Turbulent Seas, Turbulent Cyberspace

At Jenn Mattern’s blog Breed ‘Em & Weep, someone commented last month that Jenn should not be upset about the vitriol her recent Globe article drew in the online comments section. From comments to her blog about her reaction, I learned folks who comment negatively on blogs are called “trolls.” Of all the people reading out there in Cyberspace, it’s hard to imagine what’s going through the head of someone who bothers to comment negatively on a blog post, especially on a blog like mine where the blogger has the choice of posting comments or not. Waking up to vitriol is not pleasant, but here’s the opportunity to see what other readers think, so let me share this particular opinion with you: “I am one of your loathed tourists and I have to complain to you and let you know that after coming to Wellfleet for the last 10 years I've noticed that Wellfleet residents are the rudest sort... And I grew up in the Hamptons. I know all too well how the local tourism paved my roads in the summer and plowed them in the winter. Without tourism you probably wouldn't have a house or a Cumberland Farms down the street. Remember this rant of yours when you are a ‘tourist’ and expect to be treated with a little respect. Can't wait to put more money in your purse next summer. Keep the change.”

Whoa! "Keep the change?" “Loathed tourists”? “Wellfleet residents are the rudest sort”? Did I go overboard in my description of how the August invasion feels to residents? I went back to reread the post in question and maintain what I wrote. Anonymous must have been having a very bad day to feel the compunction to comment this way. He/she must not know that I was a Wellfleet tourist myself for 25 years. My kids spent summers with their grandparents and worked in local restaurants, learning to say "Sure!" to whatever request a tourist might make. To answer his/her insinuation about my house, actually I owned this beautiful place before we turned it into a B&B. (Sven and I had moved back from Europe to care for my elderly parents in 1997. They bought the house in 1970. We decided to open a bed & breakfast to have something interesting to do during the last years of my mother’s life. She passed away almost three years ago, and we are still here.) Sven and I have discovered green tourists – the kind our philosophy attracts – are a delight. Many innkeepers burn out fast, precisely due to the type of tourist Anonymous must be … Another unpleasant visitor over the weekend, Bill, who made waves and brought tourists and locals alike out to gawk. How much worse this hurricane could have been had the continental weather conditions sucked it towards the coast! Sven and I went to Newcomb Hollow this morning where a crowd had gathered at the end of the parking lot. The waves were rowdier than usual, but the locals did not seem impressed. I heard one man describing to some tourists how, 20 years ago, the ocean had removed part of the pavement. We watched a little boy flirting with the sea and saw one lone swimmer, in the distance, but she did not stay in for long ....

Rip Currents Arrive Ahead of Bill

“Just discovered your blog,” Ginny Page called across the parking lot as she herded members of the Conservation Commission into a white car for a site inspection. “You know more about what’s going on here than the newspapers!” What a nice comment from this busy lady whom I worked with on the Friends of the Wellfleet libraries board several years ago! The ocean was calm when Sven and I walked the “backshore” at dusk Thursday night, but by yesterday, guests reported rip currents, which kept most folks out of the water, the exception being experienced surfers, already flocking to the surf in record numbers. Thank you to everyone who read yesterday’s post, an important one, and to those who acted upon it. From the sidebar, you can tell there are 15 people who follow this blog. What’s not written are the 25 other daily readers and the 200 views per day. I enjoy reporting on life in Wellfleet. After serving breakfast this morning, I journeyed up to the ocean so readers could see the difference one day can make here. There was no red flag but the lifeguards were not letting anyone but surfers into the water. Lifeguards are not responsible for the surfers, apparently. Lots of people out watching the action on the waves. Click back Sunday for a fresh report. When the weatherman predicts erosion way before the hurricane moves up the coast, that's bad news!

Call to Action! Silent Spring Redux?

Take a good look at the vegetation, growing at Wellfleet’s border with the National Seashore. Many of you, former guests, who walked the path to Dyer Pond, passed under the natural arch created by this tree and saw the vegetation with their own eyes. In my opinion, removal with power machines should not be difficult. Unfortunately, Nstar has chosen a different method. It intends to spray at least four herbicides beneath the power lines in Wellfleet and neighboring Eastham to remove the brush. I think spraying toxic chemicals in the vicinity of homes is a bad idea in general and even worse in a town with sandy soil and private wells. The chemicals will seep into our water supply.

Eastham has already mobilized. The most recent meeting between the Eastham Selectmen, Nstar, and Concerned Citizens Against Herbicide Use on Cape Cod (http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=109138248696) took place August 19. The spraying was to begin August 17. August 12, Senator Rob O’ Leary and Rep. Sarah Peake succeeded in obtaining a 30-day delay. Jared Collins reported this morning that at “the Eastham town meeting, the Selectmen decided, in response to mounting concerns, to seek a means to ban herbicide-pesticide use town-wide.” He left a petition at Hatch’s fruit/veggie stand, but Wellfleet needs to organize, too, on its own, and quickly. (Jared and other concerned citizens of Eastham will be interviewed on WOMR’s Organic Thinking, to air Fri-Sun 8 pm.)

Wellfleet Health Agent Hillary Greenberg suggests sending her an email, expressing concern, copied to the Selectmen and woman (hillary@townofwellfleet.org). I intend to also write a separate letter to the Selectmen/woman. To read more about the meeting August 19 and the chemicals involved go to Green Cape, which has collected some excellent material.

From my research: Federal law requires that utility companies remove brush beneath power lines. People complained about the machinery/noise in the past. Nstar decided to use chemicals.

The Wellfleet Health Agent provided Nstar with information on abutters’ wells so the homeowners could be notified. There’s a good chance the chemicals will also get into the drinking water of numerous other Wellfleet residents since we share a sole source aquifer. Not to mention the unforeseen results of having toxic chemicals in local dust, etc. It is shocking in this day and age, with the information out there about body burden and the known consequences of chemical use, that we should be faced with Nstar choosing chemicals over mechanical removal of brush.

Selectman Dale Donovan responded to my copied email: “Unfortunately, the spokesman for the State Agricultural Department, Scott Soares, raised the crucial argument in this situation when he asked, ‘Why just N-Star?’ We are asking the state to prevent something that the towns do not. The chemicals involved (and a host of others) are readily available at stores and regularly used by an unknown number of people on a regular basis. I am hoping that we can move this argument to the Board of Health and ask them to provide regulations that will halt all use of potentially damaging herbicides, pesticides, and nitrogen-loading fertilizers. Your help and that of others concerned can be important in having our Board of Health take action.”

So I will write a letter to the Board of Health as well. I would be happy to see local stores remove these products from their shelves.

Everyone take action NOW! There is no time to waste. Exposure to chemicals can increase your risk of getting cancer. If you are a resident of Wellfleet, mention living here year-round. If you visit in the summer, explain how you would prefer to stay in a chem-free town. If you are a non-resident homeowner, let the Board of Health know you care about this issue as much as the residents do.

Wellfleet is a special green place. Let’s keep it that way!

My Personal View on Health Care Reform

For today’s post I have joined a movement of elders, organized by blogger extraordinaire, Ronni Bennett, to explain why health care reform is so necessary. Every discussion of health care reform should begin with a recitation of the facts: the growing number of uninsured, the fact that we spend 16% of GDP on health care compared to 7-9% in Canada and Europe yet have inferior results, the fact that the reform plans being discussed are middle-of-the-road compromises between people who want single-payer and people who want the status quo. This week came word the public option might be dropped. This is dreadful news, capitulation to the powerful insurance companies and evidence their scare tactics may have worked.

Last week I wrote the Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, after learning the end-of-life clause in the health care reform bill was in trouble: “I am distressed that the Senate Finance Committee has thought of scrapping the end-of-life clause from the health care reform bill. This measure is an excellent initiative and anyone who believes Sarah Palin's description of ‘death panels’ is a nitwit. For once we have a sensible, intelligent president who is leading our country towards necessary health care reform. Apparently the clause in question would enable doctors to spend more time on the important topic of end of life. Getting older folks to think about end of life is sensible, not scary or dangerous. I am 62 and my husband is 71. I welcome the option to discuss end of life every five years if I so desire. Please do not be intimidated!! Maintain this end of life clause!”

When my husband Sven and I moved here from Europe, we benefited from free health care. In France I felt confident about doctors, medicine, pharmacy personnel, hospital care. If I had continued to live in Paris, I would have had free care for the rest of my life. Instead, in 1997, I left Europe for Cape Cod and assumed responsibility for my parents, so they would not have to go into nursing homes. They received great medical care from physicians at Outer Cape Health, above. My father had worked for the government, and their Blue Cross Blue Shield Federal policy even reimbursed all meds until the year 2000 when fine print kicked in, creating a co-payment for the meds, but not the medical care! I was able to observe their last years and months – a precious experience, which gave me a new perspective on end of life – and came to appreciate hospice, totally paid by Medicare, which allowed my mother to remain in her own home until her peaceful death at 97.

Upon arriving in the USA, I had taken out a health care policy as a freelance writer. It cost $250/month for the two of us. That rate has gone up at least $100 every year since then. I believe the escalating cost of health care needs to be stopped. I would prefer a single-payer system, like in France, but President Obama obviously did not feel it would get through Congress. His health care reform proposal with public option is the next best thing. We desperately need health care reform in this country. Yesterday the President created a Web site to set the record straight. Please pass this information on to family and friends.

Reflections at LeCount Hollow Beach, at Twilight

How peaceful LeCount Hollow Beach at the end of a hot summer day! On the other side of Cape Cod, the sun is setting over the bay and soft pearly light slowly spreads down from Race Point, at the tip of the peninsula, across the eastern horizon, tinting the sky pink and the water lavender. Sven takes my photo, a bit blurry, but who cares? Gentle waves lap at the shore since Bill has not churned up the coast yet. The warm beige sand retains some of the heat from the day, a contrast to the cool water, 68 degrees according to the weatherman. The breeze caresses my skin. We see a covey of sandpipers, on a swale left by the outgoing tide. They stand their ground, reluctant to leave, then flutter away, one after the other, as we pass. Further along, a lone seagull stands guard beside a fallen companion and does not budge at the sight of humans. Suddenly a seal pops its head out of the water and, to my surprise, allows me take its picture before diving backwards into a wave, only to reappear a dozen yards away, so close we can see its whiskers wiggle. Apparently, the seal wants to play. I heave an silent sigh of relief that Sven forgot his bathing suit. Otherwise, this seal would be swimming along beside my husband. We walk down to Marconi and turn around. I've just finished reading a novel about suppression of the Kurds in Iran during the twentieth century. Thoughts of violence feel incongruous on this peaceful beach. Perhaps world leaders should be required to walk here, before making decisions that affect other people's lives. Back at access to the parking lot, we find several dozen tourists and summer folk. During the day, they clustered around the lifeguard, on the public beach, and this is where they are still, throwing Frisbees or lounging in beach chairs and on blankets. I'm glad we did not come during the heat of the day. How much more special is twilight, with bonfires flickering and children playing on the lifeguard's chair!

Anyone for Photography on the Outer Cape?

There seem to be a lot of photographers in town, not the amateur kind like you and me with our trusty digital cameras on the ready – visible even at the transfer station! – but real honest-to-goodness professional photographers like Joel “Cape Light” Meyerowitz who can be spotted, on occasion, ordering ice cream at PJs. We had at least two photographers, last year, as guests, here to capture Wellfleet’s beauty. Yesterday I saw one man downtown who seemed intent on taking photos of pedestrians. I could not tell whether he requested payment or was simply wandering through town snapping random people, the way I do. And then, of course, there are the occasional photography exhibits, photos on display at Mac’s Shack (below), and photography courses in Truro. Meyerowitz taught one such course this past weekend. The description reads, “Bring your camera, your photographs and lunch, and meet at Castle Hill for five hours of taking pictures and talking about taking pictures with Joel Meyerowitz.” I took that course almost 25 years ago and the pitch was exactly the same, word for word. I remember being shown how a person or an object, like a piece of driftwood, a buoy, or an old wheelbarrow could turn an ordinary landscape into something more exciting. We also did show-and-tell over lunch: I shared an excellent photo of my younger daughter, framed by an inner tube she was carrying back from Dyer Pond, below. The teacher dismissed my special photo with a curt nod. Fortunately, I was not discouraged. I still enjoy taking pictures, as regular blog readers will have noticed ...

Sweet Sorrow at Saying Goodbye for a Year

Shakespeare wrote, “Parting is such sweet sorrow.” I think this phrase from Romeo and Juliet also applies to innkeepers when it comes to saying goodbye at the end of a bed & breakfast stay, especially with repeat guests. It was hard, yesterday, to say goodbye to our Liberty Coin Suite guests. A year ago I wrote about having learned to make lavender wands. This summer the lavender was not quite ready to be transformed into wands, but that did not stop my young friend, below, from gifting me with a double lavender wand: twice as much lavender, twice as much work, twice as much love! While her parents packed the car after a tremendous one-week stay – in which they did so much and really enjoyed all that Wellfleet has to offer – Rebekah sat near the car, feeling sad, a normal reaction. I was reminded of Robert McCloskey’s picture book about a month in Maine. (He’s more well known for Make Way for Ducklings, but Time of Wonder, a slim volume published in 1958, had fabulous watercolors and won the Caldecott Award.) I love the way McCloskey described the end of a summer vacation: "A little bit sad about the place you are leaving, a little bit glad about the place you are going." McCloskey really captured the ambivalence we all feel after a great holiday. (One of the activities Rebekah enjoyed was Free Shakespeare. Her mom reported back that one actor played all the roles, in Hamlet no less.) Children help us experience life with wonder, like in the title McCloskey chose for his book, and for that, I thank you, Rebekah!

Why Wellfleet Residents Look Forward to September

How bizarre the relationship between the residents of a tourist town and its tourists! By the third week of August, after more than once waiting in an endless line of cars on Route 6 and at least twice being unable to find a parking space in the lot behind town hall, almost empty for ten months of the year, Wellfleet residents are firmly hunkered down and peer from their windows from time to time, as from a bomb shelter, to see whether the hordes of income-generating folks have left for the beach or must be confronted in order to obtain a quart of milk. This can usually be deduced from the sky. Blue sky, all clear. Clouds, imminent danger. Of course, the tourists are not the only ones to blame. 72% of the homes in Wellfleet belong to non-residents, and these folks also spend the better part of the summer here. (Their cars are dead giveaways: no year-round resident thinks to get Wellfleet plates!) Even our bed & breakfast guests have begun to complain about overpopulation in August, especially those guests taking courses in Eastham, ten miles away.

Today evidence of the invasion reached new heights. Here’s the count: buzzing by small planes, 4 passes in 1 hour this morning; sirens down on Route 6, either ambulance or police car or fire truck-generated, at least 4 during the afternoon; lost garbage trucks, 2; impudent Homeowners Association reps in search of drains on Barnabas Young Road, which is not paved, two passes by one electric car. Of course, then you have the usual lawnmower and power tool symphony, dogs barking, and angry babies screaming their lungs out. Sven heard all this, even without his hearing aids. Wait! I forgot traffic on our little dirt road. More than once I threw myself into the path of a speeding car with three kayaks more or less tied to the roof. How much better it would be if everyone got around on bikes!

Sometimes it is necessary to venture out into traffic oneself. This afternoon I realized there was no more organic butter, not a stick. I need butter to make scones, tomorrow’s breakfast pastry. So, off I went to Cumberland Farms, the shortest distance – and hassle – between butter and me. I turned onto Route 6 fairly easily and slipped into the one parking space that had just been vacated in front of the convenience store. I power-walked inside, grabbed a pound of butter off the shelf, and made it home without crashing the car or succumbing to hysterics. (The people tearing out their hair were actually going in the opposite direction, towards Orleans, traffic, which had suddenly accumulated while I was inside, the way traffic is wont to do on a late summer afternoon when everyone leaves the beaches at the same time.) Then the realization hit me that I had never purchased butter at Cumberland Farms before. Did I pick sweet cream or salted? In my haste, I had not checked. After a thorough examination of the box, I finally located the word SALTED (in tiny letters to the left of the word BUTTER.) Rats! Wrong kind! I'll have to go out again. No wonder Wellfleet residents feel so ambivalent about their tourist industry and are relieved when September rolls around!

Pure Fun in Wellfleet!

Great day for the ocean, great day for the pond. Bright sunshine. Not too hot, not too cold. Ideal weather has reached Wellfleet at last, and everybody on vacation was out for a few hours of sun and surf, either at the ocean, bay, or pond. Sven and I went to Newcomb Hollow where algae had turned the water near the shore red, reason enough to head back to Dyer Pond (above). Sven really swims, as opposed to folks who sunbathe or simply traipse through the waves, getting their feet wet, like me, and he dislikes swimming in water that has the consistency of cabbage soup. Our guests spent the day at Great Pond. The folks in the cottage went to Duck Harbor, on Cape Cod Bay. While at Newcomb Hollow, we saw one little girl who was doing her darnedest to demonstrate the meaning of PURE FUN. She jumped up and down, up and down, under the admiring eye of her mother, close by. What energy! I tried to capture some of the five-year-old's spunk and delight with the world in a photo. If only the rest of us older, jaded folks, experienced life the same way!

Architects & Artists, Past & Present, on the Cape

While walking through the woods beyond Dyer Pond five years ago, Sven and I came upon a structure that had obviously been abandoned by the National Parks Service. The building intrigued us because of its unusual design and the way it seemed to float above Northeast Pond. Treading carefully so as not to fall through the rotting boards, we ventured up to the pane glass windows and peered inside. Sven exclaimed, “How can they let this place deteriorate this way!” I had told him about creation of the National Seashore in 1961 and how homeowners had been given choices. Some had chosen to give up their magnificent homes, often in prime locations, either for cash or after a twenty-five year lease. This house was among the structures that should have been taken down once the 25 years were up. Fortunately, the government did not have the money. The house, designed by Charlie Zehnder and formally known as Kugel/Gips, is now being lovingly restored by architect Peter McMahon and his team, who have completed 50% of the work. Peter was ingenious in his negotiation with the Seashore, and, thanks to his efforts, the Cape Cod Modern House Trust not only exists, but is thriving. The first Modern House tour, August 23, has been sold out for months, but there are still tickets available for the symposium August 22. Read all about it in yesterday’s Globe... That European architects like Walter Gropius and Marcel Breuer would come to Wellfleet is not surprising. The Outer Cape has a way of attracting connoisseurs of beauty, artists among them, and often the artists find ways to interpret that beauty in one way or the other. Hundreds of artists make the Cape & Islands their home. A new edition of the Arts & Artisans Trails guide has just been published. Get a copy here.

Reminder: Gaming Night at Preservation Hall!

Question: When does Wellfleet turn into Las Vegas?
Answer: During summer fund-raising for Preservation Hall!

Here ye, here ye. If you happen to be in Wellfleet this evening, don't miss Gaming Night in the garden behind Preservation Hall. When I stopped by this afternoon, organizers, including prime mover Marla Rice, were busy stringing lights and putting the final touches on the silent auction. Since I have always been such a fervent supporter, the powers that be permitted entrance into the basement. I was one of the first to set eyes on the different lots soon open for bids. There was jewelry, fine art, WINE, gift certificates to local restaurants and shops, a lamp, landscaping and much, much more. While listening to jazz, I strolled around the room admiring the options. I must admit my favorite was also one of the most expensive, with a value of $3800 and a minimum bid of $1800: “Lamp and Wooden Horse” by Nick Patten. If I had the money, I would have placed a bid right then and there, especially since the funds raised will be used to continue work on Preservation Hall. Previewing begins at 4. The bidding is to end at 10. The gaming starts at 7 and will include blackjack, roulette, craps, poker and a private Texas Hold Em’ Tournament. As the poster says, “You can’t go broke gambling to support this great cause.” See you tonight at Preservation Hall!

Calling All Redheads of Wellfleet!

At the library yesterday, amongst the usual cottage-for-rent and furniture-for-sale notices on the foyer bulletin board, I spied a sheet of paper with tear-able telephone numbers: RED HEADS WANTED FOR PHOTO SHOOT read the large print. “Between the ages of 1 year old and 18 years old, girls and boys, in Wellfleet area, anytime between August 10-16 and 22-30.” The photographer went on to specify that she was looking for a few redheaded kids to shoot for a “fun fashion” shoot and could offer a small stipend. The note was reminiscent of a similar summoning of Outer Cape redheads in the seventies. The photographer turned out to be Joel Meyerowitz who published his photos in Redheads, still available in paperback. (Anyone interested in Cathy’s shoot, should call the local number 3649.)

Red hair comes in a number of different shades. Mine is called Titian Blond. Guess which feature made this sixties teenager the most proud? My hair was long back then. I could swing it around the way models do in shampoo commercials. Clairol execs got it wrong: blonds do not have more fun; redheads do. No dye can provide the same stand-in-the-sun-and-sparkle. Before a shampoo, hairdressers would fluff up my hair in anticipation, parting it with reverence as if to say, "Now this is the true gift of gods." So many people admired what grew on my head that I began to believe I was special. I would comb my hair every morning with that Hollywood-starlet glint in the eye. Then, one horrific morning, reality stuck. The toothbrush dangled from my mouth as I stared with disbelief at my reflection. My hair was no longer glossy. The shine had disappeared. Uh-oh. Had I become too complacent? Was I over-satisfied with my looks? What had I done to lose my “oh-so-beautiful” hair? Medical tests soon revealed an underactive thyroid. I have had this condition for almost twenty years now and believe it’s the result of the radioactive cloud that passed over France after Chernobyl. An incredible number of my friends in France have developed the same health problem …

Which Wellfleet Beach Has No Incline & Other Matters

Sometimes I pick blog topics according to Internet searches, as recorded by my stat counter. Today I noticed WELLFLEET BEACH NO INCLINE and decided it was a timely topic, since one of our current guests is recovering from a reaction to antibiotics that left her partially handicapped. I actually tried to answer this question when she arrived to direct her towards a beach she could actually reach. Yes, there are handicapped parking spaces at all the town landings. Power’s Landing, on the bay, has no incline, although getting through the sand is like walking in marshmallow fluff: it really sucks at your feet. Here is my assessment of access on the Atlantic: Cahoon Hollow is the steepest; White Crest comes in second, then LeCount, which got steeper from erosion after a spring storm, and finally Newcomb, above. Our guest managed the descent and was pleasantly surprised that she did not have more trouble. Regular medicine has not been of much help, so she is using alternative medicine like acupuncture.

Our health care system is in drastic need of reform. I feel so embarrassed watching the screamers, who attend town meetings across America with the goal of disruption. I have decided to join a campaign initiated by Ronni Bennett and urge those of you who write blogs to consider adding your voice in defense of health care reform August 20th.

Do not forget Las Vegas Night, tomorrow, Thursday, August 13, to benefit Preservation Hall!

Finally, I received a call from Michael O'Connor, author of Discover Cape Cod, a great guide which I reviewed here last month. He was calling to thank me. At least two guests have already picked up their own copy. If you want one, too, Discover Cape Cod is available here.

Wellfleet Hosts 2009 Lifesaving Competition

Today Newcomb Hollow Beach was the site of the annual Cape Cod Lifesaving Competition. When I went up this morning at 8:30, the parking lot was already half full, and lifeguards from Falmouth to Provincetown were weighing in on the scales. It was a perfect day, with slight haze and calm seas, just a bit of a wave to the ocean. Excitement was in the air as the competitors descended onto the beach, some lugging equipment, others holding precious surfboards aloft. The competition began in 1974 and is held in Wellfleet every six years. Selectman Dale Donovan was on hand to give everyone a hearty welcome. He spoke briefly about the importance of the lifeguard and thanked the young people present for all they do on a daily basis to keep beachgoers safe. Today’s competition includes relay races, a swim relay, iron man/woman, and other fun events that allow the testing of skills against other lifeguards. Everyone seemed a bit nervous as they listened to a second speech, given by one of the organizers. Meanwhile, up at the edge of the parking lot, spectators took up position, armed with beach chairs and coolers. Folks with small children, wielding shovels and pails, began to filter onto the beach, surprised by all this unusual activity. Dale Donovan joined our Beach Coordinator Suzanne Thomas by the big rock to watch the competition, and I headed back for daily B&B chores.

"The Magic Place"

Wellfleet is ideal for children in summer, but sometimes they find it hard to wait in restaurants, eager to be off to the beach. We have return guests this week. The daughter, now 9, has already collected some lavender from the garden, with my permission, for conversion into lavender wands. Last year she was making a wand at the Truro Vineyard, while waiting for her parents to return from a tour. Someone asked if he might purchase the wand. Although the idea of selling wands had never occurred to her, she sold the wand to him straight away. Afterwards, she did research and realized her pricing was off. I imagine the price would be higher this year were she to encounter the gentleman again! She loves our garden and suggested to her mom that we put up a sign THE MAGIC PLACE over the arbor to signify a change in atmosphere when you walk amidst the flowers. Personally, I find the yellow hosta inspires reflection, but the hosta plants are on the shady side! Flowers do make such a difference. 2009 will have been a tough year for flowers, first with a rainy and cold June, then with baby rabbits feasting on petals for breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day since. Most Wellfleet restaurants provide fresh flowers on the tables. I find The Juice does an especially fine job. While we were having lunch there last week, I watched a woman Sven calls "the flower lady." With what dedication she created the bouquets, as if they were her grandchildren, being tucked into bed!