hyannis

I spent my Easter day exploring Hyannis, often viewed as the capital of Cape Cod because of its importance in transportation and fishing. It was a pretty quiet day, with it being a holiday and also because most places are still not open for the spring season. I started out at the Cape Cod Maritime Museum, a small place telling the basic history of the sea.

This boat was wrecked in the 1620s and recovered in the 1800s. It looks like a whale carcass.

A shelf made of shells

I walked a mile from the museum down to the beach. This one was sandy and filled with shells, but the wind still gave me an earache.

                                                                               Hyannis harbor

                                                    JFK Memorial, next to the Korean War Memorial

sandy beach with not many people out!

After that walk, I managed to find an open creperie downtown and enjoyed a lox crepe for lunch-- delicious!

"a delightful change of pace"

...as my mother would say.

It's been a bit of an adjustment even over the past 24 hours going from living in a substantially sized city to a place where road signs caution "Thickly Settled" (a "30 mph speed trap") and "Blind Drive" signs that require everyone to slow in order to let someone turn into their driveway each minute or so. And that's on the "highway". No road follows a straight path, as I'm sure city planning was not on the priority list of the first people to settle in one of the oldest parts of the United States. The dense tree coverage also prevents one from orienting themselves. I now realize when a distance is calculated to .8 miles, it will really take driving about 3 to 4 miles total, and twice as long as expected (for the reasons stated as above).

Many businesses are not yet open for the season, including the museum at which I will be working. I drove by it today though, trying to figure out where it is in relation to my future house. Apparently it's less than a mile away if you're walking on the trail, and about a mile an a half if you're on the road. Not bad!

Despite some difficulties in navigating, I've made it around to a few places in Cape Cod. I had my first Sandwich in Sandwich:

There are two main bridges onto Cape Cod, the Bourne, and the Sagamore, here. They were opened in 1935. They're quite fun to drive over, although the lanes are a tight squeeze for the car I'm driving.

Old, little cemeteries are all over the place. The gravestones are so thin. This one is on a small hill between a pond and a residential street, very near the museum.

I drove north of my future house to find a beach area. It's a very narrow and rocky beach with coarse sand.

               
                                                                     And that's all for today's ventures.

where am I?

I made it to Cape Cod yesterday after four days of driving and moved my suitcase into the first house I'll be staying at, just for this week. I'll unload my car at a new house hopefully on Tuesday, after starting work on Monday.

Two nights ago I was in Albany-- the capital of New York state, which I confirmed upon arrival. (I was fairly certain it was, and consulted a few people during my drive, but no one was sure.) Speaking of state capitals, after driving 8 hours the first day, I stopped in Indianapolis that night. When I got there, I decided to take a quick cruise through downtown to see the sights. I spotted a Panera and parked a few blocks away and took a walk to dinner. It was cold, but as always it felt good to be out of the car.

on my way to Panera

The second day's drive was shorter, and I stopped in Cleveland to visit my aunt and two cousins. I got there earlier than I planned, so I went to the Cleveland Museum of Art.

 They have over the past few years built an addition, a very modern one, connected to the 1916 building.

By the third day, I was getting pretty bored in the car. The landscape hadn't changed much apart from a gradual increase in tree coverage. I did enjoy looking at the barns. Starting in Ohio, they got bigger, and were mostly red painted wood-- very different from all the limestone barns of Kansas.

The fourth day was a "quick" 4 hours (it really didn't seem long at all!) to Cape Cod from Albany in order to get there before lunchtime. So here I am!

time

I've been preoccupied lately with an upcoming transition to a new job, and one that I was offered to start sooner than expected, but is one that I feel will be more fulfilling than my current situation. I'm excited to start somewhere new, but I have recently realized how I have come to know the people I am surrounded by every day. I have had more people than I ever expected ask to go to lunch, or to a wine tasting, or some other event before I leave, and in a way I feel some regret in staying here for only a few months before packing up all over again. But, that is how it goes at this point in my life. I have friends and acquaintances all over, and for that I am grateful.

Even though we are not supposed to chat while on post at work, it is inevitable. Last week, I was in a gallery where there is a ticking grandfather clock. The clock is long past working on its own, so there is an iPod stationed out of sight with an app that ticks and chimes on the hour. Few people realize it's not actually the clock! However, the question I get asked the most often while in that room is if the ticking ever bothers me. It doesn't. Another officer and I were discussing the tick-tock, and decided it truly does make you acknowledge each second that goes by. For some, it might even seem frightening to have a constant reminder of all the time passing you. For me, stuck in that small stuff room for hours on end, I suppose it's always a reminder that it's one second closer to going home, but on a larger scale, you do tend to keep the concept of passing time at the front of your mind.

With my 26th birthday coming up in just a few weeks and the older I get, the more I realize how important it is to be in the moment and appreciate whatever is good. Over the past few months, that appreciation has mainly been in having a quiet and comfortable apartment to my own after years of sharing with others, and still being close enough to be able to drive home on my free days and spend time with my parents and animals. And, even though it drove me crazy at times, I tried to appreciate the fact that my jobs were not stressful and allowed me time to just think-- whatever thoughts came to mind. You never know when the times will change and it really is so important to find the good in whatever circumstances you have at the moment.

cross-country ski day: second attempt

It was my second attempt because yesterday, apart from a small test run down the road near my apartment, I didn't go skiing. I got my car stuck in the snow instead. I drove to the park perfectly fine, avoiding all the other stuck and sliding people, and circled the block twice trying to find a place to park other than the park's lot, which was not plowed. A few other cars had gone in, but apparently the snow plow had come by after them, building up more snow against the side of the road. That's where I got stuck. It wasn't even two minutes before a couple in a jeep cheerfully jumped out in their snow gear with shovels and started digging me out and pushing the front of my car. They were just driving around helping stuck people! Not even another two minutes my poor car was dislodged. I decided I would come back the next day, which I did.

Today's run was much better coordinated, and the snow was actually melting somewhat and the entrance to the park had been plowed. Two people were already out making tracks, and I attempted to catch up to them, but they left before I ever got there. Still, I had plenty of established trail to work on. I spent all morning out there on my favorite loop that the others had started, with part of it coming down from a fun slope that sent me flying so fast I felt like I was skiing downhill.

After a big lunch to refuel at home, I decided to go back since the sun was out finally. I noticed more people had been out, and some parts of our ski track had been trampled, making it a very slow process to get anywhere. At the top of that slope, I spotted two people and their small dog near the bottom, but walking on the track. I started down, keeping slow enough to not cause an accident. They finally heard me coming and moved, but their dog barely made it out before getting run over. I know the snow is deep, and our lovely tracks made for easier footing, but it seems Midwesterners need some lessons in snow etiquette. Nonetheless, it was a beautiful day!

                                                                       early on, with few tracks

                                                                following an already-made trail

                                                                          through the pretty trees

                                                                                           rest stop

happy President's Day!

The Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum was serving up the favorite cookies of US presidents today, so I went to sample. I couldn't believe the long line for cookies, but luckily I had already explored the museum for over and hour before most people arrived, so I was able to get up in the front. I chose Johnson's lemon bars and Carter's pecan bars. Museum volunteers had baked so many different kinds, and they all looked delicious, but considering the line, I wanted there to be enough for the rest.

I loved the recreated Oval Office of 1950 room, and so did Fox 4 news. I think I was in the background while they were filming.

After finishing off my cookies, I headed down to Independence Square, the cute downtown area very close by. I stopped in to a Scandinavian store, and then to a German restaurant where I got an amazing sandwich and hot potato salad. Then I found a great antique store with the most reasonable prices I have seen. I was greeted by a middle-aged, three-legged chihuahua, which I immediately went to pet. I am definitely animal-deprived. His name was Skitter (or something that rhymes with that) and he had been hit by a car just before Christmas and had to have his leg amputated, but he was the sweetest (and leanest) chihuahua I've ever met. He followed me around while I browsed. I didn't come back with anything but a leftover sandwich half, but I had a really enjoyable morning!

100!

I've hit the 100 mark for job applications sent. And I feel like I've become a professional job applier. Beyond that, you've got me. I haven't heard anything back but a few rejections, but I'll keep on. There's got to be one out there somewhere. It almost feels like a game now!

Today, I volunteered with a local organization that helps resettle refugees to the Kansas City area. We were setting up an apartment for a family of three from Burma. The family was not present, but there were four of us working on it, moving furniture in and everything else a family would need to get settled in a completely new environment. Coming from a refugee camp, most people have little more than the clothes they are wearing. Nearly all of the things we moved in were donations, everything from a kitchen table and chairs, down to a jar of maraschino cherries that apparently comes with every truckload. It's all stored in a warehouse and sorted into sets for each move. There were plenty of toys for the daughter, pictures for the wall, and bath products as well.

The other volunteer and I had a bit of a laugh while setting the table, something the organization does for each home. We had a green vinyl tablecloth, some Christmas poinsettia placemats, floral & ruffle napkins, and blue striped plates. It was quite the mis-match, as was the rest of the apartment, but it still managed to look homey. I can only imagine it will be much more comfortable than what they are coming from.

While we worked, were discussing our jobs, how I hadn't heard back from any I had applied to, and I was glad to find I was not the only one with so much trouble. One other guy told me about his two master's degrees in the economics field, then got a disgruntled look on his face and said, "and now I'm moving furniture!" There may be less unemployment these days, but there seems to be a lot more underemployment. Even a recent blog post by the Center for the Future of Museums was titled "No Future", after the Field Museum cut $5 million dollars from its budget this year, most of it from its science department. For such a powerful and successful museum, that's like seeing a grown up cry for the first time, and you know something's really wrong. But, eventually, things will get better.