originally thought was a falcon or a red-tailed hawk, may actually be a juvenile eagle.  We hope to get confirmation soon from the Audubon Center, but have decided, regardless of species, that we’ll call him Iggy.  

We often tell our guests that our friend Ray, who visits almost daily, is our ‘Local Color’.  With 2 big dogs in a red pickup, tall fishing boots and white beard he fills the bill nicely.  To my absolute delight, he told his brother, Paul, who was visiting from Western MA, that we were his local color.  The evolution from newbies to locals made me feel like we’d gotten an A+ on a report card, especially when born and bred Codders  refer to us ‘Wash-ashores’.  Regardless of the pecking order, we’re glad to finally be home.

The Eastham Turnip Festival came and went without me.  I will probably see the winning recipe in the next Cape Codder, but after seeing the infamous  Eastham turnips at the local market for a pricey $4/pound, I frankly lost a little interest.  

The First Thanksgiving and Guest Report:  There’s nothing like the pungent smell of skunk to welcome guests for Thanksgiving.   Once again the traps are loaded and set in the vicinity of the smell, which seems to emanate from the garden area depending on how the wind blows, but no sign of Monsier LePew so far.

Our first holiday guests were Dexter and Lucy from NH, who had spent the day hiking all over the Cape before planning to spend Thanksgiving Day with family in a small town south of Boston.   They decided to stay overnight first and found cozy refuge in the Cottage. The Fort Hill trails at sunrise with the birds became their favorite adventure, according to their Guestbook entry.   Jean and Rich had reserved the Studio for Thanksgiving Day and arrived around noon, staying just long enough to find out how to get into their room before spending the day with family in Eastham.   The subject of whether the first Thanksgiving was in VA or MA always raises controversy, but we were determined to spend our first one here at Crosswinds.  For me, the best part of the holiday is that it doesn’t take long after putting the turkey in the oven for the house to take on a delicious smell.  It’s always a good time to try new recipes.  This year it was glazed carrots with rosemary, ginger and cranberries and the traditional New England Indian Pudding.  We extended invitations to anyone we thought might be alone for the holiday, but as it turned out, we had the turkey to ourselves and we were glad to know that everyone had people who cared enough to spend the day with them.  

Once again, the end of the month has snuck up, bringing us closer to the Winter Solstice and our first year here.    Winter nightlife continues to be a source of rich entertainment, whether it is going to local theatre, having dinner with friends, or catching our musical friends playing the local venues.   The beautiful wildness and peaceful respite of the winter season has returned to the Outer Cape and is waiting for the first cover of white to make winter official. 

2019 - DECEMBER - 10 Years! & The Last Prequels - December 2010

Ron's new design, with an assist from Doug

Some interesting things have happened on December 11th.  For instance, in 1945, the Boeing B-29 Superfortress shattered all records by crossing the U.S. in 5 hours and 27 minutes.  In 1972, Challenger, the lunar lander for Apollo 17 touched down on the moon's surface, which was the last time that men visited the moon.  In smuttier news, Ivana Trump filed for divorce from The Donald in 1990 after his affair with Marla Maples, and the year before that, Bernard Madoff was arrested and charges with securities fraud in a $50 billion Ponzi scheme.  In 2009, the game Angry Birds was released.  But, my all-time favorite event was in 2009, when we signed  the last papers in the Barnstable courthouse and picked up the key to our new home in Eastham, Massachusetts after a harrowing all-night trip.  That's right, it's our 10th anniversary as Eastham-sters and innkeepers!  And, this is what it looked like a week later, making this snow-starved Virginia girl feel very welcomed.

 
I'd been encouraged to keep in touch with so many friends and family who were fascinated to know what it was like to just up and move to Cape Cod, that I decided the best way to accomplish it was to write a monthly group email. It evolved into the blog some time later when I was introduced to the new format by someone much more tech-savvy than myself.  So, for ten years, I've shared the adventures with readers in one form or another, and as you might imagine after ten years, some things don't change that much, they're just viewed in different lights.  I've reported on:

 The Seasons' Weather:  

•      Summers are getting hotter.  I thought I would escape the excessive heat and           humidity of Virginia, but Climate Change has shared it with New England.  
•      We had our first tornado this year, the 4th on record since 1950.  No doubt, a lot       of this winter's firewood was a result of that storm.
•      Our biggest blizzard was named Juno in 2015.  

•      Fall is definitely the best time to visit.  Still mild and much less traffic.

The 'Free Shops' at the Transfer Station [dump]:

•      Still a fun excursion to score useful items, fun gifts and items for consignment.
•      The smell of the garbage during a hot summer day makes your eyes water.
•      Great place to catch up on local gossip.
•      Give me a month and I can completely furnish a home.  

Summer Traffic and Winter Peace:

•      Rainy summer days are the worst because the beachgoers are all looking for             something else to do.
•      Likewise, grocery shopping is best done during beach hours.  Beware of cranky         sunburned people.
•      Bicycles abound and are best ridden on the bike trails, safe from distracted               tourist drivers.  
•      Post-Labor Day weekend is cause for local revelry, if one still has the energy.
•      The first time you pull up to the intersection, look both ways and nobody is               coming is always an utter joy.   
•       Winter has its own stark beauty.  

The Critter reports:

•      It took years to find out that squirrels love sunflower seed, but hate safflower           seeds.  The extra cost of safflower is well worth it in comparison to the volume         of sunflower seeds devoured.

•      Orioles love grape jelly, but you'd better plan ahead in the Spring and get                 to the store before it sells out.

•      Hummingbirds love a 1-4 solution of sugar to water, and anything red.

•      Bluebirds love mealworms and usually show up in January for the winter.

• Woodpeckers love suet.  We have Red bellies, Flickers, Downy's and Hairy's

• Between 2011 and 2019, 517 squirrels and 260 chipmunks have been relocated in Hav-A Hart traps and generously shared with other parts of the Cape. 
• Sharks' favorite food is seals.  So, stay away from seals, duh. The 2018 shark fatality in Wellfleet did not seem to affect tourism.  On the contrary, guests now ask us where they can go to see sharks and seals.

• In our yard and the walk to Fort Hill I've seen deer, raccoons, a weasel, a groundhog, wild turkeys, rabbits, a fox, blond, red and brown squirrels, a box turtle, a coyote, a couple of harmless snakes and a multitude of chipmunks and birds.

The Garden Reports:

•      My, have they grown.  In retrospect, perhaps less might have been more.  The           irresistible and addictive Agway 1/2-price and dollar table had a lot to do with         it.

Before - 2010

After - 2019

Giant dinner plate hibiscus were the most amazing find. 

The Cape is hydrangea-crazy and they even have their own festival.

The creation of a B&B and the types of guests who visit:

•      The closest guest came from Falmouth on the Upper Cape.
•      The farthest guest came from Reunion Island, a French island east of                         Madagascar.
•      No matter how much information we provide about the suites and getting to the       right one, only a small percentage of guests follow directions and end up at the         right driveway.  
•      We've hosted guests from all over the world who mostly only spoke their native         language, but somehow with a little pantomime, a lot of smiles, and sometimes       a computer translator, we always manage. 

Volunteering:

• I've greatly enjoyed sharing our good fortune by volunteering for Lower Cape Outreach Council, which provides many services to our neighbors in need.  I take the minutes for the Development Committee, making sense and a record out of a lot of cross-talk, and pitch in with various fundraisers.
• And, Orleans Community Exchange, the oldest consignment and thrift shop on Cape Cod, which raises money for scholarships and tool-ships for our local students.  I stage the items in the shop and do a weekly Facebook page.

History Lessons:  

• Peeks into our past are shared by local historians who bring the past alive about our historic area. The latest quoted source is a book called This Land is Their Land, the Wampanoag Indians, the Plymouth Colony, and the troubled history of Thanksgiving, by David J Silverman, a professor of Native American, Colonial and Racial History in America at George Washington University.  Meetings between the early colonists and Indians were recorded by the English in detail, making it surprisingly easy to paint a clear picture.  What they referred to as the "new country" was actually a very "old world" whose inhabitants were part of a vast civilization many thousands of years old.  In fact, every step of the Indians was informed by their knowledge of past European ships that had visited their shores and left behind "a wave of enslavement, murder, theft, disease and mourning."  The event of Thanksgiving in the form of a shared harvest dinner in 1620 barely registered until it was resurrected in 1863 and turned into an official national holiday stripped of actual events.  Giving thanks for our blessings with friends and family is in itself a lovely tradition to continue, but certainly not at the expense of history.    

Cape Holiday Traditions and Festivals:

• This year's Eastham Turnip Festival Cook-off winners were:
• Grand Prize  Turnip Sliders
• 2nd Prize      Turnip au Gratin
• 3rd Prize       Turnip Quiche
• The winning Turnip Shuck-Off time was 58 seconds

Eastham Fire Department's antique engine comes out for the Windmill Weekend Parade in September, 
and again for the winter holidays, all dressed up.

A floating Christmas tree in Eastham's Salt Pond

Nautical cookies

Nauset Light

Annual Christmas Cavalcade to benefit the homeless, sponsored by the Chandler Travis Philharmonic Band

Community participation reading of Dickens' A Christmas Carol.  
Period costume not required, but Ron does like to dress for the occasion. 

When on Cape Cod...no reindeer necessary, just a good boat.

Eastham Sunsets:

First Encounter Beach, our favorite

By sharing the Pre-quels this year, which preceded the blog, it was eye-opening to me how much detail one forgets over the years.  It was fun for me to take a walk down memory lane as I filled in a missing part of our great adventure for readers while getting to experience the wonder of everything new all over again and note how things do change.  It also reinforced the feeling that after ten years, it was time for a reinvention.  I stopped feeling like I was living in someone else's home a long time ago.  We may not be 'sandkickers', born and bred on the Cape, but we're locals, i.e. "those innkeepers on Fort Hill with the lighted sailboat in the front yard".  It has become such a landmark that people have sworn to us that they've been passing that boat since they were youngsters when in fact, it arrived a day after we did ten years ago.  We joked that it's our escape plan in case the Pilgrim Nuclear Power plant in Plymouth had a meltdown.  The escape route signs have one drive directly towards Plymouth, so heading out to sea seems like a better plan.  After a long campaign against the power plant's poor safety record, it has finally been shut down this year and I can finally take my "Close Pilgrim" bumper sticker off the car.  There have been many other changes in ten years and one can judge how long a person has been here by the references to businesses no longer open when giving directions.  The blog has been a politics and religion-free zone, with the exceptions of how the current White House policies have affected the tourist industry, and the inescapable clash of readily available history with the glossed-over taught version.  Rather than try to find new ways to report what now seems like recycled news, it's time for me to discover new things to be reported in new ways.  When I step into my new reinvention, I will re-introduce myself.  Meanwhile, thanks for sharing the ride with me.  And a, happy and healthy New Year! 

It's reinvention time...waiting for inspiration on the Fort Hill "thinking rock".

The Last Pre-quel:  Cape Chronicles #15 – December, 2010

The humidifiers are humming, trees are twinkling in the dark and Ron’s growing his annual winter beard, so it must be December. 

We got a call from Ray one morning in early December that he could see whales spouting off of Nauset Beach.  Grabbing our coats and cameras, we dropped everything and drove over to see if they’d still be there.  What we found instead startled me more than whales, which had already moved on.  I’d heard of, but until then never seen anyone surfing in frigid December waters.  How can a wetsuit be warm enough to consider even testing a toe, but there they were defying  December’s raw chill, on the backs of icy waves.

I’ve often thought that I’d have settled for much less just to get back to New England, but good fortune provided a property that provides both location and vocation.  Today, as I caught the last of the day’s sun to take a walk, I marveled again how incredible it was to have the National Seashore within strolling distance of my backyard.  There’s usually at least one or two people walking the trails this time of year, or parked at the lookout enjoying the view, but for the price of a wet, puppy-nose and rosy cheeks, I had the luxury of all of Ft. Hill to myself today.   It’s no wonder there are so many artists in seaside communities.  The horizon reminded me of what the art teacher at the school I used to work taught me, “paint what you see, not what you think is there”.  The sea and skies are always providing new, incredible vistas that if painted exactly as they appeared, there would surely be doubters that such combinations of light and color really exist.  Today, the breezes blew through the sea grass in such a way that as they squeaked and swished against each other, it sounded like whispering Nauset Indian spirits who had once made these woods and salt marshes their home.  What used to be endless expanses of blooming beach roses are now a wiry network of branches covered with ruby red berries, which glow in the setting sunlight. People ask me if I ever get used to the scenery, and I assure them that the sight of the ocean as I crest the hill takes my breath away every time.  I’ve noticed that even “Sandkickers” (Cape Cod-born) still take time to catch a sunset on the bay, a walk on the beach, or take a thermos of hot chocolate to a favorite lookout.   

The perfect kite flying place

There’s not enough ice on the ponds to see kids out practicing hockey shots yet, but it’s finally cold enough for the salt marshes to turn into giant slushies and the cranberry bogs to sport some frosting.  The towns are putting up holiday decorations and merchants are doing their best to entice shoppers.  In short, Cape Cod is much like anywhere else during the holiday season and the year-rounders have many activities from which to choose.  Today, at the Red Pheasant restaurant, our friend Bill, the owner, opened early so his blues band, The Delta Kings, could entertain some of his loyal customers and friends by the roaring fire.  The 200 year-old barn was converted to a fine bistro by his father, and Bill & his wife, Denise have carried on in the same tradition, engaging Ron to keep the restorations in good working order.  In other towns, there are fundraising benefits to aid the needy, in which local talent participates annually, such as Yule for Fuel, and the Cape Cod Christmas Cavalcade.  There are candle light walks with caroling in Chatham, many seasonal plays and concerts, a wreath making party-pageant in Wellfleet, Pet Photos with Santa to benefit the animal emergency center, a train ride with Santa and his hot chocolate-serving elves, and town decoration contests.  Here at Crosswinds B&B, we have done our part to light up the dark, December nights for evening travelers with numerous white lights in selected trees and flickering candles in the windows.   

Eastham Windmill dressed for the season on the town green.

Happy Anniversary!  On the 11^th, we commemorated our first year here with a party for new and old friends.  My guest list started off on a small notepad, but just as our last party went, Ron kept inviting everyone he ran into, so I never know who or how many are coming.   It somehow all works out with a delightful mix of guests, plenty of food and everyone having a great time.  Ron and Ray had a rib cook-off, which was declared a tie by our very diplomatic friends.   Some, who had never been here before asked for a tour and since we had no B&B guests, Ray volunteered to be the tour guide.  The majority of people stayed in the kitchen-dining area, with only a few making it to the living room.  It’s the kitchen I’ve always dreamed of having where I can tend to food preparation and serving and still be part of the conversations, separated only by a bar.  More and more often, friends are dropping by to pull up a bar stool and be treated to one of Ron’s lattes and whatever I’ve been baking.   It’s an irresistible draw and that’s the way we like it, always ready to stop what we’re doing to share our home’s charm and our attention. 

Lately, shoppers have been overheard grumbling to each other that a little snow would help them get in the holiday mood.  Finally, after hearing about everyone else’s snow in the country, I spotted our first flurries.  As readers of my early chronicles know, It doesn’t take much snow to get me excited, and waking up to a little bit of dusting and getting snowflake kisses on my nose while doing errands is a wonderful start to the season.  Solstice Eve then brought a real Nor’easter, covering everything in a heavy blanket just in time for the official calendar start of winter.   Our “possible flurries” yielded about a foot of snow and a lot of exercise uncovering the driveway for our tenants.  Wet, heavy snow isn’t as easy to move with the snow blower, but with another storm on the way, it was time to get it humming.

Although this was our 2^nd Christmas on the Cape, the first hardly counted since we were still neck-deep in packed boxes.  This year, we got our birds a birdbath heater to keep the water from freezing, and on Christmas Eve, we made hit and run Santa calls on our Eastham friends bearing baskets of homemade goodies.   Since our adopted holiday is the Winter Solstice, our Christmas Day is relatively quiet, making calls to family, sharing lattes with stop-in guests, and our most favorite tradition, eating Chinese food.  Who else would be open on Christmas?  This year it was the Double Dragon restaurant, which looks out on the Orleans town cove.   Stuffed, and with tomorrow’s dinner in a doggie bag, we settled in front of the fireplace with visions of soft pillows waiting for us.   

As I mentioned last winter, Cape Cod enjoys its own weather zone, separate from the mainland.  The first rule of thumb is that it’s very unpredictable, so the weather forecasters wisely leave themselves a lot of latitude in their predictions.  For instance, the winter storm that rolled up the east coast for Christmas dumping a foot or so on its way, was expected to dump another foot and a half of snow on us before turning to rain the following day and blowing out to sea.  Instead, after snowing all day Sunday it turned to rain and upon waking there was no accumulation.  But, the following day, it turned back to snow and left us with a fresh frosting.  The real story was the wind, gusting up to 80 mph all night, causing many power outages and taking down signs and fences along our road.  While we burrowed under the covers and listened to the house breathe, we were in awe of anyone who would go out in that much wind and rain in the middle of the night to restore our power, but it was back on in about 3 hours.  Those guys are my heroes and deserve every penny they make and more. 

There were no December guests at the B&B however Erik the Red Squirrel and Iggy the Hawk have made reappearances to the back porch.   In fact, after being convinced by a friend that red squirrels could be extremely destructive to our home, Ron reluctantly decided to relocate Erik to Nickerson State Park in Brewster, only to find the next morning that there was an Erika on our porch.   By the next morning she was also on her way  to the park to be reunited with her beau.  

New Year’s Week will bring 2 couples for a winter taste of the Cape.  One is a French couple coming all the way from Reunion Island, which is east of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean, and the other coming not so far from Warwick, RI.  Although we are now old hands at taking care of guests, the winter is perhaps a bit more of a challenge.  In the summer, many guests just want to be pointed in the direction of the nearest beach, and restaurants are a dime a dozen.  I suspect winter guests will need more guidance about what there is to do and where they can find food.  The rooms now have extra blankets and warm comforters, and the hot chocolate and oatmeal packets are more prominent and plentiful.  As always, there are games, Cape literature, premium T.V. channels and WIFI, and for the hardier travelers, the walking trails are still exhilarating experiences and photo ops.   There are always many scenic drives with fun stops for the less adventurous.   

I couldn’t let the first year go by without finally taking time to stop in at our Eastham Library to get a card.  The outside is as quaint a little place as one could imagine, but a drive around back by a large pond reveals an addition that is quite adequate and up to date.  The free shops at the transfer stations supply more books than I have time to read, but I’m looking forward to enjoying the library’s DVD’s and books-on-CD selections. 

The Cape provides many New Year’s Eve options for revelers, but Chatham’s First Night probably offers the most variety for all.  It boasts more than 60 venues, including a circus, musicians, local artists, theater, opera, puppets, ice carving, a giant bonfire, a Noise Parade (bring your favorite noisemaker), the Countdown Cod Drop, and fireworks over Oyster Pond.  We both decided that we preferred to stay off the roads and revel in front of our fireplace this time, but I’d still like to see that cod drop and the fireworks at least once. 

Happy New Year!  1-1-11 was sunny and mild, and was a perfect day to tidy up the gardens and take a walk up to Ft. Hill.  The parking lots were packed with visitors hiking the favorite spot, so I decided to explore the other side of the hill, which is too overgrown in the summer to get through.  I was rewarded by finding another trail which I never knew was there.   It wound through the woods where deer are known to appear, but it was just me and my camera forging a new trail and squeezing the last bit of light out of the sunset. Our quests finally appeared around dinnertime and after a French-English pantomime, they are on their way for a seafood dinner reward for finding their resting spot for the weekend.  

This completes our first year on Cape Cod and my promise to stay in touch to describe what it’s like living in this magical place.  It has not disappointed us, and to the people who asked, “why did you move there IN THE WINTER?”  I can only refer them to the chronicles and say, you just don’t know what you’re missing.  I still stick my head out the back door on windy days to hear the ocean roaring.  I still mentally say “whee” as I go around the rotary.  I still think the next big find at the free shop could be this time. Thanks for all the feedback from those who have enjoyed coming along for the ride.   As life constantly evolves so too will my musings.  Last year at this time I was paring down and packing my past into boxes and shedding my old life for a dream that had been carefully tended until the right time came along.  Now, the past is beginning to seem like the dream and with the completion of four seasons, Eastham has become the reality. The off-season is what Cape Codders call “our time”.  As Dorothy put it so simply, “there’s no place like home.”