Dr. Gravity

Places like these, they do literally hide in locations far and wide.  The Vermont country Store in Weston, VT comes to mind, as does the Old Forge Hardware Store in Old Forge, NY.  The Harvard COOP in Cambridge fills the bill, as well as the eclectic Mackenzie-Childs “home” store in Aurora, NY (kinda). They’re everywhere, teasing us to find them.

They are all stores that proudly answer to the label “different,” with floor layouts resembling a maze,   selling a wide variety of “stuff” that fills every nook and crany of the joint in a hopelessly haphazard fashion. And we love them. Wherever they are, we seek them out.  I think they remind us of a gentler time.  We welcome their confusion, as a rebellion against the modern, sterile world we normally shop in, especially “online.”

There are such places on Cape Cod, of course.  Remember me saying that the Cape has everything you need?  Well, I count first among them Dr. Gravity’s Kite Shop in Harwich Port.

So, when you are finished with breakfast at Bonatt’s, simply take your coffee, cross Rt. 28 right in front of the bakery, turn right, and walk about 100 yards or so.  Dr. Gravity is on the left….you can not miss this deceptively small looking store.  It has been here a long time – 38 long years, with 27 of them with the same owner, who, by the way, looks just like a Dr. Gravity should!

I am a fan of flying kites.  A relaxing and soothing pastime, it may be the subject of a blog post one day.  Most of my kites were purchased here, and Dr. Gravity always gave me great advice on kites and their accessories.  They can be tricky launching when trying to fly them alone, yet I never had a problem with one of his choices. 

The One - The Only

But don’t let the words “Kite Shop” fool you. This place is chock full of all things beach – and I mean all things – skimboards, bogey boards, chairs, rafts and floaties, balls, games, and the list is endless.   Add in beach apparel, to include clogs and beach shoes of all stripes.  Throw in a shade shack to keep the sun off.  Get some beach towels, you’ll need them. 

Then there are also the things not beach, all the “regular” and not so regular toys and games, some of which you will never see anywhere else.  Unique, unusual, they are fascinating and stimulating for young minds.  I really can not do this store justice by trying to enumerate even a small sampling of what Dr. Gravity has waiting for you. The picture in this post is but a tiny bit of the enormous variety of merchandise that lies just beyond the front door.

You simply have to go there and see for yourself.  Which is why you got up early and enjoyed a leisurely breakfast at Bonatt’s, just so you could work your way up and down the narrow isles of this Cape treasure before the regular crowds shuffle in. 

Enjoy your day, and don’t forget the sunset.

Mark Twain Quote: "You can't reach old age by annother man's road.  My habits protect my life but they would assassinate you."

Cape Cod State of Mind - Part 2

So, as I've said, pictures of your special place in summer do help one get through the winter.  This becomes especially relevant when a big winter storm comes a callin’ and we’re all left bundled, buried and bummed, with a good case of cabin fever to boot.   For everyone in New England (and  even on the Cape .. you know who you are … HA!), you know just what I’m talking about.  So, here are some more early morning pictures that I hope will assist in preserving your sanity.

Parker's River Beach - looking toward Hyannis

Ya know, there are really 3 special times of the day at Cape Cod.  One is at sunset, which should not be missed.  Another is the sunrise, which deserves to be experienced more than it is.  You can go places on the Cape where it is a ritual to gather and watch the sun (and the wine) go down.  But trod the beaches about 6:00 - 6:30AM and you’ll be lucky to see a solitary gull mugging for a picture and a handout…or perhaps a hardy soul with coffee and book. 

Early bird gets the best spot!

But you’re missing something really special if you close the drapes and roll over one more time.  So, when next you’re at the Cape, or wherever your special place is, give the sunrise a try … you won’t regret it.

Smuggler's Beach - cleanin' and groomin'

An early up and out carries another special reward, one that completes the portrait.  Whenever my suitcase lands at the Cape, this is a “must do” for me.  The routine goes like this.  First, the early morning beach walk.  Then, no matter where on the Cape I’m staying, I head for 537 Rt. 28 (for your GPS), smack dab in the middle of quaint and lovely Harwich Port.  That is the home of Bonatt’s (pronounced - Bonnets) Restaurant and Bakery, with emphasis on the Bakery. It's been here since 1941, when AJ and Rose Bonatt started this family labor of love.  But along the way, family changed and it was grudgingly sold, and then gloriously bought back by family 30 years later, in 2012. 

The bakery - on Rt. 28 (tables not out yet!)

If you get there early (this is why you walk at sunrise), you can probably get into the restaurant for breakfast … 'cause if you’re late, you wait!  Usually a long time, which is why I don’t even try…I just head for the bakery, which is now up front on Rt. 28.  Tables inside and out await you, as well as fresh coffee and a wonderful assortment of goodies, the envy of which is the classic Meltaway.  A sort of French pastry, it was invented here, but through the years it was diluted (fruit fillings were added, giving it the look and flavor of a Danish pastry) and now that family is back again, the Meltaway has returned to its original recipe.  They are not to be missed.  Thomas “Tip” O’Neill, the former Speaker of the House, lived near Bank St. Beach and used to frequent the bakery often.  He loved his pastries, but his favorite was the Meltaway.  I always liked Tom.

A tray of Meltaways awaits - me!

Just envision this perfect scene if you will ...  early morning, warm sun, seated on the sidewalks of Harwich Port, no traffic, a coffee and a  Meltaway … can the day start any better than this! Then, when your breakfast is finished, you simply head across the street and down about 100 yards or so for your other stop, and that will the the topic of the next post.  Stay tuned, as we continue to smash the mid winter blues.

Oh, and the third best time of the day at the Cape is …. all that space between the sunrise and the sunset, of course! What did you think I was going to say?

Mark Twain Quote:  “Shut the door.  Not that it lets in the cold but that it lets out the cozyness.”

Cape Cod State of Mind

Long about February, I have to employ other tricks to get me into a Cape Cod State of Mind.  By then, I'm deep into winter mode and need an extra jolt to get my psyche on a positive path to spring.  This is especially true as I look out the window at fastly falling snow that will soon need the attention of the shovel and the snowblower....ack!

Now snow is, or can be, a beautiful sight, as it caresses trees, bushes, roofs, fence posts and indeed, everything it touches. This is so true in December, during the  Christmas season, or in January, when walking through a cemetery say, on a crisp, cloudless day.  This we happily call a winter wonderland.  

That all changes the minute that stupid groundhog somewhere in Pennsylvania gets dragged out of his hole for the annual photo op that portends an early spring or 6 more weeks of winter...usually the latter ...remember, this is Pennsylvania we're talking about.  I  hope they at least give that poor guy a good breakfast before they throw him back in his den.  

From that moment on, the winter dregs really set in, hence my need for pictures, the next antidote for the winter blues.  These visual remembrances of Cape Cod will carry me to spring, and then to summer, when once again I'll trod the beaches and capture even more moments that will serve to guide me through yet another winter....but for now, these sunrise photos will do just fine.  

Mornin' sun..at 6:30AM

Early start, or left over from yesterday?

The "monster" lives to fight another day

Just mugging for a photo op!

These pictures were all taken at day break.  See my next blog post for some more morning sights and the real reason to get up and moving in the early part of the day....besides getting a jump on the Cape traffic we all love so well.

Mark Twain Quote: "The lack of money is the root of all evil."

Mid Winter Movies

Let’s take a quick, mid winter trip to the movies.  Here’s my next offering:

11.     Lincoln

22.     Lincoln

33.   Lincoln

44.    Lincoln

55.    Lincoln

This one is a treasure, but admittedly, I’m hooked on good historical movies (even though most of them would make a true historian cringe).  Don’t bring your fact checker to these, just enjoy the great story they tell.  Although for this one, the history is pretty spot on.  Day-Lewis is remarkable, he actually becomes Lincoln...mannerisms, speech patterns, even his gait is just so accurate. The scene of Lincoln walking out of the White House at movie end is wrenching beyond description.  You just want to scream at him to stop, please stop!

I’m in one of my life phases where the Civil War is a favorite topic.  An outgrowth of that is a newly found interest in our 16^th President.  For years, I have avoided the Civil War (and Lincoln) simply because there are more books on the shelves about them than there are about Jesus. With life so short, why even start to read them?  To do the subject justice, I would have to spend my entire life reading nothing else. 

But thanks to a friend of mine who is a Civil War fanatic (every year, he and his wife vacation at a Civil War battlefield or historical sight – he has even done the “ghost” tour at Gettysburg), I was shown a short cut path that provided me a thorough overview of the subject that sparked interest in offshoot topics that I could then explore if I desired.   One such road led to Lincoln. 

I finished “Team of Rivals” a short while ago, and the movie is based on just a part of this impressive writing.  In the book, William H. Seward (Lincoln’s Secty. of State) plays a vital role in his Presidency, and in the saving of the country.  Of course I knew that his home/museum was right next door in Auburn, NY. And in all these years, I never gave one thought to visiting there.  Well, that’s changed!  A spring visit is in order, and a quick ride down to the Aurora Inn for lunch will make the day.

If you have a good memory, you will note that another of my favorite movies is “Amistad” (2/22/12 blog), also a Spielberg product. His attention to detail is astonishing.  So, see both movies, for if you care about history, you will find they are connected more than you imagine, and they fit each other like a glove.  As sure as the day follows night, “Lincoln” follows “Amistad.”

Mark Twain Quote:

“It was no accident that planted Lincoln on a Kentucky farm, half way between the lakes and the Gulf. The association there had substance in it. Lincoln belonged just where he was put. If the Union was to be saved, it had to be a man of such an origin that should save it. No wintry New England Brahmin could have done it, or any torrid cotton planter, regarding the distant Yankee as a species of obnoxious foreigner. It needed a man of the border, where civil war meant the grapple of brother and brother and disunion a raw and gaping wound. It needed one who knew slavery not from books only, but as a living thing, knew the good that was mixed with its evil, and knew the evil not merely as it affected the negroes, but in its hardly less baneful influence upon the poor whites. It needed one who knew how human all the parties to the quarrel were, how much alike they were at bottom, who saw them all reflected in himself, and felt their dissensions like the tearing apart of his own soul. When the war came Georgia sent an army in gray and Massachusetts an army in blue, but Kentucky raised armies for both sides. And this man, sprung from Southern poor whites, born on a Kentucky farm and transplanted to an Illinois village, this man, in whose heart knowledge and charity had left no room for malice, was marked by Providence as the one to "bind up the Nation's wounds." “

The Old Mid Winter Blues

It usually happens around this time of year.  Just about half way from raking the last, stubborn leaves, to watching the grass renew spring’s promise, I’ve had it.  Too cold, too snowy, too much darkness, too confined, with cabin fever, I hit the wall.

I guess I particularly hate not being able to do something - anything, out of doors after 4:30pm.  And if that’s not bad enough, then there’s waking up in darkness every morning.  We humans really do need natural sunlight to stay sane.  How do Eskimos do it?

To save my sanity, I try to think of happier things, particularly things that I will soon be able to do, if I can just hang on for what I lie to myself will only be a few weeks.  One of my favorite tricks that helps me get thru is to begin contemplating my favorite special place, Cape Cod.  You may well say that you conjure up visions of your favorite place, the Outer Banks :) perhaps, to save your mind. Whatever it is, now is the time to start putting those thoughts and pictures in your life.  Like literally.  Like wallpaper on your computer, tablet, or phone screen.

One thing I do is head to the local fish restaurant and order up their fresh lobster roll.  It’s not the same as getting one at Chapin’s on Cape Cod, but it looks like a lobster roll, it smells like one, and it tastes like one. Though far removed from the sea and seemingly out of place, it is one – a real lobster roll.  And it sets me on the road to the Cape, as sure as can be.  Pass the mayo please.

A "Syracuse" lobster roll

There will soon be another post on the Cape, one that will definitely put me in a better Cape Cod state of mind.  And not long after that, I know that the sight of the Bourne bridge will be just over the horizon.  Or for you, the Emerald Isle bridge :) lies just around the bend.  Soon, we’ll be saved, and made whole again. 

Mark Twain Quote:  “Of course, no man is entirely in his right mind at any time.”

But Wait ... There's More

So I get this email, and it basically says, hey, you didn’t say anything about what time you crawl into the sleeping bag or what’s your temperature tolerance.  As if I thought that anyone, on their most boring day, gave a flippin’  to that part of the routine!  So, in the interest of full disclosure, or something like that……

First of all, I’m happy to say that I don’t have a “bed time.”  Depending on the activities of the day, and/or evening, Beddy White’s Party could start anywhere from 9:30ish to 11:30 ish.  Ya know, movies, sporting events, dining, shopping, what’s on the tele - anything could … and does, influence the flicking of the switch. 

The one thing that does not, will not, could not, ever happen is for me to have a strict, unwavering, immoveable, standard, set, cast in stone, hardened in concrete…ok, you get the idea…..time for bed.  I’ve heard of people who religiously head for bed (to hence make a bed head…get it? It’s late. It's the wine talking) the second the clock chimes 9, or 9:30, or whatever.  Egads, why structure your life like that?  You’re not a train, for the crissake.

As to the other, I do remember reading some things about sleep being more restful at “lower” temperatures.  I’ve heard that 55 degrees works best. Terry Ettinger, a local and famous horticulture expert, sleeps at 55 degrees, if I remember correctly. He looks cold. Just sayin.’  Now, many years ago, I married a gal who was raised in an igloo, so I quickly abandoned my 70 degree bliss (that’s how I remember it anyway) for the ways of Nanook. 

But seeing as I do believe ice forms on one’s nose about 55 degrees, 55 is never going to happen.  That said, believe it or not, if the temperature goes north of 64, I find it too hot and have a rough time sleeping.  So friends, you can put me down for 60-62 degrees of night time comfort.  Frosty in the morning though, so up goes the thermostat, immediately.  All the way to 64.  O happy day.

There, any more “habits” need revealing? 

Mark Twain Quote:  “Go to bed early, get up early – this is wise.  … A lark is really the best thing to get up with.  .. and if you get up with the right kind of a lark, and work at him right, you can easily train him to get up at half-past nine, every time – it is no trick at all.”