Update on the Bloggies & A Guest Post

Take a peek into the world of the urban writer over at The Urban Muse. There you'll find a post I wrote in support of my friend Meredith, whose Writer's Inner Journey was nominated for a Bloggie for Best-Kept-Secret Blog. Chezsven: Wellfleet Today did not receive enough votes for nomination in Lifetime Achievement, but thank you to everyone who took the time to vote. Please join me in supporting Meredith on the Bloggies Awards page. (While you're there, do check out Music Road, nominated for Best Blog about Music, and Attainable Sustainable, in the running for Best New Blog.)

250th Anniversary Committee Holds Brainstorming Session

The 250th Anniversary Committee held an open meeting Saturday at the Council on Aging. Fifty Wellfleetians showed up and participated. The anniversary will take place August 4, 2013, but events will be scheduled throughout the year. Once committee members had been introduced, we started brainstorming. Here are some of the events already under consideration:

1.) A Made-in-Wellfleet day.
2.) Multi-media film organized by Dee Portnoy.
3.) Wellfleet-moments movie.
4.) The Wellfleet Historical Society is working on an oral history project.
5.) Walking tours, clambake.
6.) Sports events.
7.) The Chequessett Yacht Club will organize a golf tournament and a regatta.
8.) A giant potluck for town residents in off-season.

Here are more suggestions from the audience:

1.) The Adams Lodge will organize a Halloween party.
2.) Beth Chapman spoke of her involvement in Truro's 300th and suggested walking tours based on the watercolor paintings Edward Hopper created in our town.
3.) Elaine Lipton said the Cape Cod Chamber Music Festival will dedicate one of its summer concerts to Wellfleet, with a program composed around Mary Oliver's poetry.
4.) Neighborhood block parties.
5.) Deb Giza suggested a horse and buggy tour of Paine Hollow.
6.) Marcia Seeler mentioned the Conservation Trust annual walk in September.
7.) An International Talk-Like-a-Pirate day celebration.
8.) Mark Hough of WHAT said playwrights will be encouraged to seek inspiration that fits the 250th theme.
9.) A scholarship for a student born and educated in Wellfleet could be created.
10.) A photo contest.
11.) Bob Prescott of MA Audubon volunteered to host a birthday party.
12.) The National Seashore will organize the Marconi Story and more.
13.) The Methodist Church may hold a tour of its stain glass windows, which illustrate the town and church's history.
14.) Someone spoke about the organization of a huge family photo on the town pier.
15.) Jean Schaefer, of the Wellfleet Non-Resident Taxpayers Association, suggested the creation of a booklet.
16.) David Wright and Becky Rosenberg may work together to organize a field day for children at Baker's field, an event they both remembered from the 200th anniversary.
17.) Becky may also organize a history of sports in Wellfleet.
18.) A triathalon.
19.) A kayak race.
20.) The Parkington Sisters will hold a concert at the bandstand on the pier.
21.) Kathleen Bacon volunteered to approach local sculptor Penelope Jenks with regard to the creation of a bronze commemorative statue of some kind.

Phew! Not sure I captured everything. The ideas were flowing fast and furious.

Do you have any suggestions you would like to share?

Snow Follies in Wellfleet ...

Woo-hoo! 100 followers. Welcome, Julee Hastings. Since being number 100 is a milestone, you have just won a prize. Send me your address via the Web site contact email and I will shoot something off to you in sunny California. Not so much sun this weekend here in Wellfleet. In fact, the snow took the forecasters by surprise. We had 8 to 10 inches, when 2 to 4 were predicted. Everything looks so lovely cloaked in a mantle of white. Check out the windows and flowers painted on this Lond Pond Road garage. The snow really makes the design stand out.

Chez Sven had its first guests of the season, adventurous folks from Western Massachusetts, who arrived in a Prius. They drove down to Provincetown for the day around 11 o’clock. The forecasters in Amherst had predicted rain on Cape Cod. No one likes rain for a holiday weekend, so our guests seemed psyched to hear there might be some snow. Beaches are much more interesting with patches of white here and there. Fortunately, these folks did think to bring sturdy boots. Imagine their surprise to have all those snowflakes fall out of the sky by evening!

Sven and I were having dinner with a friend: goat stew, fresh baked bread, salad. There came a rapping on our door. Chez Sven has three doors, and I never know which one to open. I went to the side door, which Wellfleetians usually use. No one there. So, I decided what we had heard must have been a particularly energetic chipmunk, shifting his stash of nuts around in the attic, or maybe a mouse caught in the Have-a-Heart trap? But, the rapping came again, louder this time. I hopped over to the front door and there were the daughters of our guest. Mom’s car was stuck in a snowdrift at the bottom of Old King’s Highway. Did we have a shovel? The friend and I headed out with several. Meanwhile, a policeman had stopped his car, seeing a damsel in distress. Lights were flashing red and blue on the snowy landscape.

Since Old King’s had not yet been plowed, access from Long Pond Road was the only option. But, our guest wanted to keep her new Prius out of drifting snow, an understandable request. We left the car in one of the town’s parking lots, drove her back to the cottage, and accompanied her to the car in the morning.

This winter Wellfleet has not seen bitter cold like 2011. Last year there was an inch of ice on Old King’s Highway and it remained for three weeks. (Here's a look at snowy Commercial Street, by two o'clock. It was around that time that Wellfleetians decided to stay inside and wait for improvement.)

Unexpected snow can produce drama. I remember riding back to Vassar with a friend when the New York Thruway was summarily closed due to a snowstorm that no one had foreseen. Have you had any wild experiences, being stuck in snow?

Why Nominate Chezsven: Wellfleet Today for the Bloggies

Do I hear sighs all round? Ah, Wellfleet! Ah, summer! Only five months and thirteen days to go ...Today, an unusual request. It's the weekend and you have some leisure time, right? How about doing something for your favorite blogger? Nominate me for an award, specifically the Bloggie Lifetime Achievement award, since I've been blogging for over six years. You can nominate your other favorite blogs, too. The process is simple. Go to the Bloggies Web site. Scroll down to Lifetime Achievement. Write in Chezsven: Wellfleet Today with the URL www.chezsven.blogspot.com. Nominate two other blogs, three total. (If you do not read any other blogs, let me know in the comments or email me at CHEZSVEN AT COMCAST DOT NET and I'll share a few suggestions.) Add your email address to receive a confirmation email. Click Submit. When you receive a response from the Bloggies, confirm your ballot by clicking on the link.

Here are ten good reasons to nominate Chezsven: Wellfleet Today for the Bloggies in the Lifetime Achievement category:

1.) You read this blog on a regular basis.
2.) You enjoy reading this blog on a regular basis.
3.) You absolutely love Wellfleet and it's a good way to stay in touch while you're away.
4.) Six years is a mighty long time to write a blog and that effort deserves some kind of recognition, even if only an award.
5.) You agree with Dale Donovan, who commented last summer, "Access to articles like this is one of many reasons that I read ChezSven Blog daily. The others: an elegant design, lively writing, timely information, excellent photographs, and admiration for the work that goes into it."
6.) You agree with Bruce Bierhans, who called it (me?) a "local treasure" last week.
7.) You learn interesting stuff on the environment.
8.) It makes you smile.
9.) A Bloggie for Lifetime Achievement would really help my writing "platform."
10.) Wellfleet is going to celebrate its 250th b-day next year. This award would also honor our beloved town, since its beauty is what inspires me to write every day.

Thank you!

How I Became an Innkeeper ...

Read about how I reinvented myself, switched careers, and became an innkeeper. The post went live today on BlogHer.

Check Out Chez Sven's Christmas Wreath

Above, Sven welcomes guests to Chez Sven. Yesterday I reported on the Preservation Hall Wreath Pageant. Did you go? It was great fun. The day before, I shared impressions of the three-hour ZBA meeting at the Council on Aging. To answer an emailed question from a reader, writing posts like these does take several hours. It makes me really happy when readers take a few minutes to comment on what I have written. Which post did you enjoy the most recently?

Wellfleetians March on Behalf of Planet

The sun was not shining this morning at 8 a.m. when a handful of hardy Wellfleetians met on Uncle Tim's Bridge to march around Cannon Hill but that did not dampen their enthusiasm. The gathering was part of a world-wide effort to draw attention to the problem of global warming and climate change. How inspiring to be part of such a movement! A dozen Wellfleetians marched. I have only one question: where were the rest of you?

Here's the deal. We need to reduce our use of fossil fuels. Instead, our government is looking to extract dirty oil from the tar sands in Canada. What really frightens me is the idea that the Gulf Stream may slow down. We must send a message to our legislators that global warming exists, no matter what the idiot-deniers claim, and that this is no time to be dragging feet. We need to take action now.

America has always been at the forefront of innovation. Our leaders should support renewable energy. We must make a clean break from our dependence on Big Oil. How about a challenge to scientists to come up with new solutions, organized at MIT for example? These ideas are mine alone, but no doubt fellow marchers had similar thoughts as they walked along.

In any case, what we can all start doing right this minute is to take baby steps, one at a time. Stop accepting plastic bags at the supermarket, as suggested by the Wellfleet Recycling Commission, whose chair, Lydia Vivante was present this morning. Use public transportation whenever possible. Carpool. Improve the insulation of your house and turn the thermostat way down at night in winter. Turn off lights when you leave a room. Ask your friends and family to do the same.

Femke Rosenbaum had made a new GREEN POWER banner for today's protest, which was led by Harriet Korim, right. As you may remember, Harriet was arrested in front of the White House last month, on her birthday no less, taking a stance against the tar sands pipeline.

I flipped my last pancake this morning at 8:30 and jumped in my car. What's wrong with this sentence? Gee, I should have walked down.

Many of the participants did come on foot. McNeeley Myers, left, one of the stars in WHAT's current production Body Awareness, rode her bike. After the march, Harriet caught the Flex bus to Provincetown and planned to take the Boston ferry in order to participate in 350 events there this afternoon.

"Moving Planet is a day to put our demands for climate action into motion—marching, biking, skating — calling for the world to go beyond fossil fuels. At over 2000 events in 175+ countries, we're letting leaders know that a movement is rising to move our planet forward to a clean energy future."

Did you do anything today to support 350.org's Moving Planet?

What Blogs Feature Wellfleet?

With the heat wave approaching, let’s dream for a minute of winter, and some of my posts about the season Wellfleetians hoard all summer as a marvelous secret. The beauty of snow on sand, the amazing sunsets visible from the pier or Mayo Beach, shopping at Marketplace and not needing to elbow one’s way down the aisles.

Often B&B guests ask me, “But, what’s it like here in the winter months?”

“Quiet?” I respond. “Peaceful. Beautiful.”

I know a lot of readers stay in touch with the town they love through this blog. Did you know there are others? Today I thought we would do a summary of local blogs. Check them out ….

The newest local blog is brought to you by Winslow’s Tavern, one of my favorite places to eat. Our guests had dinner there last night and reported excellent striped bass. Yum! Fellow Vassar alum Tracey Barry Hunt is in charge of the blog, which gets written by Katie, her assistant. There's an interesting post up about Wild, Wild Wellfleet right now. Winslow's updates its blog weekly.

Mac’s Seafood also sports a blog as of a few months ago, although the latest entry is more an advertisement than a post. An earlier entry covered ocean pollution and blue-fin tuna. That’s the problem: it’s hard to run a business and write a blog at the same time, not to mention keeping up with daily life which demands time from young parents like Mac & Traci (Mac’s) and Tracey & Philip (Winslow’s).

Did I mention Preservation Hall asked me to write a Prez. Hall blog, as a volunteer activity? I had to decline. Blogging takes time, effort, commitment. And, I already write Wellfleet Today. One blog is enough, don't you think?

Here are half a dozen more blogs, set in Wellfleet:

The Southfleet Motel has run a blog in past years. I was disappointed to see it has not been updated since July 2010.

The Beachcomber offers Beachcomber addicts occasional news. The latest entry comments on Independence Day weekend, and is worth reading, especially the part on traffic, but again, the whole point is to advertise what’s happening at Cahoon Hollow, which is fine, but not something easy to sustain all year, since the popular restaurant closes after Labor Day.

Susan writes Trout Towers with tongue-in-cheek verve, but unfortunately has not been writing as often as in 2007, the year she started blogging. As I mentioned earlier, life gets in the way.

In my search for local blogs, I discovered First Vacation Rental Blog, which was last updated in April, and seems to focus on useful information, as well as summer rentals.

The Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary used to have its own blog about the process of green renovation, but the updates were discontinued once the project ended.

Sharyn Lindsay still writes occasionally about life with her son Caleb Potter.

Bruce Bierhans covers all matters legal at Cape Cod Barrister.

SurfWellfleet lists an assortment of local blogs on its home page.

And, no round-up would be complete without special mention for Elspeth Hay, who writes Diary of a Locavore, a superb food blog, created by an excellent local writer. If you do not read it, you should.

Now, your turn. What are your favorites? Which Wellfleet blogs did I miss?