1) The standard definition of New England weather — “if you don’t like the weather, wait five minutes” — certainly applied yesterday. The day began with thick, unpromising fog, then gave way to blazing sun, then fog again, and so on, back and forth for the rest of the day. All of it was beautiful.
2) Lunch with Craig at Pepe’s Wharf, where we got one of the best tables on the upper deck. Sparkling rosé and lobster salad for me, and then coconut cake. The ladies at the next table got all excited about our desserts, and when someone asked “What cake is that?” I answered “Mine!”
3) After lunch, I had the sort of experience I could only share with Mother or Aunt Betty, because only they would truly appreciate it. The Provincetown Library was having its book sale in front of the library, so of course I had to browse through. Have you ever browsed through a used bookstore and found a book written by someone you knew? Well, there was the name Carl I. Gable on a book, and it just so happened that he came to the Dimmick-Evans family reunion in Atlanta way back in 1985. And this book, Palladian Days: Finding a New Life in a Venetian Country House, just happens to be by his wife Sally (who did not come to the reunion), and just happens to be about how they bought one of the most important surviving villas by Palladio a couple years after Carl attended our family reunion. I’m already finding it an absorbing read.
3a) Just how did Carl happen to attend that reunion, and how is he related to us? I feel sure that Aunt Betty had something to do with it, as she was the one in her generation most interested in genealogy. Mother would have been delighted with the whole experience of discovering the book and remembering that reunion meeting.
4) The fog returned early in the evening. It reinforced somehow how reluctant I’ve been to mix and mingle in a large way in Provincetown due to the pandemic. And that was underscored on Comical Street by two chance meetings with two dear friends I have barely seen in 18 months, and a near collision with two neighborhood acquaintances en route for takeout. Those unplanned, unexpected interactions fed my soul.
5) After dinner I unwisely got a hot fudge sundae and went to the end of MacMillan Pier to stare at the moon through the fog. At times it was amazingly sharp in detail, surrounded by a luminous ring; no photograph of mine could do it justice. But at the end of the pier, it was often almost completely shrouded from view.
5a) While there, I also saw the Salacious passing the jetty into the pier, a small collection of lights in the dark. I was very glad not to be embarking for a return trip!
6) This morning, Sunday, uncompromising sunshine has returned, but not sunny temperatures. The Housemate and I ended up discussing seasoning blends, of all things, over our coffee. My passing reference to herbes de Provence led to the Housemate sharing info about Ernest Hemingway’s hamburger recipe, which includes ingredients that are no longer manufactured like India relish, beau monde seasoning, and Mei Yen powder (which seems to be a mixture of salt and sugar with a bit of MSG mixed with a bit of soy sauce). So who knows where today will lead?!
