On my mind...

So, this week I have some random thoughts running around in my head, and I figured, why not share them with you? It's almost like I'm right there with you, isn't it??

First of all, who the heck cares that Michael Phelps partied a little too hard at USC a couple of months ago, while he was having some down-time after winning 8 gold medals at the Olympics? I mean, really - have we nothing better to worry about? He is a 23-year old athlete - not a hero, not a role model for all children, an athlete. And a young one, at that. And he was not competing while taking illegal drugs (or legal drugs). Now, should he have been smarter about making sure that all of the people in the room were not taking photos of him? Apparently so. But, live and learn, and I hope he does. Frankly, I think we should all boycott Kelloggs because they took away his endorsement contract.

I am absolutely freezing as I write this, even though it is really not that cold. We seem to be vacillating between temperatures that are below freezing and temperatures in the high 40s/low 50s. Somehow, those warmer days seem to make the colder ones feel colder. And it is possible that I am experiencing reduced circulation in my hands and feet, now that I am getting older. Does that happen? Because I am not kidding, my fingers wrapped around my mug make the tea cool, not the other way around. Anyway, to take advantage of the lovely warmer weather that we had last weekend, we took a little day trip to Cape Cod, since we'd never been there. We made several discoveries while we were there:

1) Actually getting onto the Cape does not take very long. However, the Cape is more than 60 miles long, and there are really only two roads that go the length of it, so if someone asks you how long it takes to get to the Cape, that depends on your actual destination.

2) Different towns on the Cape have very different characters. Hyannis, where we had lunch at the British Beer Company (good food), is really a fairly large town, with lots of shopping and restaurants. They even have a mall. Many other towns are much smaller.

3) The "beachfront" property is not what we are used to in the south. Most of the houses that are close to the water are really cottages, with a few notable exceptions. And most of the houses on the water don't really have "beaches" like the ones we are used to.

4) The most beautiful beaches (again, like the ones we are used to) seem to be from Orleans to Provincetown. They are also part of the Cape Cod National Seashore, so there are no houses. They reminded me of the Outer Banks.

5) They are not big believers in signs. A decent and detailed map of the Cape would have been very helpful. My large Road Atlas didn't quite cut it.

6) There seems to be a very large year-round population on the Cape. Where do all those people work? They can't possibly all be commuting off the Cape each day, can they?

So that was our day of discovery on Cape Cod. We didn't make it all the way out to Provincetown, which is where the Pilgrims first landed on this continent, by the way (no, it was not Plymouth - they went there after first spending 5 weeks in Provincetown. They went to Plymouth looking for a more hospitable place to live. Hmmm.) We only went as far as Nauset Beach, in Orleans, MA. So we are planning another trip sometime in the spring, when the weather really does warm up. In the meantime, here is a link to the other photos I took during our Cape Cod Adventure.

On a final note, I love reading the other blogs I follow. Some people are very clever, and they're very good writers, to boot. Nick always seems to come up with something interesting to share; Catherine writes recipes embedded in a blog that is so entertaining and hilarious that it doesn't even matter if I'll ever try the recipe (and I have actually made several!); and Diana's blog just keeps me going until her next book comes out. Hopefully, I have managed to entertain you today!