Category Archives: Cape
Walkdoc Sept. 24, 2013
Surf Drive- Island Queen in background
Seagull Footprints
David found a perfectly intact, dead horseshoe crab.
Morning Glories on Walker Street– no filter, just Mother Nature.
Love the color: flower boxes at Anejo.
All alone in the parking lot.
Wandering in Woods Hole
My exploring has taken hold. I’m trying to notice what was previously missed. Woods Hole is the perfect place to do this. We’ve been in this community for more than 25 years, and there’s always something going on to stir my brains. This walk was no exception.
Yarn from happy sheep
This trek started with the goal of capturing the last three skeins of yarn spun from very happy sheep off the coast of Woods Hole. Only a total of 19 were available at the Woods Hole Historical Society Shop in the spring. This was a quest for the perfect yarn to make my daughter Molly’s shawl for Christmas. The sheep are certifiably happy and treated with respect; the yarn is a delicious cocoa color and should have great stitch definition. This stop was only the beginning.
Impossible to Pass Up
Had to stop at Pie In The Sky and pretend that the rum-raisin bread pudding is a healthy snack. Needless to say, there’s always a new baked goodie that calls to me from this place. I remember when Molly would buy an entire fruit pie and devour it herself with fork and spoon in hand. Kate picked up the bike path at the boat dock behind the store and roller bladed home after Science School. This truly is a little hole in the wall place that never disappoints.
View from Pie In The Sky
Out of this window the boat waits to go to the Vineyard, people scramble to find parking spaces and this area has a pulse all of its own.
There’s a line of small rose bushes that border the parking lot and always seem to be in bloom. Their blossoms are small and fragile. I’m not one to remember plant names, but they remind me of the floribunda roses my Dad used to love. Easy to grow and always a treat to look at.
Delicate, Yet Hardy
Woods Hole is returning to its post-tourist pace. Amen! The scientists, artists and fisherman have the place to themselves.
On the water
We managed to get through the guarded gate at Penzance Point and continue our walk almost out to the point. These estates are manicured, pedicured and well-groomed. Yet, that fussy stuff doesn’t impress me. It’s the smaller, simple stuff that catches my eye.
Nature’s garland
Looking down I found mushrooms with a pattern and texture that made me pay attention. I’d love to turn the photo into fabric for a quilt! That would indeed be mixed media.
Penzance Mushroom
Nearby, the gunk on this stone seemed to glow and was soft to the touch. No cement here, just balance and smart architecture.
Gold?
These poor sculpted bushes did not impress me…
Prune, prune, prune.
…but this single, late blooming hydrangea will stay in my head for quite awhile.
I See Through My Little Eye
Keri Smith’s How to Be An Explorer of the World has left its mark on me. I’ve been taking photos of “stuff” that I might have previously missed while taking my daily walk. I’m learning to take the time to see and document what catches my eye, and then think about why these things capture my attention.
Surf Drive September Quiet
The tourists are gone and life is back to normal: less traffic, no crowds, more quiet. I love it!
Less is more
Walker Street has eye candy that has weathered storms and time.
For the birds, and me, to appreciate.
Old faithfuls: marigolds
Morning Glories: my absolute favorite.
Old Glory, perfect breeze
More For The Birds
And the simple, but colorful leaves of coleus, never disappoint.
Until next time, eyes open, iPhone handy, taking it all in…
Seeds and Tweeds
Surf Drive
Traffic around town has lightened up.
No one’s chair or blanket is within ear shot at the beach.
And our pizza, antipasto and wings from Stone L’Oven is delivered in less than 25 minutes.
Yes, Fall is coming to the Cape.
It’s cool enough to throw on a light sweater in the morning and wonderfully breezy enough to keep the windows open all day. It smells like “back to school” but I’m not going!
Like potato chips, but better
I love this time of year. It’s when I make my own agenda of what I want to “cover” this non-semester and where I want to spend my energy. Looks like I’ve got a larger than usual pile of books, project bags full of knitting, writing that’s waiting to be done, and an exercise program that I’m looking forward to making a habit. I am so tempted to buy a new notebook, pencil case, and book bag, but I know I don’t need any of that. I have a Staples warehouse in my basement and a resolution to not buy the unnecessary. These are the seeds for the new season.
Beach Plums Bike Path
Being a perpetual student excites me. Going to the library or on-line to find answers to big or little questions is good for my brain and my soul. After reading The Hare with Amber Eyes, I was curious to see what the art pieces looked like as well as learn more about the author, Edmund de Waal, and his family. Working on my own writing has me looking at what other writers have to say about writing. Brainpickings has been a rich resource about writing and all kinds of curiosities. I can learn as much or as little as I choose. I’m the barometer, the metronome, and the rubric.
Stone Mama
I’ve been toying with Keri Smith’s book How to be an Explorer of the World. The basic premise is to sharpen your observation skills as well as your creative documentation of what is observed. I like the invitation to find patterns in my observations, and the problem solving that goes along with it. What I don’t like is Smith’s expectation that I “collect stuff” in generous quantities…i.e. pick up 30 items of interest on your daily, random walk today. The last thing(s) I need in my life is more stuff… so I’m going to have to re-create that part of the assignment or maybe not do it (the nuns are turning over in their graves). Slowing down to notice objects, actions, behavior, ideas, questions and possible answers is a worthwhile endeavor.
Hitchhiker Shawl
Taking more photographs is a way to capture a memory, a thought, a feeling without having clutter to contend with. I like that too. It’s amazing how having an iPhone has increased my opportunity to practice taking photos. It’s always handy. I can point and click. No trip to the drug store to get film developed; it is an open invitation to practice, practice, practice taking lots of shots.
This time of year reminds me of New Years; one parcel of time is winding up, the other winding down. But after a bit, I realized that Spring is a period of renewal for me, too. Guess these observations say more about me than I realized.
Blueberries in My Thrown Bowl
Time Out: Cape Pix
Bike Path along Surf Drive
Fourth of July Craziness is Gone
Beach Plums… such an unusual mixture of color, texture, and shape
They’re Back
For several years, we’ve been graced with a bird nest and accompanying family. It’s always in the same location: on the secure light box fixture, with the deck above for added shelter. It’s nestled close to the house in a part of the yard that’s usually quiet.
Nest with Mama and her tail feathers
When their construction begins, they pull the moss from the path and leave a trail of small twigs and plant debris. I always hope they’ll find the yarn scraps I’ve purposely left behind and include them in their building– that doesn’t always happen.
Three eggs safe and sound
This year they arrived late, and the whole process happened quite quickly. Before we knew it, the nest was built and eggs were awaiting. Three, to be exact.
Next, we saw little perky beaks in action. The adult birds were making regular food trips from the yard to the nest, again and again. The three were fluffy and active. Mom and Dad looked exhausted. I can relate!
Looked like one or two, but three baby birds were cuddled closely.
The little ones filled the nest and finally posed for a photograph. It’s a challenge to get the camera between the underside of the deck, while getting them in focus, and having adequate lighting. Thanks to David, we got several good pix.
Born, Fed, Ready to Fly
This morning we went to check on the gang, and they were gone. All that’s left is an empty nest for the next brood. In the meantime, the little birds are learning how to live out in the real world. Maybe there will be another family soon, or we might have to wait until next year. This is all so much better than reality television.
All gone…
I Do, I Did, 41
A quiet 9 am walk to the beach is a good way to start the day. The past week hasn’t been “beach weather” so this morning, before the rains begin again, it was prime time to “carpe beach”. A forty-minute constitutional stretches the legs and the mind a bit.
7/1/72
Tomorrow, July 1, is our 41st wedding anniversary. Amazing! Three score and seven years ago we had the tiniest (32 people) wedding and officially started our lives together. It was perfect! I was a sophomore at Boston College, and David just completed his first year of grad school at MIT. We were both students and always stayed that way. There wasn’t a lot of spare cash, but we were never hungry or bored. We took walks around the Chestnut Hill reservoir, listened to lots of music, read all types of books, and made a homey nest for ourselves. We baked bread, cooked at home, and always had lots of conversation. It’s funny, forty-one years later, not much of our daily routine has changed.
7/1/72
Of all the possible reasons to celebrate, I think wedding anniversaries top the list. You don’t only have to live another year longer, you have to live it with someone else. That means putting up, shutting up, and sometimes blowing up over the minutia that makes up our lives. I continue to talk too loud, leave lids ajar and have piles of works in progress all over the house. David is David—my eccentric physicist. I say the glass is more than half full, and he says it’s half empty. We continue to re-learn the art of compromise, diplomacy and appreciating all the good stuff. It’s a dance step that changes over time, and we adapt. We’ve spent 41 years growing up together. It has been very good, and the best is yet to come.
Book Groupie
Often my reading habits follow criss-crossing lines with unexpected, often interesting, consequences. This is definitely the case these past few weeks.
I’m continuing to read Academically Adrift and appreciating the hardcore research on the academic behaviors of college students. In short, students are under-prepared and universities are failing to meet most needs. This research is validating my observations in the field. I routinely confronted these issues firsthand when teaching in the classroom, and now I’m writing a book that includes my observations and remedies to these problems. That is happening, slowly, but surely.
Next on my nerdy agenda: I joined a new book club because I needed more literary oxygen and book talk. It’s the Non-fiction Book Group at Falmouth Public Library. Wow—what a smart group of well-read, articulate folks. We just finished reading and discussing a book I probably would never have read on my own: The Road to Ubar by Nicholas Clapp. It’s a fascinating account of Clapp’s attempt to discover ancient ruins whose existence waiver between myth and reality. This book shows the power of intellectual curiosity and the rewards of the inquiry method in practice. Clapp, a documentary film producer, has a fire in his belly to learn all he can about this ancient community. It encouraged me to push beyond the text and check out other resources. The book, itself, was an adventure. And best of all, the book group members are a most welcome addition to my literary life.
This begs the question: “So what do I really want out of a book group?” I want to read a text that is challenging and have bright folks engage in a lively, smart discussion ABOUT THE BOOK. I don’t want it to be a food festival of recipes that are vaguely connected to the title and devoured by a book group that never cracked the book. Also, I’m finding that I want our monthly selection to be more than a leisurely beach book; I need it to stretch and expand what I can already do on my own. So, I’ve joined two new book groups—one non-fiction and one fiction—both run by my local libraries. The non-fiction Ubar selection was great—fingers crossed for the fiction choice which is Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand by Helen Simonson. I start that next week.
One literary device I really hate in books is cheap trickery. I found this to be the case in Barbara Shapiro’s, The Art Forger. This “novel” focuses on the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum art heist. It reads as an interesting mystery that I thought was based on actual fact. Here comes the problem: the blurry line between fact and fiction. The author says it’s a novel, but includes so many “factual” details and references to reality that it reads like a true narrative of an actual event. It is about forging art, and the book itself is a forgery—how clever, no, how annoying. The end of the book reveals that most of what the reader thought was true, is not. Even the Boston Globe article that looked so authentic, is faked. Needless to say, I didn’t find it effective or satisfying. The last time I remember getting so irritated at a cheap trick was after I finished reading Memoirs of a Geisha and found out that the “geisha” was really a young man from Brookline, MA, not even a geisha in the family. Ugh!
My irritation about The Art Forger was not in vain. Several months ago, David and I made a day trip to the Outer Cape and back again. We stumbled upon Parnassus Bookstore, and I asked my favorite question: “What should I not leave today without buying? The wise salesclerk put a copy of Mrs. Jack by Louise Hall Tharp in my hands and said “You’ll love it.” Mrs. Jack is a biography–to my surprise–of Isabella Stewart Gardner: a smart, feisty, accomplished Boston woman who created the Gardner Museum. I am more than half way through this book, and it is unadulterated joy. Her life is worth reading about; the author’s voice and style are addictive. I try to read just one chapter a night before I go to sleep, and that is impossible…like chocolates, just one more, just one more. What a refreshing change from The Art Forger. I must revisit Parnassus Bookstore and ask for another recommendation.
Life is short. So many books, so little time. Be picky.
Pushing To Spring
Coonamesset Farm in bloom
This past week has been filled with all sorts of reasons to celebrate. It’s May. There are graduations, Spring is in full force, and, of course, Mother’s Day. All good stuff.
I have had the pleasure of mentoring Gordon since he was a junior at Waltham High. Together we worked on writing critical essays, how to read challenging texts and how to remember to set your alarm to get to class on time. For the past five and a half years, he has put up with me, and I have put up with him…but joyfully so!
Gordon Class of 2013
Bentley University
This past week Gordon successfully completed his final semester at Bentley and will graduate next Saturday. He has invited me to the ceremony, and I’ll sit in the audience, yell and make noise when he receives his diploma, and then I’ll probably blubber into several tissues. He never gave up; he’s the first in his Haitian immigrant family to attend college, the first to graduate, and it’s a very proud moment that I know he’ll savor and appreciate. I can’t wait to see him in his cap and gown.
Mama and Molly
Mother’s Day Weekend has been absolutely delightful. Molly and Josh arrived and spoiled me rotten with her fabulous cooking and their wonderful company. Books, recipes, knitting ideas were shared and explored. We reconnected as if we were never apart. Kate and Matt will be visiting soon, but in the meantime, we did our first video Ichat. What a kick–I get to see her face and hear her voice! We gab over hot coffee as if she were next door. I really appreciate that I’ll always love my kids, but just as importantly, I really like them! I’m a lucky lady.
Coonamesset Lettuce
David and I had brunch at Coonamesset Farm today. The food was good, but the farm in springtime was something to behold. There are fallow fields, some lined with small seedlings and others more fully developed. Everything is in the state of “becoming”. It’s filled with good intentions, hope and demands hard work. It’s also beautiful.
Alpaca deep in thought
The farm animals are always a joy to visit. It’s their home and they let us drop in. The alpacas look like little kids with their big eyes and sense of wonder. Their “wool” is spun into the alpaca yarn I’ll be knitting warm hats and shawls with this winter.
The ducks and chickens are now located together in a large fenced in area. The ducks are laid back, and the chickens seem manic. One unusual, very pretty breed of chicken has a duo that pace back and forth as if they’re thinking about solving a quadratic equation.
During the past month I’ve started to practice yoga. I know— I’m clumsy, don’t have an athletic muscle or bone in my body, and have trouble staying still for more than three seconds. This “yoga thing” is amazing. Both of my daughters do it and encouraged me to try. I found an excellent teacher who is succeeding in turning me into a yoga-mama. After four weeks, my chronic back pain is gone, I am more relaxed and centered, and I like doing it. I even speak softly for at least an hour after I’m done. Go figure! It is a most welcomed addition to my life, and I’m grateful.
Last, but not least, Smitty’s Ice Cream opened for the season this past week. I confess David and I drove on an empty tank of gas to get there. Yes, he got coffee ice cream smothered in butterscotch, and I tried two new flavors: coconut and orange/pineapple. Yum, yum, yum. This cannot become a habit…well maybe one can substitute a cup of ice cream for a lunch???
All of these events (except possibly Smitty’s) share the theme of hope and rebirth that comes from inspiration as well as perspiration. It resonates with me…optimism based on hard work and realizing one’s potential by doing good stuff with focus and determination. Gordon learned how to be a student and reached his goal. The farm will be worked and produce good food and lots of beauty. My daughters have grown up into adults that I am so very proud of; parenting is work and it works. I am learning how to do yoga without falling over; I practice every day. Smitty’s Ice Cream is my exercise in moderation. That might take some time.
Yarnsista 