Bergs, Not Just for Alaska Anymore

Perhaps you have seen some pictures of Cape Cod on the news in the past week. We have been on the news because of large ice chunks on the beaches of Eastham and Wellfleet. It's something that has not happened in about 80 years and it is very (VERY!!) cool!

Bobby and I went and checked out First Encounter Beach in Eastham today in the rain. We wanted to see it for ourselves!

It was awesome!!

The first group of pictures gives you an overview. We had to walk across a lot of snowy ice to get to the actual sandy beach.

Of course there were iceberg selfies.

Because I wore rain boots, I could walk farther out through the puddles. I climbed one of the 'bergs and took this panoramic. There were icebergs as far as I could see. Many of them were shoulder height and some were about 6 feet tall.

This is me on top of my iceberg.

Professional wakeboarder, Brian Grubb, visited Wellfleet this week and shot some pretty neat video.




Maybe winter wakeboarding will be the next tourist attraction on Cape Cod?

ABC Jeep Tour

I had been to Aruba before and remembered the beauty and complete difference of the North/East side from the West side of the island. Melissa was going to be content floating, but I could not let the trip go by without a little jeep ride. Our hosts, Alicia and Joal from ABC Tours Aruba led us on a 2+hour adventure. When we first meet up with them, we were handed red bandannas. I thought they were like headbands as in, "this is our posse, don't mess with us". Obviously I had been hanging out with teenagers for too long. I guess they were for keeping the sand/dust out of our mouths, but we wore them on our heads anyway.

First stop, California Lighthouse. Don't we look bad ass?

We stopped by my favorite and cutest church. It is a Catholic church and there are services held here every weekend. Because the church is so small, there are benches outside for the parishioners. Joal thought it would be HYSTERICAL to put his friend's pet snake in our jeep while we were inside the church. Oh, it was hysterical because that's what Melissa and I were!!!

The North/East side of the island reminds me a lot of the Maine coast. It is  very rocky and rough. It is also breathtakingly beautiful. The little rock sculptures people had made actually have a very cool back story. They are called fisherman stones and before a fisherman goes out on a trip some of his family members come make a little stone column and say a prayer. Some were very elaborate!

Joal, our driver, was like a little kid with a dirt bike although he was an adult with a jeep. We took so many off road paths! We shrieked and screamed and laughed through the whole trip.

We wound down from our excursion on the patio of the Ritz with some cocktails. They were so pretty, I had to take a picture. And yes, we were wearing our cool headbands. You never know where I might show up wearing mine!!

My Friend Melissa

Melissa and I met in 1st grade in Acton, MA. We had Mrs. Popolizio as our First Grade teacher. She was great. I remember having a kiddie pool in the classroom with pond life in it.

Anyway, I don't remember much else about First Grade, but Melissa and I were tight until she moved away in 4th grade. I remember crying hysterically in the shower when I learned she was moving to Maine. Thanks to our parents, we were able to switch vacation weeks (February at Melissa's, April at mine and vice versa). Our families skied together when we could. I would go visit her at Sebago Lake where she had a summer house. In high school, she came and lived with my family in Ogunquit, Maine during the summer. We became "sisters". We talked, we argued, we loved. She went to Wheaton in MA, I went to Bates in Maine (irony). She moved out to Chicago after college while I moved to the Cape. Through it all, we stayed friends.


We were in each other's weddings and our kids are all friends. We still try to go to Sebago Lake to visit in the summer. Once we got out to Indianapolis and sometimes she comes to Cape Cod. When she asked me a few weeks ago if I wanted to go to Aruba with her, I couldn't get "YES" out of my mouth fast enough. So we went, 4 nights and 5 blissful days in the sunshine. A well needed break from the worst winter I can remember in a long time. I didn't tell many people about it because I actually felt guilty getting a little sun in the winter of snow and more snow (and yes, a little more snow). We were able to talk without being interrupted, we were able to plan our day without planning meals and taking kids too and fro and we were able to float in the ocean for a 1/2 hour at a time without anyone saying, "I'm bored". It was a true gift.

We told some people while we were there that we were celebrating 42 years of friendship. We stunned people speechless. I think we made a few people jealous and maybe we pushed a few people to call an old friend. There was nothing weird about being together. We were not tired of each other and at every meal, we found something to talk about. I am honored to have Melissa as my oldest/dearest friend.

I am also very, very lucky.

Me and Melissa at 10 years old....

Me and Melissa in Aruba....

No difference, right?

A short story...

When my oldest/dearest friend, Melissa, and I were younger, we loved making up stories of things and people. She just treated me to the trip of a lifetime in Aruba last week. This picture is a picture of the cabana next to ours that I secretly took. The following is the story that I feel goes with the picture....

Jimmy Valero had lived on the south side of Philly for all of his 46 years. he knew the neighborhoods, the people, the way things worked. Actually; he was in charge of how things worked in the underground. Jimmy liked the finer things in life: Cuban cigars, fast cars and hot Brazilians. As he got older, he put more of the day to day workings of his business on his nephews' shoulders. He told people that he dabbled in real estate, but that was the front for the drug running business he had. Sure he had sold a few houses in his day, but that didn't make nearly the money of drug running. He loved to run the drugs, but he had never taken any himself. He had watched too many addicts die while waiting for their next high to want to get involved.

His favorite place to blow off some steam was Aruba. He went twice a month and bought a time share at 2 different hotels. The cigars were cheap and so were the women. Jimmy oozed sex appeal with his greased back hair, gold charms and chest hair. He walked and talked like he had money and was happy to flaunt it. At the roulette table one recent night, he met 2 Brazilian strippers who were sisters. They barely spoke English, but with the size of the breasts and asses, Jimmy could have cared less. They spent the night all together at Jimmy's time share at PlayaLinda. Sleeping was not much for the activity in which they were involved. The next day Jimmy invited them to his beach cabana.

The girls had bikinis that were more akin to thong underwear showcased at Victoria Secret. As a matter of fact one of the girls had angel wings tattooed on her back and a devil on her right cheek. While the girls traded off laying next to Jimmy on the chaise, they would chat with their cabana neighbors. Jimmy loved telling people about his backyard in Philly. He had transformed it into his own mini Aruba. He had spent years searching online for items that would fit perfectly in his special space. he even had fake palm trees that looked so real people wondered how he grew them in city soil.

The girls decided to go swimming to cool off from the high temps in the cabana. Their asses shook as they playfully blew Jimmy kisses as they walked toward the water. An hour later they returned completely dry, giggling and rocked out of their minds.

Jimmy and his girls went back to the hotel for an afternoon "siesta". They never came back. Jimmy was found the next day tied to his bed in his time share with no money in his wallet and no pulse. Jimmy had had a heart attack while being pleasured by his Brazilian call girls. they took all his winnings from the night before and fled as quick as they could. Instead of a burial in South Philly, Jimmy had wished to be thrown off the North side of the island.

Jimmy Valero got his wish.

Valerie Who?

I promised myself I would write at least 15 minutes a day for the next 2 months. Not necessarily a blog post, but just writing.

It's hard.

Send the whine-bulance, seriously. Or wine-bulance, take your pick.

There are so many things that are so much more important, but I guess it is surprising me how hard it is to think up something to write every day.

Maybe it is just hard to be clever every day. I guess everything doesn't have to be clever, but I like to make people laugh, think, be amused.

Currently, I am sitting in a room with 3 teenagers watching a food channel program with kids and baking and Duff and Valerie Bertinelli.

The teens know Valerie by being on Jenny Craig commercials and Hot in Cleveland. 

I was like, "excuse me, she was married to Eddie VanHalen".

Teens: Blank stares.

"Seriously, who doesn't know who Eddie VanHalen and VanHalen are? And she named their kid "Wolfgang"."

Teens: Crickets.

"She was also on One Day At A Time."

Teens: More crickets....

Teens; they really do have so much to learn....

Oh February...

Back in January, we had no snow,

We joked how winter was a big no,

We wore cute shoes and didn't slip,

We could go out to dinner and not trip.

Then February came. Ouch, what a slap,

Our driveways became an icy trap,

Many snowbanks are now above the first floor,

We may never again use the front door.

We've missed multiple days of school,

Decreasing our summer time in a pool.

We've shoveled so much, our biceps are strong,

Who needs the gym, free workouts aren't wrong.

The bitter chill has settled over the Cape,

We brush snow and our windshields we scrape.

Our feet have not seen anything but heavy boots,

We only eat chocolate things, definitely not fruit.

On Facebook, snow pictures have turned to throwback pics,

Beach scenes, bathing suits, summer sunsets in the mix.

Elsa is seen on Post Office walls as "most wanted"

Kids wearing "Frozen" shirts are now taunted.

Snowbanks have taken on a life of their own,

Town snow budgets have been blown,

When will the last of it disappear?

Hopefully soon, but as of now it's unclear.

The good news is the clocks move ahead in 2 weeks,

The extra sun will feel good on our cheeks.

The arctic cold will hopefully dissipate,

This is something we can anticipate.

Our thoughts will turn to hamburgers and grills,

Painted toes, flip flops, summertime thrills,

Beach towels, swimming, castles in the sand,

Bikinis, sundresses on bodies that are tanned.

Not much longer now Cape Cod,

We will be thawed.

Enjoy the longer sunny days that soon will be,

Holding on to a positive attitude is the key!

Mental Toughness

As many of you know, I was a ski racer when I was younger. I loved it: being outside, skiing, competing, being with my friends. It was also a family thing in my house; 4 of us skied all day and my mom was always in the lodge waiting with lunch and warm hands to warm up our toes. I learned so much from ski racing. I learned time management, how to deal with disappointment, how hard work pays off, sacrifice, and mental toughness among other things.

One of the most important things I learned was to try all the way to the end. A race course can be anywhere from 25 seconds long to 2 minutes long (approximately). The courses are never the same although they have the same elements in them. The mountains are all different that we raced on, the coaches setting the course all had their own ideas, but the one thing in common was that there was always a little space between the last gate and the finish line. We were taught not to stop trying on that last gate, but to think of the finish line as the last gate. If we thought the race was over at the last gate, we just might relax enough to fall, stand up straight or just not push through to the finish line. Since everything is on a timer, gliding through the finish line could cost valuable tenths of seconds and be the factor between 1st place and 4th place.

This is an important factor to remember in any sport. My daughter, B, swims competitively. I try to get in her head and explain to her that sports are 90% mental, 10% physical. The girl is a power house, but sometimes she lets the girl swimming next to her psych her out. Yesterday, she said she glided into the wall at the end of a race instead of pushing. She is in high school and is just beginning to realize little things that could make her faster. She has made great strides this season and it is beginning to dawn on her that mental toughness and fighting for the wall at the end of a race is crucial.

Last night's Super Bowl was a perfect example of not giving up in the final seconds. The Patriots were looking at losing another Super Bowl. Did the defense give up? They could have. But mental toughness prevailed and they kept fighting. Malcom Butler made one of the most fantastic plays of the game. The winning play of the game.


Mental toughness is not something only for sports. It's for believing in yourself and all that you are capable of. I think it's time to take some of my own advice....