Vacation on Cape Cod

Jim and I arrived home last night, or I should actually say this morning, at 1:30 am. We really packed a full day at each end of the vacation. We left on a 6:50 am flight on June 30th and returned on a 10:45 pm flight yesterday, July 7th. It was a great trip. We were guests of Jim's brother and sister-in-law for a week at their summer house in South Harwich, Cape Cod. Everything went extremely well. The weather was great - it only rained once - and although it was hot and humid a lot of the time, it is summer after all. The cottage is 1 mile from Red River Beach, so we walked. Jim and I went together once. It was really windy on the beach, and the sand was flying low to the ground, but hardly any wind at all once we were off the beach. The water temperature was 65°, but Jim loved it and swam. I didn't have a bathing suit, so satisfied myself with sitting on a sand chair under an umbrella, watching all the people. It was perfect.

We visited with friends on the Cape, ate our fill of all the expected foods - chowder, clams, lobster, corn on the cob, watermelon, salads, ice cream - had a lot of family time, I did some sketching and painting, and on Sunday we had an old-fashioned clam bake for 15 people.

The clam bake started out with a hole dug in the ground. We started with some rocks, plenty of wood and a hot fire, wet seaweed, cheesecloth bags filled with onions, potatoes, sweet potatoes, sausages, hot dogs, Portuguese linguisa, ears of corn, and clams. More seaweed went on top of the food, and a canvas tarp covered everything. Lobsters were boiled on the stove top. For those who passed on the bake, there were cold shrimp, grilled burgers, potato salad and a green tossed salad.

Twenty-five years ago, the family had another clam bake to celebrate Jim's father's 80th birthday. That one took place at Grampa's and Nana's place on the Cape in Buzzards Bay. I have scanned photos of that event, and we all enjoyed looking back at the pictures, seeing the family members who had passed on, and how we had all looked so long ago. Well, everyone but me. Being the photographer, I don't end up in any photos! We hope to have another clam bake next year, and hopefully more family members can come. Everyone is spread out all over the map, so that may be a real challenge.

I took quite a few photos over the week, and will post more of them on my blog as time goes by.

PHOTOS: 1) The seaweed. 2) Getting the fire going. 3) Alan putting food on the fire while Jim looked on. 4) Steam escaping after the tarp was raised. 5) The table full of food. 6) The lobsters. 7) Raising a toast.