50 Days of Remembering Day #8

Cape Cod

My parents started renting a place at Cape Cod when I was in my teens. We would go once a year and later, twice a year. They gravitated to East Sandwich and they moved from teeny tiny cabins up to 5 bedroom houses right on the ocean. We loved our times there so much.

By the time we were married, they were at the bigger houses, so George and I had our own bedroom with sliding glass doors to an upper deck overlooking the ocean. It always took my breath away, year after year. When the kids came along, we introduced them to wonderful times there. They have fond memories. We all love the ocean.

Before we had kids, there were so many more gift shops on the Cape to visit and we loved looking for fun souvenirs. There was a seconds candle shop and other shops always greeted you with the smell of scented candles. Of course, there was saltwater taffy too, in so many different flavors.

My parents had their favorite fish places but George and I gravitated to "Cooke's Seafood". We always thought it was the best fish and chip we ever had--onion rings too. 

My parents, being the grandparents, treated the grandkids (and us) to many rounds of mini golf, always adorned with cool designs from story book type displays to the infamous Pirate's Cove. We also enjoyed Ryan's Amusements where we raced cars around the track. We also made great memories with bumper boats and cars. My Dad had quite a competitive spirit. 

I think the favorite part of the entertainment, though, was the hours (and money) spent at the arcade. We all (except George) loved trying to win games and earn tickets to be turned in for pretty poor prizes. A big draw for my Mom was the claw machines. She taught us all how you don't just put the tokens in and guess. No, you needed to study the placement of the stuffed animals and their relationship to those around them. Did they look available, but could the claw really grab enough of them? If they were too stuffed in, you had to forget it. Learning her techniques benefitted us quite a number of claw machine stuffed animals. It was such a thrill to hold your breath as the claw machine slowly carried it to the drop off point--hoping it wouldn't lose it before the drop, which did sometimes happen. We all shouted with joy when it made it. I think we all have a special "bond" with claw machines.

I know my kids fondly remember my Dad going out on the beach with a bag of bread and summoning every seagull within a mile. Before leaving the Cape we used to stop at this pond and traditionally feed the ducks. My parents loved birds. Of course, later we learned that bread wasn't the best thing for them. 

There was kite flying on the beach too and sadly, the tale has been retold of the time George lost a kite to the ocean. My Mom would tease with a pouty voice, "You lost my kite!" They never let him live it down.

For me, the treasures of the beach were my rewards. I have always loved rocks and the smoothness, the shapes, the colors, the patterns, all just attracted me. I would come back with heavy laden pockets or use the never-ending supply of plastic bags that my Mom had received from my Uncle when he worked at one of his jobs and they weren't needed any more. In cleaning out my parent's house, I found there were some bags still left!

But the biggest beach treasure was finding sea glass. The most common ones were green but occasionally we found brown, white and a rare blue. I spent hours looking down for the glimmering glass in the sunlight. Mom used to joke, "You can't leave until you find a piece of sea glass." If that were true, George would have been there a lot longer than me. Poor George had a hard time finding sea glass. It was only in recent years that he has become more proficient--or is it luck? I am sure he is not as persistent or diligent as I am to hunt for it and that makes a difference.

Another fond memory of Cape Cod times was just sitting around the table having a meal or playing games--cards or other games almost every night. Those were such special times. 

The other most satisfying reward of an ocean view is seeing the sunset or sunrise there. I am always in awe of such a site, the feel of the ocean breeze and the waves gently flowing back and forth. I always imagined they were taking away the bad in life and bringing in the good--if only it were that easy, but it does refresh my soul.

I am glad George and I share the love of the ocean and have had countless walks together on many beaches. 

"Let the sea resound, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it."

Psalm 98:7

Making the most of a trip to the VA Hospital

So what do you do when you have to leave the house at 5:30 am to drive over an hour to the VA hospital? After the appointment and a long awaited breakfast, we had to see the ocean since we were so close. This is our very first "selfie" ever and the ocean is in the background. Let me add here that George has never had an unpleasant visit to the VA. He has been treated well and has not experienced any of the long waits that have been publicized lately.

These are pictures of where we were today and how it looks now. Continue below to see how it was that brought back many fond memories for me.

There is a wall devoted to the "Good Old Days of Savin Rock". I was young but I have nothing but fond memories of the hours that Mom and Dad and I spent here. Of all the parks we went to, Riverside, Mountain, Lake Compounce, this was our favorite.

And our my most favorite part of all was the Arcade. We loved the old claw machines. They were filled mostly with candies (unwrapped, but I lived!). There were little prizes too. We would bring small brown bags and fill them with the candy and prizes.  Wonderful memories.

Favorite Random Photos Monday, May 23, 2011

These are random photos taken in Rockport and Gloucester. The piano was taken from outside a door where they were rehearsing for a private party. The little girl with the balloons knew I took her picture and her family had her pose for me, but I liked this shot better.

Ocean View

Just some more pictures of our ocean view this weekend. The tents on the beach were for a wedding. They had fireworks at night, so that was an added bonus for us.

Cape Cod

This is mostly going to be pictures of our wonderful weekend at Cape Cod. We have traditionally gone to Cape Cod yearly (sometimes twice) to East Sandwich. My parents go twice a year and rent out this 5 bedroom house on the ocean and always invite us along. It has a lot of happy memories and we were not happy when we saw that it is for sale. With the economy I don't imagine it will sell quickly and they may still rent it out, but in the back of all our minds was the thought that this may be the last time we were all there together. If anyone has an extra $975,000. that they want to donate towards our purchase, you will make all of us so very happy.

Three of the bedrooms are upstairs with sliding glass doors to the ocean view. These are just different pictures of the house. I'll continue this on the next blog entry.

Part Two of A Few Days Away

These pictures were taken at Ocean Beach Park. This was one of those days when chance of storms threatened. You can see the ominous clouds. I have found the various storm clouds lately fascinating.

I used to go to Ocean Beach Park as a kid--mostly to the penny arcade. I don't remember much else and of course, everything is changed. I don't think the boardwalk was there and certainly not the waterslide. Still it is beautiful just to be by the ocean. There was a little nature walk area where ocean and fresh water meet, but the thunder made us think twice about pursuing that, but I did get to see some kind of crane type bird before we left. Click on the storm cloud picture up above and you will see him in the water and his reflection. Clicking on the pictures gives you a much better view, but use the back button or you will log off the blog.

We made it to the arcade just before some torrential rains. We were forced to play a few games to kill the time--to be honest, I love some arcade games. I like Dave and Busters, which is a grown up arcade/restaurant combined. We've only been to the one in Pennsylvania. Good thing there isn't one here or I'd want to go. George is not big on the games, but did do a couple. He likes the skill type more so, like skee ball or hitting gophers on the head with a mallet. We cashed in our ticket winnings for penny candy.

Speaking of arcades, if anyone remembers Savin Rock (long gone)--another amusement place by the shore with rides and games, there is a museum dedicated to it that we went to last year. I very much enjoyed watching the movie about it and looking at the exhibits. I remember it was one of our favorite places. They had these arcade type machines that had the crane. It was filled with all kinds of loose penny candy (and it only cost a penny to play!) The crane would come down and you easily got a handful of various little candies. My Mom used to bring a small brown paper bag to put our winnings in.

Well, I've really digressed this time. I think a lot of our days away were about memories too.

We spent the night at a Days Inn in Mystic. For those of you who don't know, when you are on the road, go to any tourist stops and pick up a Room Saver booklet. These are filled with just discount coupons for lodging. They offer great savings, however, many times the motels have told us that their quota for those rooms are gone for the night. We lucked out this time and were able to stay for $67. a night. I cringed when I heard another person come in and ask for the same type room and had to pay $139. a night. He even said, "Sounds good to me." I guess what he doesn't know...I just double checked and sure enough, you can even get these coupons on line at roomsaver.com.

Down in that part of the state we kept seeing this restaurant chain called Tim Hortons. George was determined to try it and we did one day. He was secretly hoping for a closer replacement for his beloved Bob Evans which is not located in CT. We were shocked when we went inside and it is just basically a sandwich/donut shop. We did try it and it was okay, but now we know.

We also went to Old Mystic Village--not the seaport. This is a neat collection of little shops from sports memorabilia, to Munsons chocolates, to a general store, to an army navy--but all small and quaint and in a beautiful setting with walkways and a little pond with ducks. It was fun just to walk around.

Stay tuned for part three with many more pictures as we leave CT.