Caped Crusaders

Not the best foto of the finest Cape Cod squad at Great Pond. These three are beautiful but I caught them right as we were leaving for the bike ride back. I apologize that the lighting is so bad, you can't see Nikki's pretty face.

We were sandy and our swimsuits were wet and we had to buckle our helmets over pond hair so we could return our rented bikes by 6. Then my phone died, so I couldn't retake. Up for the weekend and back home tomorrow. Here, our splash checklist, not counting what my fellow travelers did this morning while they let Sug and me sleep--a jaunt involving thrift shopping at the Saint Joan of Arc Church shop.

1. Rented bikes at Idle Times. Four hours cost $37, including tax, for me and Punch together. My bike was much more comfortable than the vintage ones at our house. Big seat, nice gears, good brakes. The better to pedal past ponds and marshes, coast with birdsong in the air.
2. Biked on Cape Cod Rail Trail down past Orleans rotary. Poor Punch had a couple of mishaps. Ouch. Neosporin back at the house helped.
3. Went to beautiful new Eastham Library! And they had Eastham Turnip Festival tees in pretty yellow and lilac, $20. Did not succumb, though tempted.
4. On grassy path behind library, the girls spotted one grown and one baby bunny. And some bumpy red berries--good bunny chow?
5. Swam in Great Pond. The water wasn't cold at all, maybe because we were hot from biking.
6. Got sandwiches with Cape Cod names--the First Encounter, the Windmill--at the Eastham Superette, a store I remember going to with my family as a little girl in my pink cotton clam diggers. [That's what the pretty cropped pants were called in the 1960s.]
7. Went to Hot Chocolate Sparrow. Planned on that cone dipped in the melted chocolate that hardens when it meets the frozen scoops. It was very, very good.
8. Saw the old windmill on the green. It was open til 5 and we just missed going in.
9. Mac's for grilled Wellfleet scallops drizzled w basil oil and served w steamed vegs and brown rice. Punch got a grilled shrimp quesadilla; Nik, a tray of nice, fresh sushi.
10. Tonight, a rollicking round of "the scary game," which Punch and Nikki love and beg us to play up here. We take turns hiding. It is pretty scary. I jumped up from behind a bed, swooping my arms up. Anne, Punch and Nik were terrified. Anne is a stealthy hider and the girls hide as a team. We all laugh so much.
11. Wide open sky over the beach, so many stars, big and small, all shining purely in that dark, inky swath.Their light was on fire. Also: Sweeping beam from Nauset Light, surfers heading to their cars, their boards over their shoulders. 

I prayed today. Prayers of thanks to my parents, for the gift of Cape Cod and its healing nature. Prayers for my Sis, whose husband would have turned 90 today--we had been talking about a party. Prayers to my God, to help me remember that I am not in charge of everything, that it's better to trust in a Higher Power for me and for the other daughter I love.  She is on her own path through life and I cannot control the turns she takes and the lessons she must learn on her own. I know some things that are best for her but am not in charge of her choices and cannot protect her from scrapes and falls, as I couldn't protect Punch on the bike path today, though I was pedaling not far behind.  Your will, not mine, I prayed, looking to the spirit in the Cape Cod sky. Help me put my trust in you. When I don't, when I think it's all in my hands, all up to me [as if!], I spiral into a cycle of fear, then anger over my own failure and powerlessness because of course, I can't make everything right and bright. That anger leads to nasty, cutting words, a pattern that then leaves me swimming--or sinking, actually--in remorse and guilt.  Good night to you. Signing off from Cape Cod.