A Weekend at the Cape

After our liaison with Chowder, we headed directly to the house. And what should await us on our porch, but this...



A gift from mom. We are still growing the basil we gave as favors at our wedding two years ago, but those are not nearly as hearty looking as this guy. Hurrah! Since our wedding plants are practically senior citizens in the plant world, I suppose we could use a replenishment. But I will still attempt to grow our wedding basil until it shrivels up into a dry brittle twig, no matter how good this young whippersnapper looks. "Death do us part" and all....

We settled in on the deck and did a bit of work, I have to admit. Last minute planning for the shoot the next day and some other planning and answering emails for future shoots. Have to say, I didn't mind working in that environment. Certainly didn't mind chopping some tomatoes for a special green bean salad Mom was making with this as my view...


We had salmon on the grill and green bean salad and headed to bed pretty early. We had attempted to make it to the Cape late the night before, but after some hateful construction traffic on I-95 near New Haven, we couldn't make it to even Rhode Island before 2:30am. So we crashed at a cheap hotel which had an excessive amount of Betty Boop decor, a horrific tempurpedic bed and only a slight resemblance to something you might see in a horror flick, and continued our drive Friday morning. So all of that, plus a wedding to shoot the next day meant we were pretty ready to crash.

Saturday dawned and was absolutely gorgeous. Perfect Cape weather and perfect weather for a wedding. It was great to see my friend Anne again. It had been....gosh...6 years since I'd seen her, but it seemed like last week. And She. Looked. Gorgeous. Absolutely stunning. No pictures of that, sadly, but there will eventually be a great video we'll be sure to post here.

Sunday dawned a little humid and overcast, but we had a lovely time anyway. Clay and Kristyn came down as well and it was great to see them. Mom and I did some gardening, which was super fun. I'm discovering I really like it. We did some weeding and got rid of some overgrown ivy and made room for these guys again. Frick and Frack, who have sat on this rock in this portion of the patio for as long as I can remember.


We played the same frisbee/horseshoes game as we did last year at Clay's birthday. Clay & I vs. Geoff & Kristyn. And even though I am absolutely horrendous at frisbee (something about the wrist thing I just can't master), I did manage to get the winning point, so maybe there's hope for me yet.

Then I spent a little time with my old friend, the outdoor shower. If you've never had one, you don't know what you're missing. And after that it was time for gin & tonics. I don't usually like gin, but holy moses were these refreshing and wonderful.


While Mom whipped up some cilantro lime grilled shrimp...


And Hayley chilled on her special portion of the couch...



I mostly wandered around taking pictures of hydrangeas....




We had gorgonzola burgers and special Boston Creme Pie Cupcakes for dessert. Since we were celebrating Father's Day and Dad's birthday and Boston Creme Pie is his favorite, Mom outdid herself with this Martha Stewart recipe. A-MAZ-ING. Wish I had a picture.

We stayed over til Monday, which was H-O-T with not a ton of breeze. Had some great talks with Mom and Dad about life and the future and all was really good, even though it included a minor emotional breakdown about the state of my life. But in a way that helps me move forward, so all was good in the end.

Hayley did some swimming...


And we spent our last moments on the deck with a corona and some chips and salsa and good conversation. It was healing to my soul in a number of ways. Here's hoping that some day we can spend more than two days on either side of a shoot in this amazing restorative place....