Why I Love Cape Cod--Again

Anne let me use her car to drive from Wonderstrand Way to the Hot Chocolate Sparrow in Orleans, where I can get WiFi and a small mint chocolate chip ice cream from Richardson's Family Farm with the Sparrow's own hot fudge sauce. It's raining outside, and the Sparrow closes @ 9 tonight. I'm happy about that, b/c I know I can get home early, put on my PJs and curl up in bed with Sug, reading till lights out. I love Cape Cod in the sun, the snow, the haze--and the rain, especially when I'm resting.

My Cape Cod Love List 

1. Our family house in North Eastham. Same old, same old, unchanged. The dishes, the sheets, the towels, the furniture, the trees, the white lace curtains, the cheery red kitchen wallpaper.
2. The neighborhood. This morning, Nikki and I took Sug for a walk and dropped in on Peg & John, across the street. Peg joined us for a stroll down Aquinnah Road. Then we walked past old Wonderstrand Farm.
3. Chatham. We drove there today! The Lilly Pulitzer store is closed till spring [as I knew]. But there was a really great antique store right next to the old Mayflower Shop [which is also closed for the season]. I saw a beautiful pink porcelain lidded jar that said COTTON on it--$18, but I was down to the end of my dough, so, no. We dipped into the Candy Manor, where all valentine candy was 50 percent off. I bought some milk and dark nonpareils, the finest anywhere, with red and pink decor. We also went to the overlook by the beach in Chatham, where Nikki fed quarters into the old optical machine to zoom in on the scenery. The sturdy little lighthouse behind us was cheerful and can-do.
4. Great Pond! We went there, too. The part near the sandy beach was pretty frozen.
5. The Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary. Oh, back home again. We love that place. A lot of the land parcel was originally an asparagus farm long, long ago. We saw the ancient whale bones outside, the Silver Spring area where turtles swim, the blue chair from the Outermost House suspended from the ceiling in the visitors' center. The Mernins and Hurleys each have family memberships. Such fun to flash our cards to get in, and to also get 10 percent off in the gift shop. [I bought something small for H. and for Figgy.] Knitters & Twitters is a free sanctuary activity @ 10 A.M. many winter Thursday mornings, including day after tomorrow. You sit inside and watch the birds while you knit and have coffee. This is killin' me. But we will be gone, back in boring, oceanless Montclair.
6. The windmills.
7. The salt marsh.
8. The chance to read and nap.
9. Being here reconnects me deeply to my mother and father. So grateful that they built a house on the Cape. It was far from where they lived in New Jersey. Thank you, Mom and Dad, for the wonderful gift, the seaside legacy.
10. The Mac's Seafood Market in Eastham. The shirts were 25% off and Anne and I got a few. We love Cape Cod shirts--but only really good ones, like the "Turnip Nation" ones sold at the Eastham Public Library. [Earnest H. discovered those last summer.]
11. Anne and Nikki's company. They love the Cape as much as I do. [Our teen girls opted out this trip, which disappointed us, but.....] Anne is so funny. She drives around saying, "Why hasn't anyone bought me a house on the Cape yet?" And now she changed it to "Why doesn't anyone give me a house on the Cape? I like that one. But I don't see a bow on it." She cracks me up.

Good night. We leave tomorrow morning. Back to school for our kids the day after. Signing off from the Sparrow @ 9:07 P.M. while the tables are wiped around me. About to zip back through the rain to our cozy house. 

TCOY

1. Good tooth and hair care.
2. Walk in neighborhood with Nik and Sug. Walk at Audubon with Nik and Anne.
3. Breathed in ocean air and beauty in Chatham.
4. We had steamed asparagus with dinner.