Linda’s and Charmaine’s island home

Hi Everyone,

  We crossed the border to Canada Saturday morning.  It was quick and simple.  But our tracfone which had worked in Boston to call Canada wouldn’t work in Canada to call Canada.  Not surprisingly, a kind man in a small convenience store in Varona let Randal use his phone to call Linda and Charmaine to come to shore from their Charlott Island home to get Randal and me. We drove from Varona to Lake Sharbot and there were Linda and Charmaine waiting with big smiles and warm hugs.  Linda and Charmaine took part in the Odyssey 2000 around the world bike ride which Randal had done and we are here visiting with them.  Just now Randal and Linda have taken out their guitars and are singing duets.  After their versions of Leonard Cohen’s Halleujah we’re listening to several other versions. It’s just such an amazing song.

    But jumping back in time, this is an email about our visit to friends on Cape Cod, Massachusetts. 

Cotuit and Hyannis

From New Jersey we headed “up north” to Massachusetts.

The George Washington Bridge over the Hudson from New Jersey to New York along I-95.

I was patting myself on the back over this picture until I realized that our car windshield is tinted causing the drama rather than my photography skills.

Our first two stops were on Cape Cod to visit former Roanoke bicycle friends.  Julia has lived on the Cape for years and Kathy had just moved there this year.  I’d introduced them by email and we all had dinner together one night.

Kathy’s house in Cotuit was our first stop.  Kathy had been among my first bike friends in Roanoke. We did AGVITTH riding our bikes from Harrisonburg, VA to Harrisonburg, PA.  We rode the 6 day Florida Safari.  Kathy has lived in Alaska, in New York and was now in Massachusetts where her daughter attends Tabor Academy in Marion, MA.  (Sadly, Kathy’s husband who had worked for over 30 years for the National Park Service died in April 2004.  Kathy and her daughter Lexi have experienced life in Kotzebu, Alaska and Fire Island, New York where David was Superintendent of the Western Arctic National Parklands in Kotzebue, Alaska and Fire Island National Seashore in New York.)  Kathy has jumped right in to life in Cotuit and is on the board of Friends of the Library and she and I counted the take from a recent fashion show held to raise money for the Friends.

Randal in his relaxing clothes in Kathy’s house. 

My stuff is all over the table in the foreground so you can see we’ve moved right in and made ourselves at home.  Kathy has lived in Cotuit for only about 6 months so her possessions are slowly find their permanent spaces in her home.

Kathy and her pooch and I made a trip to the “pet friendly” library to turn in the money raised by the Friends. 

Randal helped install locks on the windows in Kathy’s basement as well as help Kathy take out all of the window air conditioners.

Cotuit is one of those lovely Cape Cod towns I could easily live in forever.

Julia and Kathy.

The Cape is a small place and Julia doesn’t live far from Kathy so one night we all had dinner at the Kettle-Ho where the fried calamari is wonderful and every other person has some piece of clothing that says Red Sox.

With Kathy, dinner was always at Kettle-Ho which we all really liked. At Julia’s we decided to "do the cooking" and one night grilled the most expensive salmon in the world. and some New York Strip steak the next.  Julia’s friend Linda came for the salmon dinner.  We’d met Linda last year so it was fun to see her again.  Each year we visit New England we become part of the "family of friends" of the friend we come to visit.  We have gotten to know Kathy’s daughter Lexi and Julia’s friend Linda, Julia’s dad and her aunt during previous visits.  That’s the best part. 

Julia lives in Hyannis which we know pretty well from past visits.   While Julia was at work Randal and I walked to the center of town to visit the great used book shop, the library book sale, and have lunch at another favorite place, Sunnyside.  It is an old fashioned family diner with stools at the counter and a mile long menu where you can eat breakfast all day.  We’ve always liked it and the staff is always friendly.  It’s neither upscale nor yuppie, but then neither are we.

Sunnyside Restaurant.

I had a grilled cheese and tuna sandwich; Randal had a burger.   Old fashioned food and prices but they did have WIFI!

Tim’s Used Books

I found several titles that I wanted.  This is a great book shop. Amazingly, when looking at the photos I took of the bookshop, I noticed its name was Tim’s Used Books.  We’d been in Provincetown the day before and had visited a used book store called Tim’s Used Books.   It was only when I was looking at my photos did I notice the book shops had the same name.  I searched the web to see what I could find and found this blurb about Tim’s……..

“I’ve owned six used-bookstores since 1989. Two have been successful. The others failed. Before that I managed a few minor-league rock bands around Boston, later worked for a concert-promoter who brought Gregory Isaacs, The Slits, The Mighty Diamonds to Boston. Still later I organized an art gallery. Sold some people’s paintings and photos–enjoyed that, didn’t enjoy the egos. In 2008 I revived Against The Grain Gallery, selling paintings by a young Provincetown artist named Cameron Castro. I have bookshops currently open in Hyannis and Provincetown, USA. It’s fun there in the summer, when you never know who’ll walk through the door. Poets, writers, movie-types, many vagrants and tanned people. It’s fun. Come visit!

http://www.myspace.com/timsusedbooks

Tim was in the Provincetown shop and I spent a good deal of time speaking with him.  He asked about our stay in Cyprus and my feelings about Israel and why people in the world can’t get along.  Randal was walking the several blocks back to the car to feed the meter so he had no comment. 

Our second favorite tourist destination…a thrift shop.

Randal bought his $5 J Crew flannel lined canvas jacket which he wore today during our walk in chilly Lake Sharbot, Ontario, Canada.   The discussion in the shop was not something Democrats like Randal and I wanted to hear.  Everyone was commenting how much they appreciated Republican Senator Scott Brown because he made trips to the Cape and Democrat Kerry and even the late Ted Kennedy rarely made the effort.  Hmmm.

Between our visit with Kathy and Julia, Randal and I made a day trip to Provincetown.  I’m giving it an email of its own because I had such a great time touring the Provincetown Public Library and took bunches of photos of the library and Provincetown street scenes.

Ru