Guest Blog: Why My Sister's a Keeper

Our guest blogger today is Nick Grabbe:

“Hello! I’m here at Chez Sven for two days, with my wife Betsy, enjoying some beautiful June weather and connecting with Sandy and Sven. I could write about the changes in the sand at Newcomb Hollow beach, the fresh smell of the ocean that permeates this part of the world, the gorgeous flowers outside the door here, or the magnificent session I had today with Tracy Plaut, massage therapist extraordinaire. But what I really want to write about is my older sister.

First, I’m so impressed with the transformations she has made in the Wellfleet house our parents lived in for so many years, and how she and Sven have built up a successful B&B. I’m really not surprised that my sister turns out to be an excellent businesswoman. And she has developed a passion for ridding the world of unnecessary chemicals that get approved for use before they’ve been proven safe.

Second, I appreciate the work she has done on this blog and her previous one about home-caring our elderly mother.

You see, I’ve been working for various newspapers for 40 years, the last 10 of them as a writer and reporter. For much of this time, Sandy identified with being a writer and strived for the goal of ‘getting published,’ achieving some successes but also enduring a lot of disappointments. Meanwhile, ‘getting published’ was something I did every day.

Now the publishing world is being turned upside down by computer technology, and I am struggling, along with many other mainstream journalists, to adapt to the new reality of blogs, tweets and videos, while my sister finds herself in the blogger vanguard and even attracts an audience. She has been able to connect environmentalism and Wellfleet, quite an achievement! And, she’s far more knowledgeable about computers than I am. So this is my tribute to you, Sandy, and to your blog, and to Wellfleet, too!”