THREE SEASONS in SANDWICH: Settling In

We've been in East Sandwich now for 10 days and have made a lot of progress in terms of settling in. By Saturday, we had gone from this

to this

Christina, Lou, and our six grandchildren came for a visit that day. Although, in my opinion, a lot more could have been done to make everything perfect, in the opinion of the Grands, it was all perfect enough to give them the satisfaction that comes with walking in and immediately setting about the task of tearing everything apart. I was awestruck by Michael's innate ability to zone right in on a book that Jim had purchased as a birthday present for him, which Jim had hidden, albeit in plain sight. (Michael's birthday is in late November.) I was terrified as they all tried to run up the spiral staircase to the loft at the same time and as fast as they could.

Of course, they loved the fact that our house is on the beach, and 5 of them spent quite a bit of time there with Jim collecting rocks and the small amount of shells they could find.

The Pied Piper of Sandwich

Number 6 and I watched from behind the screen door.

Granny and Joey

Soon, it was time for lunch, and everyone sat down to eat. There was sand everywhere. Everywhere.

Bedlam Comes to Cape Cod

We had dinner at a local restaurant. Afterward, Christina and Lou and 5 of the 6 went home. Catherine spent the weekend with us, collecting more rocks and dragging in more sand with the Pied Piper until we took her home yesterday.

This morning, I set about getting the house in total order while I did 10 days' worth of laundry.

Ode to Land o' Lakes

TSO and I explored a little today. We checked out the Sandwich Farmers Market. Today was the market's last day of the season. Boo! While there, we shared a small charcoal fired Margherita pizza, bought some EVOO and honey from a man who splits his time between Cape Cod and Greece, picked up some fresh produce, and treated ourselves to some freshly caught scallops.

We had a delicious dinner this evening.