December weather is finally here

It finally feels like December here on the Cape... time to bundle up for those beach walks! The Christmas decorations are all around town, and the merchants are all in good cheer as many shoppers have decided to buy local this holiday season.

The Upper County Road bridge is still under construction, so you'll still need to take alternate routes if you get off Route 6 at Exit 9. There's also construction along 28 through Dennis, as well as Lower County Road in Dennis. Leave a little extra time and you'll be fine.

Whatever you're doing this last week before Christmas, take time to relax and enjoy.

24 Days of Christmas Giveaway!

Today I've traveled over to Kate Evangelista's blog to talk about all things Christmas! Well, maybe not all things, but you know what I mean ;-)

Kate is a fellow Crescent Moon Press author, who's been celebrating the Holiday Season all month with a series of guests and a ton of prizes and giveaways. If you haven't been over to her blog to check it out yet... you're missing out on some great books and prizes! GO! NOW!

Come visit me over there today at www.kateevangelista.com and be sure to leave a comment! I'm talking about my most memorable Christmas - and invite you to share a Christmas memory or two. There are 24 of us authors participating, and each of us is giving away some great stuff.

I'm giving away a paperback copy of my first novel, UNFOLDING THE SHADOWS, because it JUST CAME OUT IN PAPERBACK IN NOVEMBER! *yea*

Enter to Win your copy today!

Time for some Holiday Baking!

While I love baking cookies any time of year, the holidays are my FAVORITE time to break out the rolling pin, the colored sugars, the M&Ms... oh, who am I kidding about the M&Ms? Those are good all year 'round!

But seriously, I love baking Christmas cookies, and am so thankful that my daughter loves to be right by my side baking up a storm! (and that she is weird and doesn't like eating M&Ms, so more for me!)

She even helped me out with an article about Creative Cookies for the Holiday Issue of CapeWomenOnline magazine, you know, that place I'm supposed to be working today but am too busy baking cookies (I wish!)

Anyway, check out her story and our recipes for old-fashioned Stained Glass Cookies and Peanut Butter Blossoms - yes, the ones with the whole Hershey Kiss sitting on the top! You can find the recipes in the Creative Women section of CapeWomenOnline magazine, along with photos.

Are You Ready for the Holidays?

The Countdown has Begun!

Melissa Ann Goodwin comes to Cape Cod!

Melissa Goodwin will be on Cape Cod - in Yarmouth - tomorrow night to sign copies of her wonderful childrens book, The Christmas Village.

Here are the details:

Friday, November 30, from 6 to 8pm

at

One Centre Street Inn

1 Center Street,Yarmouth Port MA 02675 

508-362-9951

If you're a fan of Melissa's blog, stop over there to give her a shout out! If you're going to be on Cape Cod for one of the wonderful Christmas Strolls going on this weekend, stop by the Inn and say hi in person! Center Street is right off 6A in Yarmouth Port, easy to get to.

She's a wonderful and warm person, and I've had fun getting to know her as we've gone back and forth online about her visits to Cape Cod, among her various travels over the past year. Melissa also wrote a wonderful article for the Holiday Issue of CapeWomenOnline magazine - check it out in our Literary Women section.

And Don't Forget to send her some love ;-) 

About THE CHRISTMAS VILLAGE:

When 12-year-old Jamie Reynolds comes to his grandparents' Vermont home for Christmas, he just wants things to go back to the way they were before his dad disappeared. Time and again he is drawn to Grandma's miniature Christmas village, where he imagines that life is perfect.

Late one night, his fantasy of escaping into it becomes very real indeed.

Jamie discovers that the village is called Canterbury, where the year is 1932. He becomes fast friends with Kelly and Christopher Pennysworth, and is taken in by Ida, who runs the local boarding house. But he also makes a dangerous enemy of the mysterious and menacing Jim Gordon, whose return to town is nothing but trouble.

As Jamie desperately races against time to find his way back home, he is suddenly faced with a terrifying choice: to go ahead with his plan to leave, or to stay and help his friends, at the risk of never going home again.

The Christmas Village on Amazon

The Christmas Village on Smashwords

The Christmas Village on Facebook

Construction in the Point

Jane Sugden stopped me in the street this weekend and asked if I would take some photographs of the rennovations going on at the Donovan/Hale house (where Jack  and Norma Carney used to live.) I guess she's talked to several people who were interested in updates, so here's are the latest photos...

Exciting to watch the changes as the team is moving along at a rapid pace!

Remember Our Veterans

The Harwich Veterans Day will be held Sunday, November 11th at 11:00 a.m. at the Island Pond Cemetary, off Main Street in the middle of Harwich Center.

Parking is available along the cemetery roads, the ceremony will be held at the Veteran's Memorial - if you haven't been before, follow the crowds.

There will be a World War II veteran as the main speaker, as well as a color guard of Harwich Scout troops. All are welcome (and it should be warm this year.)

For our friends and neighbors off-Cape, remember to take a moment of silence at 11:00 a.m. to honor our the service and sacrifices made by our veterans.

America is the land of the free because of the brave men and women that have fought to keep it this way.

The Day After Sandy

 Views along Old Mill Point beaches on Tuesday, October 30th, beginning along the Herring River and exiting from Seaway Beach entrance

*UPDATE* Several residents are still without power along the upper end of Pine Lane as a transformer seems to have gone out. NSTAR did not make it into OMP today to take care of the problem (even though one of those affected is a Selectmen here in town...)

Hopefully those residents have power restored soon.
 .

 The sandbags deployed around the Strandway tall staircase seem to have kept it safe from storm damage.

 The jetty seemed to have taken a beating from Sandy, with many of the chink rocks washed out onto the beach. Some of the new snow fence was also knocked down, and part of the dune eaten away.

 The Seaway stairs seem to have survived intact as well, no damage, and the view along the fencing shows that we may have actually gained some sand pushed up along the dunes from the storm.

More storm photos from incoming Hurricane Sandy

 At the highest point of the midday tide, the waves still didn't breach the dunes, although they completely covered the jetty. The river came up to the height of the new dock...

The view of the beach at the end of Strandway, where you can see the waves covering the jetty that runs along the river - the river and the ocean were practically one all along the jetty.

The winds are picking up and we've had a few power blips, but back in business as I type. Walking around the neighborhood, not much damage yet (small branches down, lots of leaves and needles blowing.) The part of Route 28 that crosses the Herring River was closed by flooding. Not sure about Allen Harbor but assume that part of Lower County is also closed down.

Staying indoors for now. Stay safe out there!

Hurricane Sandy on her way...

These were taken this morning about 2 hours before the mid-day high tide. I'll try to get back up at high tide to take more photos. You can see that the waves are already surging well over the jetty. Also note that the sandbags did get deployed down on Strandway Beach around the staircase to protect it from being washed away (those are the white lumps in the third picture down from the top.)

As of this moment, we still have power in OMP, although I've heard there are outages around the Cape. Some gas stations sold out of gas yesterday as people stocked up and/or left Cape Cod. Schools all over the Cape were cancelled for today, and some of the schools (like Nauset High School) are being used as
emergency evacuation points.

Everyone stay safe!

"Frankenstorm" headed this way

Looking out at the calm ocean, it's hard to believe that a giant storm is on its way, barreling toward the East Coast as I type. The local media has nicknamed it "Frankenstorm" as it's about to screw up everyone's Halloween plans.

That's a new thing - the weather service has decided to start officially naming storms so it's easier to hash tag them. But that system hasn't gone into effect yet, so we're still getting the fun, made-up names, like last year's "Snowtober" storm. And now, Frankenstorm. Go ahead, say it. It's fun to say.


I guess I haven't lived through a "real" coastal storm yet. I've been lucky in my years on the Cape. The insurance company keeps telling us that when they raise the rates in preparation for The Big One. I remain skeptical of just how bad a storm could be around here. I mean, it's not Haiti. It's Cape Cod.

And then I look at my sister's experience last year in Killington, another upscale resort community. Her house made it through unscathed, but her road was washed away. As were many of her friends homes, cars and possessions. And the Woodstock Inn (where she works) took forever to recover from the flooding and the mud damage. The state of Vermont is still in the process of recovering, more than a year later.

So maybe I will move the patio furniture, and bring the pumpkins inside. And keep my fingers crossed that the storm goes out to sea instead of crashing on my shore.

Although it does have a cool name.

Happy October!

The weather so far in October has been oh-so-capricious, sunny and warm one day and rainy and cold the next. Columbus Day weekend was its own mixed bag, with pockets of sunshine and beach walking weather mixed in with blowy, cold rain.

The garbage barrels are officially retired for the season from the beaches and dock, and the speed bumps are slated to go into storage this week. The signs are decorated for the fall season, and the signs of life around the neighborhood are slowing down despite the still-blooming flowers that dot the landscape.

Old Mill Point is taking a deep breath, and readying itself for the coming winter.

2nd Annual Sandcastle Contest!

There were many creative constructions in the 2nd Annual Old Mill Point Sandcastle Contest, held Saturday night on Seaway Beach. Apparently there was a real live mermaid entered into the contest (seaweed hair and all) who had to go home for dinner before I got there to take pictures. Sorry I missed that!

There were two "creatures" entered in the contest, the turtle and the whale, although someone might have to explain the carrot to me...

(Note the smile on the whale's face, made of stones... so cute...)

I suspect the Holleran grandkids made those penants at home and brought them along to the beach in anticipation of needing a little color... and it looked great!

The Connelly clan also added color to their castle in the form of painted seashells - I'm telling you, these kids get more creative every year!

The Wolf grandkids went with an Olympic theme, writing USA with seaweed and decorating with found objects.

I'm not sure who built the hot-tub replica, but I'll bet it would be fun to hang out in that when the tide comes in and fills it!

See what I mean about creative? Every contest entry was different, every one unique, and every one a winner!

Big Congrats to all the participants and all the judges! Great job to everyone - and see you all next year! Can't wait to see what you think up for the next contest!

Sandcastle Kids

There were plenty of wonderful entries in the second annual Old Mill Point Sandcastle Contest. It looked like the kids all had a fun time creating their castles, creatures and deep-deep holes. One group - including the Costello boys, above - created a scene from Old Mill Point, complete with a windmill, the jetty, and real seaglass in the windows of the houses!

This young man is showing off his deep, deep hole - he was down so deep he struck water even after starting at the top of the beach!

These kids didn't dig quite as deeply, but their hole was much wider in scope...

...and I'm sure he was a big helper with the digging...

Some kids stayed with their castles to make sure the judges gave them all the ribbons they deserved...

...while others spent the evening wandering along the shore. It was a beautiful night for a beach walk!