TheCapeBlog

We are told that the American worker is the most productive in the world, meaning we create more wealth per time card than anyone else, including the much-vaunted workforces of Asia.
This worker is under orders to rest and rejuvenate. It’s been a busy summer at the office, and more often than not, I’ve left work feeling like my head was encased in cement.
The perfect weather we’ve had this weekend was a spectacular blessing and I’ve taken full advantage of it, with a day at Falmouth’s splendid Pops Goes the Summer and then a quick trip to the Vineyard with my grandson, Bob.
We took the new ferry back, which turned out to be the main point of the outing for Bob, who decided he’d rather attend my neighbor’s pool party than tour the island.
Bob is nostalgic about the end of summer and as he said, a half-way point in his childhood: he enters grade 7 tomorrow. I admit to being teary-eyed myself this morning, remembering the sublime moment when the Cape Cod Symphony played that perfect composition for a summer evening, the Leroy Anderson piece “Serenata”.
There are so many challenges that come with living in this area: high prices, less than stellar public schools, the annual influx of tourists and second home owners and an underlying malaise that stems from a lack of professional opportunities, that the end of summer has a particular sadness.
While many Cape Codders look forward to “getting back to normal”, I always feel deep down that when Labor Day comes, we also lose something magical. The gardens, so beautiful in June in July, are gone by. The fairs, outdoor art shows, concerts and fireworks are memories. Fall is advertised as the best time on the Cape, and in some ways, that’s true, but there’s no question that the pace slows down and the mood changes.
This was not an especially busy summer, but here’s the annual recap: besides this weekend’s events, I did fit in the annual July Fourth cookout in Wareham, the Cape Verdean festival at Onset Beach, several trips with the kids to the county fair, the Provincetown and Woods Hole film fests, a visit to the first air show at the base since 2001, a major family reunion, a minor college reunion and several fireworks displays.

Got to the air show yesterday, but the Thunderbirds demonstration was canceled due to cloud cover. I got to sit in the Pratt & Whitney pavilion at the flight line, which was a mercy considering the heat.
It was easy getting in, and hard to get out, but while I was there, I did enjoy seeing the many airplanes on display and picked up some info on the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary.
The next air show is in 2009. Maybe Nature will cooperate then.
Earlier in the day, the young folks who are visiting across the street planted a decent-looking mountain laurel – salvaged by a landscaper friend from a job – where the rhodie used to be. Rather than pay $8 a bag for mulch, I picked up half a yard for $20, so the front of the house looks a bit more cleaned up.

Woke up this morning to find that I’d left the freezer door ajar last night.
Hamburger and veggies for everyone today.

Continue reading The Good and the Bad

Summer is almost over, Labor Day weekend is less than 2 weeks away.
Emme and James slept in this morning, they stayed over last night after a very full late afternoon/evening of outdoor activities.
They told me they decided earlier in the week to try to patch up the differences that have been driving their parents and older brother nuts all summer.
Two grandchildren are a lot easier to manage than three, and Emme and James love to be outside, which makes a big difference.
It’s been humid and hard to sleep, but we got drier air on Friday night, and yesterday it was warm enough for the kids to swim in my neighbor’s pool.
We had supper on the deck, made bright and cheerful by the colorful beach towels hanging on the railings, the open patio umbrella and the flower boxes. Although we’re nearly at the end, it finally felt like summer, the way it’s supposed to be.

The Perseids meteor shower will peak just before dawn (around 5:45 am) tomorrow, Monday, August 13. This year should be good viewing, there’s a new moon and clear skies are forecast.
Yesterday, Onset Village hosted the annual Cape Verdean Festival. Centerville wrapped up its Old Home Week.
A new NOAA research vessel, the Henry Bigelow, was open to the public yesterday at the Mass. Maritime Academy in Buzzards Bay.
The Falmouth Road Race begins at 10 am tomorrow (Sunday).
Even as late as 5 PM last evening, traffic on Route 25 headed to the Bourne Bridge was backed up five miles.

Laws that force parents and caregivers to put children in the back rather than the front seat have tripled the number of hypothermia deaths in the United States.
In other words, three times as many children have died of hypothermia (heat exhaustion) after these well-intentioned laws were passed than before such laws were on the books.
This, according to an AP article that recently appeared in the Boston Herald.
No one should be riding in the back seat of a car or truck unless they are physically able to extricate themselves, whether they are children or adults.

Withdrawal from Iraq is a foregone conclusion, so for me, this is not a pivotal campaign issue.
Here’s a few I’d like to see discussed on the campaign trail:

Continue reading What I’d Like the Presidential Candidates to Say

We’ve all heard “get over it” and variants thereof.
The thing is, I don’t believe that people do get over certain “its”, like poverty or abuse. Rather, they get better at hiding the effects so as not to irritate everyone else.
I wish people were more honest about the impact of hard times or trauma on their lives. Their experiences are instructive in the school of survival.
What’s to be learned from a trust fund baby? Knowing how to build a house from scrap materials or make hard cider from apple orchard dropping would be infinitely more relevant, not to mention more interesting, than a lesson in avoiding capital gains tax.

I finally cleaned out the flower boxes that were inundated with the results of the “mystery” seeds: a weedy, horrible mess.
Picked up 10 6-packs of annuals at a 2 for 1 sale: purple salvia, cream-colored marigolds, portulaca and a few orange and yellow zinnias.
There were enough plants to spread over 4 flower boxes, and the difference is night and day. Unfortunately, my poor nasturtiums had pretty much been choked to death, and I managed to pull up a morning glory plant by the roots.
What a disaster, but the porch looks 100% better now.
The tomatoes are doing fine. Fingers crossed.
It’s much more comfortable tonight than it has been. Last night I tried doing without the air conditioner and ended up waking up around 2:30 in the morning. Turned the ac on and got several more hours of sleep. The forecast is for dryer air, with the humidity returning later in the week.

Yesterday was hot and humid, and I counted 10 tiny tomatoes on the plants in the back yard.
After weeding and watering the container gardens, I went to BJs for a cake and a duck. The cake was our dessert contribution to the family reunion that afternoon, a combination homage to the reunion and to Bob’s birthday. The duck was for CM.
There was barely time to change and head north to Plymouth. I was lucky, managed to dodge traffic both going and returning. There were many horror stories about 2 and 3 hour drives from north and west of Boston.

Continue reading Busy Saturday