Gooooooooooood Morning USAAAAAAAAAAAA !! (ain't been back in a while)

[DFW]

We landed in the middle of Hurricane Arthur and brought two of our best friends/neighbors from Germany with us. They had never been to the east coast of the USA before, and being drenched in a tropical rainstorm isn't what I had expected to offer them as an introduction. However, the rain cleared up by Saturday, and they liked what they saw of Boston. We didn't have much time there, as we had to head out to Cape Cod to pick up my guitar in Marstons Mills and then continue on to Truro, where we will stay in relative obscurity for most of the rest of the time. We were in Provincetown today, a place definitely like no other they had ever seen!

If anyone is within radio range of WOMR FM, check it out Monday morning, July 14th, as of 10:30 AM or so, as I'll be there with a special friend (one of the notorious Dean brothers), unless his transportation dies, in which case it's just me and "the other Bob."

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. My dear DFW!

How good to see you, and to know that at last you're on vacation!

I hope the weather will treat you well...that's the least you deserve.

And I hope your best friends/neighbors enjoy your hospitality and the countryside.

Happy Landings and have fun with your interview!

[DFW]

2. Thanks, Peggy!

Last edited Mon Jul 7, 2014, 11:09 AM - Edit history (2)

And you can hear us over the internet as WOMR offers streaming at www.womr.org although you'll have to get up early if you're on Pacific time!

*on edit--last night at one of our favorite places in Provincetown. Peter is from Austria, but lives next door with his wife Kornelia, who is German.
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[CaliforniaPeggy]

3. And I am on Pacific time.......that would make the broadcast around 7:30 AM!

Probably won't happen.......but ya never know...

[MADem]

16. Y'all are all good looking--and respectable looking, too!!!

Hope the 'eats' wuz grand!

[DFW]

18. I've gained 150 pounds and we've only been here 5 days! n/t

[MADem]

29. It's easy to do!!! nt

[MADem]

4. You do know WOMR has a web presence, yes?

Outermost community radio is also on the net....if you're near your computer you can listen in.

http://womr.org/

[DFW]

7. I am indeed

(see post 2)

[MADem]

11. Ah, I read your OP and went straight to response mode! Here's a kick, then!!! nt

[DFW]

12. No sweat. I'm on vacation, remember?

It's not easy to get me riled up for the next 3 weeks

[MADem]

13. Lucky you!! Enjoy every moment! nt

[NBachers]

5. Another adventure with DFW- and we're all invited. Welcome back to the USofA!

[DFW]

8. Thanks! Good to be in one of my favorite parts.

Southerner though I might be, I love the outer tip of Cape Cod, and so does my European wife. This year, even our neighbors from Düsseldorf came to check it out, and they love it, too!

[JNelson6563]

6. Welcome home!

[DFW]

9. Thanks for that!

So far, the weather is unseasonably cool and rainy, and we don't care. Fresh sea air, peace and quiet, GREAT people and food, and for a couple of weeks, I ain't goin' nowhere.*

*Well, let's say, I don't INTEND on going anywhere. Two years ago, one Monday while I was here, I got an email from the White House asking if I would like to spend an hour with Barack Obama in Washington that Friday. THAT year, I went somewhere! LOL!

[MADem]

15. If you find yourself in Orleans, beat your way over to a dump called

the Yardarm Restaurant. It's not really a dump, it's charmingly rustic and priced right. One of my favorite joints. Go early, they fill up REAL quick in season. They have a prime rib night midweek. It's behind a gas station not far from Main Street and the Rockland Trust Bank. Good food, nice dive bar, very typical experience for your friends--some nights they do trivia at the baaaah, call ahead to find out when (I won a certificate for forty bucks once).

For breakfast you could do the Homeport Restaurant, small, crowded, priced right, great omelets, and they usually have a jazzy 'egg white' one on the menu, right up Main Street near the Friend's (gasp-grab your wallet, it's a hold-up--a lot like Whole Paycheck) grocery, across from Post Office Square. There's a hella thrift shop next to that Homeport (seriously--they get some amazing stuff in there, and it benefits worthy causes). Fun to paw through if you get an "iffy" weather day.

I know a lot of places further along as well, in Chatham, Harwich, through Hyannis (they've spiffed up Main Street in the past decade or so; you've still got the odd ruffians but no where near like the old days) and on to Sandwich, but those two are my favorites in Orleans in terms of price and that's about as close as I get to where you're at when I'm down at the Cape, unless I'm heading to the Wellfleet Drive In (you HAVE to take your German friends to that, if they've never been and would like to see a film, just for the experience--make sure your car has a good FM radio or bring a boom box with one, the speakers provided are all pretty horrid). We bring a picnic, get there early, have dinner and drinks, and have a great time. We take turns playing designated driver because the cops love to nab people on that road--it's their income stream!

There's also a clam shack I used to like up your way, two actually-one at the beach and one inland a bit, but their names escape me!

Business and 'drama' have kept me away from the Cape this summer...hopefully I'll get there in a few weeks, we'll see!

[DFW]

23. We rarely move that far south while we are here

Remember, my job takes me to a different country practically every day. I come here to NOT move around. We stay in Truro and go as far as Wellfleet or Provincetown, but that is about it.

[MADem]

28. Well, go to the drive-in, if anything good is playing while you're visiting...!

http://www.wellfleetcinemas.com/drive-in-theatre

Those "transformer" movies aren't my favorites, but it looks like a good line-up if you have kids in your party. If not, maybe next week, if you're still vacationing, there will be something better.

Usually, the first movie is for kids, the second movie is more for adults--the idea is to fill the rugrats full of sugar and stuff after an already full day of beach/swim/etc., let them run circles around the car for an hour or two, and then let them collapse, exhausted in the back seat while the adults watch the "good" movie!

I love the Wellfleet Drive In...I used to love the Harbour View in Kingston, Jamaica, too, but that one is long gone (the things people yelled at the screen made the show worthwhile, half the time). Any place I go that I find a drive in, I'm there!

[DFW]

32. Our girls are too old for that now

The 29 year old is now traipsing through Brazil following team Germany in the world cup. But she works under German rules, and has 6 weeks paid vacation, so she can do that, even though it pains her to miss the Cape for a year. The older one (31) just got promoted to a position that has 3 weeks paid vacation (NYC) and will be coming up here the next 3 weekends, 2 of them with a carload of friends who freeload off of us for 2 days, with our full knowledge and consent.

We took our neighbors from Düsseldorf for their first whale watch this morning, and their first round of boogie boarding at Long Nook beach this afternoon. This evening--NOTHING. I can go exhaust myself with my day job. This is my down time.

[MADem]

33. I heard the whale watching is good this year. They did a CHRONICLE or one of those

newsy shows about it.

If you've been boogie boarding all afternoon, you're probably exhausted! It was a good day overhead, for a change!

[DFW]

35. Our friends from Europe got some amazing shots, I will post them later.

We were pretty zapped, you're right. EVERYTHING hurt! The water was much colder this year than last (so far). Interestingly enough, the colder water may have been a boon to the nutrients which are at the bottom of the food chain. That, in turn, would have explained the over-abundance of sand eels on which the whales feed, and thus the whales were out there feeding in abundance. The naturalist on board explained that an adult whale would need to eat one ton of sand eels a day, which means 120,000 eels per whale per day. We also saw at least four breeches (!!!). They are definitely having a good time this year!

[DFW]

10. To follow up on what MADem pointed out

WOMR is a community-supported radio station. They get some recorded shows (Amy Goodman, for instance), but it's usually all live volunteers, and the station is supported almost completely by listener donations. Although I'm only a summer tourist, I love the concept and contribute substantially. They have all kinds of shows, all kinds of music, and I usually come on the Monday morning folk music show. I must be on my 5th or 6th host over the last 30 years. I usually play a few tunes live (cover your ears, or don't say I didn't warn you), and sometimes bring in friends from Europe to give their impressions of the Cape or even play music with me. Once, I even arranged a phone interview with legendary guitar builder Božo Podunavac, who is a friend from the 70s. This year, my "guest" will be (or, is supposed to be!) Howard Dean's brother, Jim, who runs Democracy For America, the ground organization that helps Democrats out in crucial elections, and sometimes makes the difference.

[marzipanni]

14. I'll set my alarm clock @ 7:25 PT for this momentous occasion!

I am a Massachusetts kid who planted myself in California long ago, but I still love my old stomping grounds in New England.
Will you be spending any time around Boston again at the other end of your two weeks?

[DFW]

20. One night only.

We break our re-introduction into the real world gently. I then have to fly off to work the next day. We drag our time out here as long as we can. When it's vacation time, we spend the first and last nights in Boston, and then head out to Truro ASAP.

[DFW]

22. It will not be very momentous, I fear

It's a very low-key community radio station, not MSNBC.

However, Jim Dean is a very engaging guy, much like Howard. Still, it is mostly a music program, and there will probably be mostly that. I usually play a piece or two live, and they will usually play some of my Freedom Toast stuff as well. Maybe even a piece or two from back in the Holland-America Line days.

[kentauros]

17. Welcome back :)

And I think this was the perfect time for your friends to visit. Because until you experience storms like that, you have no idea what it's like, even when watching good news coverage of such weather

[DFW]

19. Unfortunately we know only too well what storms like that are like

A month ago, we had the most violent storm ever in the Düsseldorf area. It tore off pieces of houses, dumped hail the size of oranges, uprooted trees hundreds of years old, destroyed parks and small forests, brought down branches weighing hundreds of kilos, flattened cars, sometimes with people in them (6 dead confirmed). Arthur was a sprinkle compared to what we got.

[kentauros]

21. Yeah, I remember reading about that.

I didn't know they had gone through that storm, too.

[DFW]

24. Düsseldorf got the worst of any place on the continent, too.

It was scary stuff. It was at night, and besides seeing the hail and the rain flowing sideways through the lightning flashes, all I heard was things thumping against the house and things outside falling over and smashing.

[kentauros]

25. I seem to recall you personally posting about it, too.

Storms of any intensity like that are difficult to calmly wait out.

I'm sorry for my comment earlier.

[DFW]

31. No offense taken, I don't expect everyone on DU to remember what happened in Düsseldorf a month ago.

What the Hobby Lobotomy decision and all, people Stateside had bigger worries than what was happening outside my window, and rightly so.

[malthaussen]

26. Back in the USA!

&feature=kp

-- Mal

[Arugula Latte]

27. Welcome back! Hope you enjoy our guns, ridiculous portions and rightwing lunatics!

[DFW]

30. The part where I'll be spending most of my time, only one out of the three is to be found

On the outer tip of Cape Cod, there are hardly any guns to be seen, and you're about as likely to find rightwing lunatics on the outer cape in summer as you are to find Benjamin Netanyahu in Mecca during the Hajj.

On the other hand, the food is SO good here, the portions can't be big enough, but they're usually just right. From October to May, the outer Cape becomes a tourist desert, where tourist dollars are scarcer than snowflakes in Death Vally in August. SO, they jack up the prices, and serve just enough to keep the diners happy without giving them so much they won't consider dining out the next night. This is not Hawai'i. These people here have just a few months out of the year to make a living, or lose one.

In August, I'll be back in Dallas. I'll get more of my share of guns and rightwing fanatics when I'm home--although Dallas itself has a huge Democratic community, and Wendy Davis does some of her best fundraising there--including at my house!

[MADem]

34. MA is not overly "gunny." Even the hunters on the Cape are low key.

When they go out hunting, there's no question what they're up to; they have the little outfits on, the orange so people will see them, there's no question what they're doing.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_laws_in_Massachusetts

It's a tourist area, so they feed well but they don't OVERfeed. And a lot of the righties are .... tourists!!!

[DFW]

36. You're spot on, and it never ceases to amaze us

WHY in the world would a bunch of unpleasant right wing people come to a place that is well-known for its arts, generally gun-free peacefully laid-back atmosphere, and is a gay Mecca to boot? And yet they do.

One year, while I was doing the radio show at WOMR, my wife and daughters had breakfast at the Post Office Café in Provincetown. All the waiters are openly gay, but in P-town, that's no more unusual than Asians in Tokyo. A family, obviously NOT from anywhere near Massachusetts, came in and started perusing the menu. After a very short time, they noted, to their horror, that all the staff were gay. They loudly proclaimed their disgust, got up and left. After they did, all the waiters started prancing around, doing imitations of the unlamented departed family, and got standing ovation from the other patrons for their hilarious performance.

[MADem]

37. There was an influx of Very Wealthy People some years back who bought along the

Very Pricey mid-Cape (and to a slightly lesser extent, the outer Cape as well) shore many years back in the housing boom. They just didn't get the whole point of the place--which is small, modest, laid back, and there's nothing wrong with listening to the ball game on the transistor RADIO at the beach instead of sitting in an air conditioned room with a wide screen tee vee.

Unfortunately, many of them built these...well, fucking HOTELS, pardon my French, but that's the only way to refer to them...as their private homes. They tore down charming cottages (which actually were considered "fine homes" on the scale of plain to fancy) and built these massive ... THINGS with ... Palladian windows!!! Palladian windows ... with shingles! I mean, come ON...! Then they put up large fences so anyone driving past would no longer see a small cottage, a nice yard, a few trees and the sea, but instead see a six or ten foot high wooden fence that hid from view this behemoth of a home that stayed empty ten months of the year. Some even tried to block access to the beaches (that didn't go over well--the beach is for everyone, even if ya have to trot in over the sand to plunk your fat ass, with cooler, umbrella, and tattered shorts and tee shirt, smack dab in the line of sight of their ridiculous and overpriced pick-cha window!! And I've done that, just to make the point!).

Last time I was over the bridge, I couldn't help but notice that a lot of these overblown homes have FOR SALE signs on them....I guess the charm is fleeting, or something?

In any event, the nice bit is this--those bastards couldn't get out of paying property taxes, even if they could offshore everything else, and their tax dollars helped with off-season stuff that continues all year round, like senior programs, early childhood programs, school breakfast programs, and things of that nature.

Love your P-Town anecdote! I gotta say, the stupidity...it BURNS sometime! I do especially delight in the fact that those harrumphing bigots had to drive a long-ass way down Rte. 6 to get offended in one of the most charming spots in the Continental USA! I hope the drive back for them was long and full of stop-and-go traffic!

[DFW]

38. Yeah, we've seen a few of the monster houses go up over our 30 years of coming here

Not too many, fortunately, here in Truro. I was actually at a rally headed by Mike Dukakis about 6 years ago in Wellfleet, raising money for senior housing for locals who could no longer afford to live in the place they came from. But, you're right, some of them are now "for sale" with no takers, and they have to keep paying the property taxes until they are rid of their fancy digs. I mean, if it's a rich family with 11 kids and they plan on living here year round (fat chance), I can understand it, but I think that applies to just about zero per cent of the people who built them.

By the way, when the Dukakis thing was held, it was outside and the sun was blazing down, so I was asked if I'd hold a sun umbrella over him. I asked him if he was getting too much sun, and he said, "I'm Greek. No such thing as too much sun!"

[MADem]

39. Mike is a wonderful human being.

He's still around Beantown--teaching at Northeastern, I think.

A lot of those giant homes would make great micro-assisted living places for elderly or disabled, IMO.

The Cape does better than a lot of communities in the elder/disabled housing scheme of things, but the wait lists are still WAY too long--I know someone who has been on the list for two years, who needs housing on one level due to disability.

Once a person gets housing, though, it's quality--not large, not fancy, but just right and in good repair. At least they spend the property tax revenues sensibly!

If you've been going to CC for three decades, you probably remember the blue law days--buy your booze on SAT because the packie is closed on Sundays!

One branch of my family goes back on the Cape for nearly a century, now--but they're newcomers compared to some of the real old-timers!

[DFW]

40. Booze is NEVER a problem with me

I never touch the stuff. Don't like the taste of it, never did, probably never will.

If there were Blue Law days, I never would have noticed!