rivervox

We're staying at a new place in Eastham on Eldia Way. West of where we have been residing. It's a nice big and cozy house in the woods. We had Thanksgiving dinner last night indoors with almost the whole family. The food all worked out: Tofurkey and roast veg, stuffing, gravy, cranberry sauce, candied sweet potatoes, roasted squash, green bean casserole, crescent rolls, mac and cheese. Apple and pumpkin pie. Apple filling was good but crust was tough. Pumpkin was great. There were enough chairs and cups and silverware. Everyone was civil and in good spirits. We watched Shrek and lazed about. Cleaned up. It was a success, I think. Violet was very happy to be the host, taking coats, setting up the cheese tray, getting drinks. It's a lesson I haven't been able to teach at home. I walked in the morning around the neighborhood, then we all went out to Nauset Light Beach. Heavy surf and much of the beach is gone, such that the cliffs are at serious risk. DH rode out to Wellfleet which he's doing again right now. We'll host everyone again tonight for BIL birthday. (One thing to note in case I read this next year: the Orleans Stop and Shop is open until 10 PM and fully stocked!) This morning I went to First Encounter for a bit then to the Superette. It's nice to be on the other side of Thanksgiving. The house is nice. It all worked out. Next time be hopeful! Now if we can just make it across for sunset...

Any day you wake up on the Cape is a good day. I suppose I must amend that to any day you wake up is a good day.

Yesterday we took a walk out to the pond to say goodbye. I made chocolate chip cookies and we had a nice dinner. Did a bit of packing up the kitchen. I'm glad we're taking it slow as this is the weekend and no one is in a hurry to get back home.

Last night we watched The Expanse and The Magicians. Both were intense but it fit the mood. It strikes that both are about the relationships. The super friends falling apart and coming together. There was a nice moment at the end of Magicians where a character says that when he gets to the end of a book and it's sad, he starts over. A new story begins. With that as my inspiration, I face the day.

"I can’t help you because you don’t want me to, because then your friend’s story is over. My dad says when I get sad about something it will end. I should just imagine this is the first page in a new book. The gift your friend gave you, it wasn’t his life; it was yours. That story just started."

A windy Thursday, but a clear blue sky. I walked around the block this morning as I had an early meeting I hope to get out again later in the day!

I made hamantaschen last night with mixed results. I suspect that I will get better at it with experience, but for now, they are the best hamentaschen on the Outer Cape. I'm sorry that I wasn't able to get poppy filling. MAYBE I will make some in Brookline.

In Brookline. A looming cloud that I'm going to slam into like a cinder block wall.

Last night I finished watching Tales from Earthsea, which was a beautiful mess. It's almost like they take the components (dragons, little girls with messy hair) and mix them around like Lego and construct something and then the story is an afterthought. The best part is the villain Cob, of indeterminate gender and pure evil.

I also watched the first part of Allen v Farrow. It's really well-made and upsetting. They tell it like a story, unfolding over time and heading in a terrible direction. I'm not sure why I'm watching, except that as a fan of his work I feel complicit in some way. I need to stay with Dylan to the end, as someone who benefited from her abuser's art. The most alarming thing I learned was that he was seeing a therapist for his inappropriate behavior toward the child. It's not rumor or misrepresentation. It's framed as a boundary issue, that he doesn't know how to act with children, but his actions go way beyond that. When I realize he was making Crimes and Misdemeanors at this time, my blood chills. And I wonder, though this doesn't exonerate him, if Allen himself was sexually molested as a child. Or if he knew he had these tendencies and avoided kids for that reason. Anyway, I'm on board, bearing witness.

Rough night. Snoring and stress. I almost went out to the beach to watch the moon set at 4 AM, but realized that my whole day would be shot. As it is, I'm running on maybe 5 hours of sleep.

This morning I drove out to walk Spruce Hill Trail to the beach. It's a bit icy but the warm weather and rain are doing their best to thaw the earth. I listened to Levar read "Pockets" by Amal El-Mohtar. Wonderful story.

Last night I made some rice krispie, pretzel, chocolate treats which everyone enjoyed. Next time: pecans. We watched Treme which is so powerful. Perfect for this time. I read The Glass Hotel, then Father Brown stories in bed. They are so strange! In the one I read before bed, the murderer throws a severed head and a sabre over a garden wall to elude suspicion. There is also some sort of religion/reason thing going on. Chesterton's writing is beautiful.

Grateful to spend another day looking out at the pines.