2013 - Joyful June

If you can't beat'em, join'em

Memorial Day Weekend has become more the official start of summer than the actual Summer Solstice in June.  The wet and chilly weather didn't seem to dampen anyone's enthusiasm about traveling to Cape Cod and I'm slowly getting over the feeling of entitlement with which winter deludes us into thinking we own the roads and parking lots.  This too shall pass and by Labor Day I'll be surprised anew at the sudden exodus.

Tommy keeping a watchful eye on the new crop of bunnies

Meanwhile, nature knows just what to do and is gifting us with fresh, baby spinach leaves, fragrant lilacs, bright red poppies, purple and white irises, lush peonies, exquisite yellow Golden Chain Tree blossoms and lots of baby bunnies.  The new raised bed gardens on the sunny side have welcomed tomato and cucumber seedings and are sporting newly sprouted radishes, beets and squash.  The asparagus seems to have made the transfer to their own raised bed without any complaints, but the rhubarb is still undecided about being rudely yanked out of their old location.  Summer is always full of big landscaping ideas and the promise of newly found recycled treasures, but this year's focus is on less, rather than more, with the intent of claiming more time to indulge other favorite activities, too.  This year's garden projects will tweak areas to make them easier to tend.  Three years of collected treasures have been moved from the basement to the garage for an out-with-the-old/in-with-the-new sale, as soon as the weather cooperates.*  Kite flying on the beach, playing "tourist" in surrounding towns and always the quest to capture intriguing moments in photos for the next exhibit have been bumped to the top of the list with all good intentions to follow through. 
 * As regards the weather, my apologies to all affected for my namesake tropical storm Andrea.

Golden Chain Tree

Eastham Coast Guard Beach on the Top 10 list again

We know it's June because of the myriad of congratulations signs springing up like mushrooms for the Nauset Class of 2013.  They appear on fences, trees, yard signs and from overpasses in every possible media including bedsheets, cardboard boxes, rolls of paper and whatever else was at hand.  These "Woot Woot!" proclamations are a proud local June tradition.  

Playing tourist in Provincetown

Being in the public eye, we've gotten pretty used to strangers walking up to the door for one reason, or another, but we had a nice surprise when one of the former owners of our home, the ones who originally converted the house to a bed and breakfast, stopped in to say hello and look around.  It's always fun to learn bits and pieces of the history of where one calls home.  It's the antidote to "if these walls could talk".  On their way out, I was able to reunite Mrs. P. with the first painting she had ever done, but had left behind.   

The battle of the proposed Eastham water bills continues to rage in our town.  The big daddy plan for 114.8 million has now been defeated by the townsfolk 4 times in a row, as was the 40.8 million 'compromise' vote and the more sensible 5.8 million solution written by a local resident, which was finally accepted on the ballot  A record turnout of 1,345 voters thought it important enough to give up their Saturday to make their wishes heard and the scheduled 10 a.m. meeting didn't start until 11 a.m. just to get the lines of voters through the door.  It finally adjourned at 2 p.m. with little to show for the exercise except more confusion and polarization, which sadly is starting to come between friends.  I hope this proves to be a temporary condition once there is eventually a majority vote on a solution.  Politics, local or national, has never been a favorite activity of mine, but when one has the gift of standing up for what directly affects you, there is no one else to fault if you don't avail yourself of the opportunity.  

This is what one looks like when bitten by deer ticks and on antibiotics to ward off Lyme Disease
 and warned not to go out in the sun, but Fort Hill is calling.  

Who could resist this?

At Crosswinds B&B, we've had honeymooners and long-time anniversary celebrants, but this month we had our first proposal!  Congratulations to Jimmie & Linda who shared that they'd become engaged on our tree swing under the stars.  Our June guests came from Boston and Western MA, Brooklyn and Liverpool, NY, Ringgold, GA, Hampshire, IL, Houston, TX and Stratford, CT, and the countries of Britain, Canada, France, Holland and Australia.  

Fresh from the garden!

But, our favorite visitor this month was the bright orange Oriole that checked out our bird feeders, another first for us.  (No pictures, yet.)  Of course, that prompted a trip to the Birdwatcher's Store in Orleans to see if Mike had any special Oriole feeders, which of course he did, and of course Ron bought.  He's now added cooking the special mix of Oriole food to his every four day regimen of making Hummingbird food in the hopes of earning us a 4-star review with the Orioles.   
   

 Summer chores

It does, absolutely feel like summer now with 3-H forecasts (hazy, hot & humid), lawn sprinklers on the gardens, bright beach towels in the piles of laundry left behind and  traffic that keeps our feet close to the brakes.  We're very aware that a lot of people are here to soak up in just a few days what we revel in all year and that affords patience that might otherwise be compromised.  I've often been asked what the essence of Cape Cod's  draw is for me.  The simple answer is that I feel nurtured and accepted and fit in to the casual lifestyle, which makes it feel like home.  This is every bit as essential as the natural beauty, creative arts scene and history, but the one thought that prevails is "perspective".  When bad days disappoint my expectations, threaten my safety, or cause pain, frustration or worry, I'm always very aware that I feel lucky to feel that I'm finally home.  With each news report of families threatened by tornados, forest fires and flooding around the world, my perspective and appreciation stretches even farther.  It doesn't erase a bad day, but it sure keeps you from dwelling on it.  Cape Cod gives me perspective and there's no place like home!  

Sunset over Truro

2013 - Marvelous May

It's a tradition.

I really couldn't let April slip away without noting a wicked-super visit from our son, Doug and his friend, Luke from Virginia.  Here to celebrate our April/May birthdays, watch his bro, Sean perform Shakespeare, and introduce Luke to New England, it was an action-packed few days.  They biked through Fort Hill, took beach pictures, saw the herring run in Brewster, caught chickens at our friend, Stephan's Great Cape Herb Shop, went to the Whydah Pirate Museum in Provincetown, attended one of Sean's fire spinning events on the beach and consumed mass quantities of yummy food.  A very happy birthday to ALL of my boys!

The herring are running!

Not only were the herring running, but the stripers, too.  Lucky for us that our fisherman friends have a generous nature and share mouth-watering fillets fresh off the hook.  

Approach to Salt Pond in Eastham

With Spring in full tilt come reminders of the special place in which we reside.  The gardener chasing an empty pot across his yard translates in my mind to the ocean breezes we get to enjoy all summer.  Sun-drenched days beg to take a camera along wherever I go, which has resulted in four more of my photos being chosen for the 2013 Eastham Chamber of Commerce summer booklet.  Flowers I've forgotten that I planted are bursting through the layers of mulch that I finally got down at the end of winter.  I've traded warm woolen hats and gloves for straw hats with brims and rubbery garden gloves, which always prompts eye-witness reports from people who spot me in the yard as they drive by.  We are also beginning what I call "Marathon Days" when we have B&B guests checking out of both rooms at 11 a.m. and Team Daniels  goes into action for the new ones checking in by 2 p.m.   And, tulips...did I mention mouthwatering colors of tulips everywhere?  And, hummingbirds?  

Ahhhhhhh.

Great whites are in the news again, but this time with a focus on treating them as a community asset.  The Atlantic White Shark Conservancy (AWSC), a new Massachusetts nonprofit committed to raising public awareness of white sharks has launched a 60 day online campaign running through June 20th to pre-sell 1,500 great white shark license plates, a necessity for the manufacturer to make the plates.  The AWSC maintains that these giant sea creatures have brought many extra visitors to Cape Cod and they play a critical role in maintaining the health of our ocean's ecosystem, as well as being good for tourism.  

The town of Eastham demonstrated some fancy maneuvers this month, demonstrating once again Tip O'Neal's infamous "politics begins at home" statement.  After months of town meetings which shared information gathered from various sources, passionate letters to the editors of local papers, polarization of neighbors about the health of our water, various proposals which ranged from doing nothing to spending 114+ million dollars on a new town water system, the time to vote together as a town finally came this month.  The meeting, which is normally held at Town Hall took over the high school gym to accomodate the expected turn-out and cars were lined up for miles to enter, delaying the start of the meeting, which ultimately only finished at 11:15 p.m. after relentlessly contentious debate.  Though the evening was rife with clashing egos, heckling and booing of the moderator, we can always count on at least one local character to provide a little humor, and as usual, Nick Nickerson came through.  The Nickerson family literally did come over on the Mayflower and has lived and shaped the Cape for generations, so the name carries a certain weight, as only a "sand-kicker" does around here.  On a town warrant that concerned the use of a plot that had previously been designated "open land", but some wanted to change to low-income housing, Nick delivered an impassioned plea to preserve the former turnip field, recalling that they used to grow Eastham turnips the size of bowling balls and throw away the ones we see now.  Regular readers may recall that Eastham celebrates its exceptional turnip crop in November with an annual Turnip Festival.  After yielding the microphone, Nick apparently thought of something else he really wanted to say, but was drowned out by the actual vote which the moderator insisted on pushing forward.  Not one to be silenced, Nick returned to the microphone to demand that he be heard, only to find out that the vote had already gone his way.  It was a delightful "oops" moment that broke the building tension as he humbly found his way back to his seat claiming deafness from sitting on a tractor too long.  We love you, Nick!  And, incidentally, Eastham remains the only town on the Cape without Town water, continuing to rely on our wells until such time that a more reasonable proposal for change is accepted by the Town Water Committee.  Our new friends, Tom & Lois Johnson are kicking that process off with a thank-you party and a sparkly new petition to get things going.  The one thing everyone could agree on is that no one would ever be tempted by the $150 fee to be the moderator of a town hall meeting.  And that's the way we do politics in Eastham.

Just say NO

Despite a cool and rainy Memorial Day Weekend forecast, when the Stop & Shop parking lot fills up to capacity and everyone on the roads are from out of town, it's officially summer on the Cape.  Visitors in May came from Italy, Germany, the UK, Florida, North Carolina, California, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Georgia.  There were college roommate reunions, geneaology researchers, pre-birth getaways, a B&B owner's pre-season getaway, parent visits, weddings, graduations and anniversaries.  Welcome all, have loads of fun and please be gentle.

'Easthamsters' from the past 

2013 - Amazing April

Early Spring welcome

Sometimes as I publish the last post, I wonder briefly if there will be anything left to say for the next month.  Is it really newsworthy when the obvious happens?  Why is it notable that it snowed in the winter, or was really hot in the summer, that the flowers returned in the Spring, or the leaves were beautiful in the Fall?  Perhaps, the more seasons we have under our belts, the less we take each one for granted and it seems somehow extraordinary as they either live up to our expectations, or don't.  There's always an observation that begs to be made, even though it may sometimes seem like deja vu.  With another Spring's arrival, there is the predictable explosion of green shoots and blooms, an increase in B&B guests, mystery weather from day to day, return of the 2-legged snowbirds resulting in more traffic and a rebirth of businesses which have been shuttered for the winter.  But, the  joy of reporting is always in the details.

Main Street, Chatham display

Easter weekend felt as if someone pulled the plug on the bridge and the world suddenly rushed in like high tide.  The weather cooperated nicely with lots of sunshine and mild temperatures, but by Monday, the Travel Bunnies vanished as quickly as they appeared.  It was the annual wake-up for locals that we would soon not have the roads to ourselves anymore and it was time to remember how to exercise patience.  Last summer I decided to try a new technique for patient waiting to turn onto the main road.  When traffic stretches as far as the eye can see, it seems that the wait will surely be interminable.  But, if you count the seconds you actually sit there, quite often it's much less than you'd guess and 99% of the time is under one minute of your time.  I've made it a challenge to see if the wait will exceed a minute.  So far this Spring, my maximum wait has been 16 seconds.  Piece o'cake!

Brewster's Spring welcome, as far as the eye can see.

April 1st is a special day for us because it's our wedding anniversary.  So, we were already  feeling full of good will towards all during our morning coffee when I picked up the latest 'Ask the Bird Folks' column from the Cape Codder to read aloud, as is our habit.  This week's question was from Paul, in Harwich, concerning a story his cousin Frankie told him about the preponderance of sharks off of Chatham and the gulls who fall victim to them.  Indeed, we read, there are "Gull Sharks" who beach themselves and play dead, waiting to turn the arrival of hungry gulls into a feeding frenzy.  This amazing event happens at the peak of the spring high tide, which was to happen this Monday at 11:30 a.m.  As it was coincidentally only an hour away, we decided to take a drive to Chatham Light with our cameras to witness this freakish show of nature.  It was a little chilly, but a gorgeous day to go to the beach.  We were a little surprised that there weren't more cars in the parking area.  Cape Birders are usually right on top of any unusual siting with their notebooks and impossibly long camera lenses and tripods.  Just as Ron was noting that he didn't see any gulls or sharks anywhere and I was taking my first step onto the sand, I had the "AHA Moment".  We'd been had by the April Fool's Master, Mike O'Connor of the Bird Store in Orleans.  Last year, he concocted a story about the amazing birds everyone would see when the Cape Cod Canal would be drained for routine maintenance, a tale even I didn't believe.  But, he outdid himself this year with the Gull Sharks, or at least took advantage of a couple who hadn't quite finished their morning coffee.          

No sharks, but the beach looked great!

April's also a big month for birthdays, and mine, in particular seems to bring out the world's crazies.  The date's notoriety really picked up in 1775 with the beginning of the Revolutionary War at Lexington, Mass, or as Emerson put it, "the shot heard 'round the world."  Boston celebrates it as Patriot's Day and it was always nice to get my birthday off when I lived there in the 70's.  (They've since moved it to the closest Monday.)  April 19th was relatively quiet until 1993 and the bloody ATF siege on the Branch Dividians at Waco, which then inspired the bombing of the Oklahoma Federal building 2 years later on the same date.  That's not to say nothing else notable happened on April 19th, and if you want to waste an hour, try googling your own birthday and be amazed at what happened while you were eating cake, and who else shares your day.  Ironically, I first heard about this year's Patriot's Day bombing at the Boston Marathon from my sister-in-law in San Diego, who emailed to see if we were all o.k., thinking we might have attended the event.  While I'm fairly certain there's not much I could add to the round-the-clock coverage and commentary we've all already heard, I will say that in regards to sharing my birthday with some pretty horrific events, I'm going to quote my grandfather, as I have so many times before.  "It could always be worse."  If my mother had been in labor a few hours longer, I'd be sharing my birthday with Hitler instead.  As it turned out, both of the couples expected at the B&B that weekend were coming from the Boston area and were stuck in a city-wide lock down. Couple #1 made it a little later than scheduled, but Couple #2 had planned to rent a car and found it impossible to do with the continuing bedlam.  They were forced to cancel the first night, but didn't give up, even spending time stuck in an elevator before getting their rental car, and finally made it late the following afternoon.  We decided to honor their perseverance and the spirit of our old home town by refunding their money and giving them the nights free.
  

For a town known for its lack of commercialism, it's pretty big news in Eastham to have two new restaurants opening.  Karoo Kafe boasts a South African menu with a welcoming nod to vegetarians and gluten-intolerant tummies, too.  I can personally attest to the spicy deliciousness of the Curried Lamb Stew and Ron's Peri Peri Shrimp, both over Turmeric Rice.  We split something called Malva pudding, which is a toffee flavored bread pudding with vanilla ice cream on top.  Oaxaca (pronounced Wa-hock-a) is a Mexican Grill that is planning to open in May.  And, on April 9th, Ben & Jerry's in N. Eastham dished up 6,469 cones on Free Cone Day, about 1500 more than last year.    

Big doin's in the garden

The former owners of our property had quite the green thumbs and left us with wonderful fruit and ornamental trees and lots of lovely Spring bulbs.  Sadly, I've had to abandon the raised bed garden because it's now too shaded to support a proper veggie garden.  It's just my luck that there's a very skilled carpenter in the house who's willing to  create a new one on the sunnier side where I've planted a flower garden and the old garden space will be claimed to expand the garden shed.      

Our peach tree in bloom - out with the old,  in with the new,

As the new year began, the call went out for Eastham business people with trucks to participate in the Touch-A-Truck fundraiser to benefit the Eastham Committee on Early Childhood's after school program.  On Sunday, April 7th, kids were invited to the Wellfleet Drive-In Theater to talk to people about their vehicles and their jobs.  The Eastham Police Union sponsors this event, and what a great idea!

Spring calm as the gardens awaken  

My readers already know of my fondness for living in Eastham (or as I say, being an East-hamster), but here's how the Cape Cod Travel Guide describes it:  "One of the four original settlements on Cape Cod, Eastham, Massachusetts remains relatively undiscovered.  There is no formal Main Street or identifiable town center here - though visitors are drawn here by the National Seashore's Headquarters at the Salt Pond Visitors Center and by the dune-backed expanses of Coast Guard Beach and Nauset Light Beach on the open Atlantic Ocean.  The Cape's oldest remaining windmill, the historical society's museum and the Swift-Daley House bear witness to the town's antiquity, along with First Encounter Beach along Cape Cod Bay, where Myles Standish and his Pilgrim scouting party first met the Nauset Indians in 1620. 

Our visitors this month came from the Boston area, Delaware, Vermont, Washington State, Northern England, Switzerland and The Netherlands.

2013 - Frosty February

 Hydrangea memories; beautiful even in winter

By now I think it's been well established that winter has not become obsolete, yet.  There's been anywhere from a dusting of snow to drifts of three feet on the ground all month and ice fisherman have even been spotted on the ponds again.  As soon as the last storm's deposit gets dirty, there's a fresh cover to tidy things up.  Meanwhile, Eastham's Wild Care Center is caring for many of the avian victims that found themselves beached or wandering around in parking lots after Snowstorm #2, which apparently did not rate a name from the Weather Channel this time.  Their current patients include a peregrine falcon and two Atlantic puffins, which is a rare occurrence in this neighborhood.  Our Governor Duval has raised the suggestion of comparing the cost of burying power lines vs. the cost of restoring power from an increasing number of "super-storms", and it's becoming a popular subject in the papers.  In fact, so many residents on the Cape have lost power this winter, there was a cooking column in the Cape Codder about how to cook a roast in your fireplace.  All through New England, towns are lamenting the depletion of their snow plowing funds, but if one looks in the gardens during the brief thaws, daffodil shoots are fearlessly peeking through and waiting for their cue to take their marks on center stage.  It's an annual hurry-up-and-wait process and a little reminder that nothing is forever, including a frosty February.  

Late night deer party outside the bedroom window.

Just as it happened for us last winter right after the holidays, early birds are avidly booking summer vacations.  If this month is any indication for us, it's going to be another busy year.  It's the first time we've ever had to turn anyone away in February for a date in July because it was already full.  WeNeed aVacation.com is also expressing cautious optimism for the 2013 rental season, confirming that early bookings for vacation rental homes on the Cape and Islands is up over 16% over the same period last year.  Our beaches may have been rearranged a little since last summer, but that's just part of Mother Nature's best show on earth. 

Wind tracks in the snow

When I first met our fisherman friend, Ray, I quickly found out that one of his favorite ways to entertain himself was to see if he could convince us to believe a totally bogus story that he'd made up.  So sometimes it's difficult to tell when he's telling the truth, like the day before he was leaving to visit his daughter in Germany and he got a friend to call us to say that his boat sank and he needed a hand.  We were sure he was just pulling another fast one, but it actually did turn out to be true.  And, I thought it was just another fish tale when he told us that his favorite meal was cod cheeks.  Yeah, sure, Ray, you love to eat fish faces.  Well, I can now sheepishly confirm that we've since been treated to cod cheeks and that they do exist and are indeed delicious.  And, so are fish napes, but unless you're a fisherman, or know one, you'll probably never see them.  It's not worth it to the fish markets to pay a cutter for the time it takes to cut out those parts so they're usually thrown away with the heads. Once again, lucky us, and sorry for doubting you, Ray.

That's Ray on the right when bass fishing was at its peak in the '80's

I've recently become aware of a wonderful health care opportunity in our area called Community Acupuncture.  It's not a new concept, but this particular office in the town of Dennis was only the fourth one to open in this country.  As the name suggests, treatment is done on several clients at once in a common room, as it was first done in China, and advertising is done only by word of mouth, allowing the practitioner to charge much more affordable sliding scale rates.  Because of that factor, I decided to try it as an alternative to a cortisone shot for a recent shoulder injury.  The experience has been totally pleasant and impressive and seems to have really jump-started the healing process.  Click on the following link if you'd like to read an informative story by the Cape Cod Times about acupuncture and Diana's clinic: 

 http://www.capecodonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080110/LIFE/801100301

From the Cape Cod Times - Diana DiGioia 

One of the amusements for me living in this neck of the woods is the unmistakable regional accent that turns words like 'party' into 'potty'.  Though the ear gets used to the Northern inflections, a particularly thick, northern patois still reminds me that I'm not in Virginia anymore.  Everyone's heard "pahk the cah in Hahvud Yahd", but I'm starting a collection dubbed 'Yankee Doodlisms'.  Some samples:

fenda-benda:  when two cars get in a little accident 

oystuh-crackas:  the tiny, round crunchy things you get when you order chowdah

winta-weathuh:  ice and snow  

You get the idea. 

Keeping cozy

If February's not your favorite month, congratulations on weathering another one and if blizzards are not your idea of fun, you're over the hump.   

2013 - It's a Blizz-icane, it's a Snow-nado, it's NEMO!

February 8-9, 2013

Meteorologists, which is a title we allow weathermen when their predictions have been spot on, called the Blizzard of 2013 pretty accurately.  It was spawned by two lesser storms that met for a tryst over New England and begat a super-storm unofficially named by the Weather Channel as Nemo.  

BEFORE - Sideways slush at Fort Hill 

It teased Cape Cod all of Friday with increasingly wet snow showers which turned into a couple of inches of ice until a colder front blasted through late at night with hurricane force winds and white-out snow.  

...and stand on your head?

It continued to snow and blow all through the following day bringing an accumulation of between three inches and three feet depending on what part  of the drift you were measuring.  

The show included wind-whipped snow-cyclones whirling along open expanses and thunder snow with winds that literally shivered our timbers, sent anything not secured flying and gobbled up big portions of our beaches.  

Hang on, Claudia!

With great advance warning, we were all able to take precautions and settle in to ride it out, honoring the 24-hour no-driving ban, a first in my experience.  

The rose bushes outside our kitchen window are always a popular port in a storm.

75% of the Cape lost power, but we're convinced that because we now have an automatic generator, our neighborhood was spared loss of power through sheer irony.  Even so, we can't do anything about losing cable, so we take our television and internet break along with everyone else and watch our bird channel.  

Suet saves the day

How does one spend a Super-Storm Saturday?  Although the winds made visibility and going very far an impossibility, playing in the snow and shooting pictures is always a must for me.  Ron preferred to nest with the cats and a book. 

Love those bluebirds

 One of our precautions was to fill all the bird feeders and we've certainly earned their gratitude in great numbers. 

 Following snow time, it seemed a good day to make some kitchen magic with leftovers from the fridge and the kale and potatoes our neighbor dropped by.  A little of this and that soon made a delicious pot of soup.  Then, more snow time, digging a path to the gate and through the drift that buried it and trying out some boots which sadly failed the waterproof test and cut my walk short.  

Tunnel to freedom

A hot shower and then a hot latte, provided by my Super-hot hubby, finished the afternoon as we thumbed through the Cape Codder Weekly news that had just made it to the mailbox before Nemo did.  Evening brought quieting winds, although the snow continued to swirl with the last bit of energy left.

Sunday lived up to its name and we were wakened by the blinding brightness only full sun on snow can create.  Cats fed.  Birds fed.  Lattes consumed.  Then back to shoveling the car out so we can check on the beaches.  

AFTER - Nauset Light Beach

We'd already heard that the steps to the beach at Nauset Light had been washed away for the second time in two years and an old peat bog had been uncovered at Coast Guard Beach.  

Shades of the past unearthed on Coast Guard Beach

A trip up Fort Hill provided a view of the waves breaking beyond the outer dunes that seem much clearer than before suggesting either less dunes, higher waves, or possibly both?  A few more storms and we may have our harbor again.  

AFTER-a little less dune, a lot more view on Fort Hill

The First Encounter Beach parking lot on the Bay was inundated with sand, debris and lumber that was said to be from some former beach houses in Plymouth which were remodeled by the high tide.  But even in February, there is ALWAYS someone on the water.

What storm?

We haven't heard of anything that came close to the devastation that the Jersey Coast suffered months ago and except for the people last to get their power, I think the overall feeling is that we've successfully weathered another one.  The Parks Department has promised to restore the beaches before tourist season, but will let them be for the time being in case any more tough guy storms decide to visit.

Thanks for all the emails and phone calls.  We're safe and expecting full house in the B&B this weekend . 

a frozen neighbor with a green mohawk

2013 - January Blues

Snow-o'clock on the sun dial

Observations on the season:

Did you notice how desperately fast your email spam folder fills up around the holidays?  As if any of those items would make an appropriate gift for anyone...And, did you also spot how quickly the Christmas decorations got dumped onto the reduced aisle to make way for Valentine's Day?  There hasn't been a "Grace Period" between holidays for quite some time.  It leads me to think that the advertising industry has gotten too lazy to promote business without a hackneyed holiday theme.  Perhaps I've been watching too many episodes of Mad Men, but I'm craving just a little more creativity than that.  And since much of the money spent on advertising goes into Superbowl commercials, it's not likely that they'll get my attention there either since our Patriots blew their chances for that last week.  As our defensive linebacker Vince Wilfork humbly stated, "The best team won tonight."   Simple as that.            

Frosty Fort Hill approach

O.K., so why would a self-confessed winter-lover entitle the first entry of the year January Blues?  I'm referring, not to the mood, but to the gorgeous, deep colors of the ocean and varied palate of the winter skies.  Though nature has seemed confused about the seasons, winter weather finally arrived barely in time for the solstice.  So much for the roses still blooming and the hummingbirds looking for their feeders (honestly!), it's time for sub-freezing temperatures, icy ponds and snow.  A two-inch white blanket tucked in the old year and the winds sang 2012 out.  The ever-ready snow plowers left abstract frozen sculptures in the parking lots and icy patches made walking less of an involuntary action than usual.  

 Final performance

We usually go into hibernation on New Year's Eve, eschewing loud parties and sharing the road with drunken revelers, but we had an incentive to get out this year to see our son perform with his dance group, The Tides, at Chatham's First Night celebration.  Despite coming down with a wicked cold, he put on a big smile and his dancin' feet and treated us all to a fun performance.  We could have stayed for fireworks and many more performances at different venues in town, but the lure of p.j.'s by the fire was too great for us and we rang in the new year in our favorite place with our cats cuddled close and another couple of episodes of a new favorite t.v. series.  

Smilin' Sean in the middle

The B&B hosted couples from Massachusetts and Connecticut over the holidays, and January brought us a Harvard professor who needed some quiet time to finish a book.    We also have a new "frequent flyer" by the name of Bob White, who has taken over the job of cleaning up under the bird feeders.  He's a handsome guy who struts like Mick Jagger and peeps like R2-D2.  Our Sibley Bird Book describes him as a member of the quail family who is often heard, but seldom seen.  Lucky us!

Mr. White

Last Spring, I excitedly reported that our town of Eastham had hired four Alpine goats from a local farm for a pilot program to manage unwanted vegetation without chemicals.  Although the goats performed their job to perfection, munching away locust trees, brambles and poison ivy, the Department of Public Works came to the conclusion that a team of only four goats to manage the whole town is akin to trying to plow the streets with snow blowers instead of plows.  For now, the town has decided that in order for such a program to be a success, the goats would need to be handled by full-time professional farmers rather than the DPW employees.  So, we sadly say goodbye and a heartfelt thank you to Alan, Butt Head, Tag and Momma and hope to see them again someday.

Frozen Mary Chase Salt Marsh

January is also the time when the Development Committee of the Lower Cape Outreach Council starts a new year of fundraising, attempting to work smarter, not harder.  The good news is that we raised a record amount last year, but unfortunately the community need is still so much greater than that.  Having completed a full year as a volunteer, I have a newfound respect for the volunteers who have done this tirelessly for years without letting discouragement get in the way.  Onward.  

Ice on the Cove

I don't know why I was worried about having a real winter.  Our Canadian neighbors have generously shared the jet stream with us this month with three very modest, but gorgeous snowfalls and occasional wind chills in the negative numbers.    

lazy kitchen window snow pictures

Strangely, January has turned out to be a prime wildlife viewing month.  Six deer surprised me at the mailbox last week, flipping their white tails as a comment on my rude intrusion.  Maybe that's who that extra mailbox is for...But, the truly exceptional sighting was the pair of bluebirds who stopped in for a suet break on their travels.  It's the first time I've ever seen a bluebird, and the timing took me quite by surprise.  I do hope that if they can't stick around for awhile, they'll at least make us a regular stop.

Mo' Blues

As January comes to a close, I've already had time to sort through free-shop treasures in the basement, filling the car with things that seemed like a good idea at the time, but couldn't pass the second-look test.  The space regained allowed me to restore my work area to a usable condition, where actual framing projects are getting completed.  I've also been able to dust off the higher level of discipline required to tackle our tax preparation.  A lot of cold, gray days helped with that effort, not that there weren't many distractions that suddenly took precedence, like filling up bird feeders, restocking the porch with kindling and paging through the new bulb catalogs that came in the mail.  I reasoned that since our postman, Ken, was nice enough to come out in the cold to deliver them, I should at least take a few minutes to look through.  With two-thirds of the winter left, I look forward to more winter projects like continuing to transfer old 1970's negatives to computer, printing and framing new photos for the next showing, mulching more of the gardens before shoots pop up and dazzling my willing guinea pig boys with new recipes.  And, even as winter sports enthusiasts don wetsuits and hit Nauset Light Beach with their surfboards, my favorite way to start and end a winter's day is on the couch with Ron, two cats, a steaming latte and the view out of our windows.   

Good night, Eastham