The End of a Beautiful Vacation on Cape Cod

Marash Boy and Marash Girl drove Raffi to Liberty State Park where his mom picked him up.  It was the end of their wonderful vacation in Chatham on Old Cape Cod!

Paradise Clouded Over

It's always so much easier to leave paradise when it's clouded over!

Trouble in Paradise

Upon first arriving in Chatham, on the walkway above Lighthouse Beach,  Marash Girl noticed a plethora of TV cameras, police cars, and local gawkers.

Fearing the worst, Marash Girl tentatively approached one of the TV broadcasters and asked what was going on.  "See that boat over there?  The boat on the front lawn of the lighthouse?"

"Yes.  What about it?"

"They just found a dead body in that boat."

 

   

 And on to Tuesday morning when Marash Girl walked to the local Ocean State Job Lot to buy a cap with a bill to keep the sun out of her eyes on her morning walks -- (MG had forgotten hers at home . . . ), she got to talking with the check out lady about Saturday's occurrence.  Marash Girl asked, "What happened yesterday?"
The woman behind the counter answered.  "He was a friend of my son's. A wonderful boy.  He was married with a little three year old daughter.  But he was bipolar. When he went missing, his family thought he had gone to Puerto Rico, leaving his car here at the beach.  He was a friend of my son -- oh, my son works for the sheriff's department.  They're going to check this out, believe me!  Some say that the Coast Guard is at fault, as once the young man got inside of the boat, the lock system prevented him from any means of escape!"

The next day, Marash Girl met a women -- they were both waiting to see the play at the Monomoy Theatre in Chatham.  Her son was friends with the young man.  All of Chatham is grieving this tragedy.

Time Flies!

               Philosophy on the Blackboard of Chatham's Schoolhouse Ice Cream

                               "Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana."
AND above the blackboard  . . .

"If you want to teach your children about taxes, 

take a big bite out of the ice-cream in their ice cream cone!"

Need help in identifying this shore bird!

On a Sunday afternoon walk along the perimeter of Schoolhouse Pond, (the fresh water kettle pond in Chatham, Massachusetts), Marash Girl spied a bird she had never seen before.  Grabbing her iPhone, she snapped the following photos.  Can any of you readers out there identify the bird for her? Could it be a type of heron?

Wanna go to the Hookers Ball?

Saturday night and nothing to do . . . "Wanna go to the Hookers Ball?"

"What?"

"I said, Wanna go to the Hookers Ball?  It's right down the street . . . didn't you see the big white tent and all the ladies all dressed  up?  There's a big sign that says, Parking for Hookers Ball in the Ocean State Job Lot Parking Lot!  Too bad we didn't bring the right clothes with us!"

"What?"

"The Hookers Ball -- it's a fundraiser for the local fishermen and fishing industry that's been going on here in Chatham for the last few years . . . "

Marash Girl, somewhat relieved, would have loved to have gone, but unfortunately, didn't have the right outfit for the occasion!

The Hooker's Ballroom

On the Shores of School House Pond, Chatham, Massachusetts

Here is where a picture is worth any words that Marash Girl might utter.

Hmmmmm . . .  words fail her because she's having too much fun!

Sunday Night Summer Supper in Chatham, Massachusetts

Down here on the Cape, folks have been taking turns preparing meals, and last night, Meghan, our gelin (hars) prepared the most exquisite meal one could hope for!  Marinated chicken breasts broiled on the outdoor grill along with slices of sweet potato.  Salad?  Of course! Marash Boy's favorite grain quinoa (rinsed and cooked) mixed with finely chopped herbs, feta cheese, calamata olives, chick peas, ripe tomatoes, peeled cucumbers and a dressing (blended up in the blender) of basil, lemon,  red wine vinegar, olive oil, garlic, and green onions.  A salad to die for  . . . or rather, a salad to live for! 

Being the sous-chef for the evening, Marash Girl learned a trick that she will share with you today -- although ( if you watch the cooking shows which Marash Girl does not as she does not have a television set,) you may already be well aware of this short "cut".

Meghan bought the best (and only) sweet potatoes that she could find, but each potato was wrapped in thick plastic with the printed suggestion on the plastic that the buyer leave the sweet potatoes in their plastic coats for faster cooking in the microwave!  Can you imagine the marvelous flavor of a sweet potato infused with plastic?  Well, Marash Girl and Meghan didn't want to imagine it.  They tore off those thick plastic coats as quickly as they could (which was not very quickly) rinsed the potatoes, and tried to slice them.  Close to impossible with the dull knives in the summer house.  Vhat to do?  

Back to the microwave with the sweet potatoes (now shed of their plastic coats) for one minute only.  Yes, they did,  They put the sweet potatoes in the microwave oven for one minute and then tried to slice them into circles and voila!  Like magic, strong arms and dull knives could then work together to slice the sweet potatoes into circles.  Not easy, but do-able.  

N.B.  The microwave treatment pre-slicing works for slicing squashes as well, as long as the squashes have no plastic coat wrapped around them.

A Morning Walk Around School House (Kettle) Pond, Chatham, Massachusetts

YOLO!  You Only Live Once!

An Anatolian Fortress on the shores of School House Pond

Baby Catfish spawn in School House Pond

Detail: Baby Catfish

An Anatolian Shepherd Dog Entertains passers by.

How long can a lobster live?

This lobster weighs 25 pounds.  How old is it?

Let's have fish for supper! Walking into the Chatham Pier Fish Market,  she was in awe.  There in the front case was the largest lobster she had ever seen!  "How much does that lobster weigh?"  "25 pounds."  "How old is it then?"  "Well, it takes a lobster about 5 years to grow to a pound and then another 5 years for every pound after that, so this lobster is about 100 years old," commented the fishwife behind the counter.    "Maybe someone will keep it for a pet," replied Marash Girl.

A Kettlehole Pond in Chatham, Massachusetts

An early morning walk around School House Pond, a kettle hole pond in Chatham, Massachusetts.  Photo by Marash Girl

Most folks go to Chatham for the beaches; Marash Girl's favorite spot in Chatham is School House Pond, a jewel hidden away from the crowds of summer.  Although there are private homes built all around this ancient kettle hole pond, the structures are near invisible, set at the top of the surrounding hillside.  A small, sandy beach at one end of the pond, a beach with a life guard during the summer months, allows for little children to play, fish, and swim safely at the pond's edge. 

Left by the melting ice sheet of nearly 15,000 years ago, this kettle hole pond remains the perfect summer swimming hole, and if you don't care to get wet, or you don't know how to swim, during most summers, the water in the pond is low enough to allow you a one mile walk around its perimeter; twice around and you're set for the day!

                        http://www.mychatham.com/schoolhousepond.html

Where farms once flourished . . .

    What once filled this wheelbarrow, now abandoned at the side of a Chatham road? Photo Credit: Marash Girl

What once traversed this wooden gate, now abandoned at the side of a Chatham road? Photo by Marash Girl

    And what was once housed in this shed, now abandoned at the side of a Chatham road?
                                                                                                                                                                                   Photo Credit: Marash Girl

Free to a Good Home

On Saturday mornings, while other folks are running around to yard sales and supermarkets, this Chatham family is gathering bouquets of flowers from their gardens to share with their neighbors.  The box at the top reads, "Free to a Good Home!"  Marash Girl would rename the effort, 

"Free from a Good Home"!

"Free to a Good Home!" 

               

Larry's PX, Route 28, Chatham, Massachusetts

Larry's PX opens mornings at 5 AM, a breakfast/lunch place that the locals and the fisherman enjoy daily.  This morning,  Marash Girl wandered in at around 5:30 AM, sat herself down on one of the vinyl covered stools at the formica counter, and ordered a mug of coffee.  All around her, the men were holding forth in conversation.  From them, Marash Girl learned that there are 5,000 Native Americans in New England, and 5 tribes.  The fellow giving this information had met the chief of one of the tribes who, he was surprised to learn, was a woman.  He went on to say that his grandchildren just left, but another passel of grandchildren were arriving today, and because there was no room left in his house, his nephew was holing up in his neighbor's attic.  "Your rates must be good," his friend commented.

Bicycles, Summer Squash, & The Old Colony Rail Trail, Chatham, Massachusetts

All over the Cape (or Cape Cod, Massachusetts, as most folks know it), railroad tracks have been converted to dirt paths in the piney woods, and finally tarred 'bicycle paths'/pedestrian walkways where bicycles have the right of way, and folks can safely bike across the Cape, enjoying the scenery without fighting the clogged streets of summer.  Now that it's fall, Marash Girl decided it was time to take her chances with the bicycles, fewer in number because of the season, and  walk along the Old Colony Rail Trail in Chatham, Massachusetts.  It was a typical Chatham Day, slightly overcast, slightly foggy, with the warmth of summer still hovering..

The path, ( looking more like the Route 20 in Marash Girl's childhood,) was safe for bicycles (no spills because of unseen boulders, no imminent collisions with unaware motorists), was no longer the dirt path in the woods she remembered from ten years ago.  But it was still a  path, and it still allowed a moment of respite from the hustle bustle of the world beyond the trail.  And look, some bicycles have actually reclaimed (on the left)  dirt for a path going up the hill to the left.  Marash Girl walked by this very spot yesterday and spying what appeared to be a squash plant, she walked along the path to the top of the hill and found a plant in full bloom with a baby yellow summer squash just beginning to form.  Marash Girl was delighted to find this plant in the 'wilds of Chatham', (a plant which typically grows only in a cultivated garden), a plant which had survived on the side of a well-travelled (as it were) road.  The wonder of this plant blooming and bearing fruit -- by the graces of the wind? of a bird? of a coyote's fur? of a bicycle rider's clothing?  Whatever it was, it was exciting and a miracle.  She resolved to come back with her camera the next day to photograph the beautiful baby squash.

But when she returned with her camera, and walked up the dirt path to the top of the hill, she found a mangled baby summer squash (see above left) and the plant itself struggling to regain its hold on life.  A bicycle (tire marks to prove it) had taken a fun 'side trip' off of the tarred Rail Trail, and destroyed the infant squash  (the cyclist probably had never seen a squash plant before, much less paid attention to the flora that surrounded him, or if s/he had, s/he was riding too fast to notice).  Marash Girl was saddened by the loss, and by the ignorance that speed and separation from the earth creates.

Marash Girl took heart when she spied, hiding a little farther back in the woods, a fresh summer squash flowering, waiting to grow into adulthood!

Indian Hill Road North, Chatham, Massachusetts

Morning walk for the New York Times

Greeting the rooster on the kitchen wall in Chatham

Domesticated Day Lillies along Indian Hill Road North

Sunrise through twin trees

Lobster Buoys and Pickup Truck

Sunrise through a Chain Link Fence

Airplane through a Chain Link Fence

Breakfast for one:  in line on Thursday morning

The road to the kettle pond

A boat afloat: mailbox on Indian Hill Road North

Sandpipers: Mailbox on Indian Hill Road North

Morning Glories: Mailbox on Indian Hill Road North



Above photos by Marash Girl