This almost NEVER happens any more

[DFW]

The four of us in one place at the same time! This was July 2 in Provincetown, MA in the evening.

The great Stan Lee refers to them as "your fabulous females." I tend to agree:

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[blaze]

1. Photo isn't showing DFW

Have you seen the new policies at Photobucket?

Here's a brief thread about it: https://www.democraticunderground.com/103659194

[DFW]

2. I just saw that, photo is now up

They certainly are clever--let people use them for free for a few years, count on them to be there forever, store their pics there en masse, and THEN, with no warning, whack us for big fees to be able to continue. Very smart--nasty as all hell, but smart.

[blaze]

3. Still not showing for me... privacy settings maybe? nt

[DFW]

4. I never put on any privacy settings. I will see about this

I can now see the photo fine, so something must be doable about this.

[DFW]

7. Can you try that one more time?

Apparently it is visible to some.

[Liberal Jesus Freak]

5. Well, I can see it...

...and it's beautiful

[DFW]

6. Delayed reaction, maybe?

In any case, thanks on both counts!

[blaze]

9. Hmmm.... still can't see it. I'll check back a little later. n/t

[DFW]

10. I'll ask a few others to look

I don't want to sent Photobucket angry notes until I'm sure they are justified.

[irisblue]

8. You really really got lucky

1-did the airline get your luggage to you?
2-lobster roll?
3-please go to the patio @ The Lobster Pot for me & have a cold drink. I loved that place.

[DFW]

11. Well, here is an update

1. The last piece of missing luggage got to us an hour ago--5 days after we left!! The poor delivery guy had been driving all night, and we were his last delivery. He had trouble finding us (but that is, after all, why we come here!).

2. No, we haven't been robbed by any masked, gun-carrying lobsters yet (sorry, I couldn't resist). P-town was so jammed yesterday, they just banned parking on Commercial Street altogether, so we didn't even try. We watched the fireworks from across the bay in our living room. A little miniature from this far away, but very comfortable, and we didn't even have to worry about feeding the mosquitoes, which, after 4 years of relative scarcity, are out in force this year (mild winter, I guess), and are VERY hungry. Today, on the other hand, is a different story.

3. I do a radio show on WOMR-FM at least one Monday morning when I'm here, and afterward, we ALWAYS eat lunch at the Patio (the restaurant, not the actual Lobster Pot). It is one of our favorite places--along with the Mews, the Red Inn, Café Edwige, the Purple Feather and Local 186 (grilled artichoke heart appetizers! who needs the rest of the menu?).

[irisblue]

12. Snarkmaster you!

LOL

[niyad]

13. I can see it. thank you for sharing your amazing family with us, DFW. lifts my spirits

[smirkymonkey]

14. Lovely photo! Lovely family!

I hope you are all having a wonderful time! The Cape is one of my favorite places. I spent the long weekend in Maine (Kennebunkport) because I have a free place to stay, but I do miss the Cape. How long are you staying?

[DFW]

15. We're staying until the end of the month. It's a 4000 plus mile trip for us to get here.

So it makes no sense for us to come for just a week. It costs me a goodly portion of my yearly take-home pay to do this, but I refuse to give it up. I have a rather stressful schedule for 11 months out of the year, and all the money in the world won't help me if I drop dead wishing I had taken the time off. So I take the time off. This is the first time we have been together with our two girls since New Year's, and the first time with their two boyfriends, both of whom we like very much. Although they don't look it, they are 34 and 32 (left to right), and long past the age where they could care less whether we approve of their boyfriends or not, so we are VERY happy that we do!

[blaze]

16. Now I see it!!

Not sure why there was such a delay.... Ah well.

Great snap and I hope you and your family have a wonderful vacation!!

[DFW]

18. Thanks!

Starting now, it got a whole lot better!

[steve2470]

17. I need to meet you one of these days

You're a very interesting guy. All the best to you and your family! Glad you finally got your luggage

[DFW]

19. I'm a very ordinary guy

I just happened to fall into a few very interesting situations.

Any YOU are glad we got our luggage? Man, think how glad WE are!!

If you're in the neighborhood*, you know you have a standing invitation to drop in, as I have said before.

*"our neighborhood" tends to be a VERY fluid concept. Better call first! LOL

[smirkymonkey]

20. I'm happy for you! I hope you are having a marvelous time!

They all look very young for their ages. The important thing is that you have a nice time together as a family. Some of my best memories are times together on the Cape with my family. There is no place quite like it.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

21. What a wonderful photo, my dear DFW!

I am thrilled to hear that all your luggage finally got there. We've been very lucky as that has never happened to us.......yet.

Enjoy your stay and the great weather and sleeping in and eating at all your favorite places.



And please say hello to your beautiful wife from us! We look forward to seeing all of you again one sweet day!

[DFW]

22. We look forward to welcoming you and LM

Anywhere from Cape Cod to Duesseldorf or points in between

[Rhiannon12866]

23. Beautiful family, lovely vacation spot!

We used to visit Cape Ann when I was a kid - and one thing I remember was that the water was cold!

Hope you have a wonderful time - and glad to hear you got your luggage!

[DFW]

24. The water used to be cold here, too

Not any more. The water off of Long Nook beach on the national seashore is now perfectly swimmable without a wet suit. It used to be icy. The fauna has suffered, too. Thirty years ago, the water here was filled with Starfish, sand dollars and horseshoe crabs. The millions of hermit crabs have been reduced to a tiny sprinkling. Only the blue crabs and green crabs seem to have adapted to the increase in water temperature.

[Rhiannon12866]

27. It was a beautiful spot.

My grandmother's oldest friend had a house there, and also a guest house - which, as kids, we thought was the coolest thing. It had two bedrooms, a kitchen, a screened in porch and an outdoor shower to use when you returned from the beach. We'd all go with my grandmother, my aunt and my cousin, my mother, my brother and me. It's not that Dads weren't invited (it was my Dad's mother), but my Dad was a workaholic in those days, apparently my uncle was too.

The beach was called Plum Cove - surprised I remember after all these years - and just wading in the water made your bones hurt it was so cold. We'd try to walk out as far as we dared - which wasn't far. There were neighbors that had a pair of pet geese. Each had a little house with their names pained on it, Samantha and Peterkin, I remember that, too.

My grandmother was big on the ocean, used to take us kids or walks early in the morning and she taught us the names of all the shells. I should have figured that climate change would have reached this spot, as well. That makes me sad, but thanks for reminding me of such good memories...

[DFW]

28. There have been changes over the last 33 years, no question

But some of our favorite spots are still there. Even some of our favorite eating locales are still here. Even a few of our favorite local people are still here! And the local community radio station in Provincetown that I stumbled onto that first summer (1984) is still here. I was waiting for some people at the municipal airport, and heard 5 Leo Kottke tunes in a row. I had NEVER heard a radio station play 5 Kottke tunes in a row EVER. They were looking for financial support to keep on the air, so I called them up immediately and told them any station that plays 5 Kottke tunes in a row gets my support for life! Now, as then, I do a segment on the radio at least once while here, and make a substantial donation as well, as it is entirely community supported (LOVE the concept!).

The warmer water has brought seals up from points south. Unfortunately, that means the appearance of Great White sharks as well. We see seals all the time, but the sharks tend to hang around Chatham and Orleans, about 20 miles south of us, and we have never seen one this far north (Truro). We are in no hurry, either!

[Rhiannon12866]

29. I'd like to go back there someday, though I'm afraid things may have changed

It was an enormous house - with a guest house. I've often found that places I remember from my childhood have been built up. At about the same age, I went to Florida with my uncle, aunt and cousin (and met my grandmother there) and stayed in a wonderful little house just up a hill from the beach. I think there were four of these cool little houses, rentals, I guess. But when I asked my aunt about it years later, she said they built a high rise there.

And that sounds like a sympathetic radio station! I love community radio, it's a vanishing breed... And it sounds like the wildlife has sure changed, too! I never saw a seal - and I was always afraid of the fish, LOL. I'd also imagine that the inhabitants of the water of Plum Cove has changed, too. I don't remember seeing fish, maybe because it was so cold.

But it sounds like you're having a wonderful vacation with your whole family! We always enjoy your beautiful family pix!

[DFW]

30. Plum Cove Beach is well to the north of us, and the waters are sheltered by Cape Ann

They might not have gotten as warm as the water off the National Seashore.

We support WOMR-FM every year. A community radio station such as that one must not be allowed to die out. It provides the perfect counterbalance to commercial radio and Republican-backed affiliates of National Hate Radio.

Our younger daughter had to leave this morning, as she is flying back to Germany tonight, and she wanted to show her boyfriend around downtown Boston before they flew out. There is a farmers market every Saturday in Provincetown, and we like to go up there and buy stuff from local merchants.

After spending too much at the market, we went over to the Post Office Café for breakfast. There was a line, but the receptionist said she had a table for four if two parties of two wanted to share. There was a straight couple behind us looking stony-faced and a couple of gay couple behind them. We said we'd be happy to share a table for four and so did one of the gay couples, so we got seated while the rest of them continued to wait in the hot sun. One of the guys was from Colombia. He was a doctor by training. His partner was a former businessman from the Boston area. They both decided to chuck their chosen professions, and now run a successful florist business somewhere in the Boston area. We had a grand old time, and the only people who disapproved were the ones who were pissed that we took so long to get our check (the waiter was no speed demon, I plead innocent, and still left him a 20% tip).

So now we are empty nesters again--but not for long. Our neighbors from Düsseldorf are coming in less than a week. Our elder daughter from New York City is coming back a few days later, and my brother is coming up from Langley a few days after that. We are glad for the company, but we are also glad for the occasional dull moment. After all, it's OUR vacation, too.

By the way, 3 nights ago, we say Jesse Colin Young in concert right here in Truro. The guy is 75 (!!) and his voice is still strong. His son had graduated from the Berklee College of Music in Boston, and he had taken a bunch of recent graduates and formed a band with them. They were absolute dynamite. I was a little nostalgic for the old Youngbloods sound, which was NOT there. My band once opened for the Youngbloods exactly FIFTY years ago in Washington, DC, when I was fifteen (!!) and I have rarely heard a tighter group since. The Hollies and the Eagles were on that level, but that was about it.

[Rhiannon12866]

31. That was the nearby beach - think we visited Rockport

So I looked it up and remembered going to Bearskin Neck, there was a restaurant there that my grandmother always wanted to visit at least once. I couldn't find that, but it was quite some time ago, think I was under 10, LOL.

It sure sounds like you're having a busy "vacation," but it sounds like old home week for you, too. And I can see why your daughter enjoys Boston. It's certainly full of important history and it's not like other big cities, more like neighborhoods and easy to get around - unless you're driving...

Glad that you made some interesting new friends, and that is one thing I really don't get, anyone who continues to hang onto old prejudices in this day and age. I still remember what Jon Stewart said about "gay marriage," that with all the fuss over it, he thought it must be mandatory! One of my closest friends who I grew up with turned out to be gay - and they got married a couple of years ago, were persuaded to finally make it official by their two intelligent and well-adjusted kids!

And that concert sounds phenomenal! We have SPAC - Saratoga Performing Arts Center - in my neck-of-the-woods, saw all manner of concerts there with friends or my brother when we were kids, though it's been awhile. A couple of years ago The Beach Boys were playing (including Brian Wilson!) and I offered to take my brother since they were his favorites, but he told me he couldn't stay up that late! Obviously, that's not my issue...


I hope that you get some time to relax, but spending time with close family and friends has got to be your high point of the year, making new memories and remembering the good ones really is the best...

[femmocrat]

25. Beautiful family!

It's great to see you all together and so happy.

[DFW]

26. We are rarely together as a foursome any more

My wife and I live in the Düsseldorf area, our elder daughter lives in Manhattan, and the younger one lives in Frankfurt, though she's just as likely to be in Zürich, London or Hamburg as she is to be home.

So, yes, we are happy when we get the occasional moment together!