2020 Life Logs, Day 314: Afternoon at Quissett
Date: Tuesday, November 10, 2020
Weather: Sunny; High 66, Low 57 Degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, Falmouth, MA
Amazing. We had another summer-like day in November and I enjoyed every minute of it. Shadow is now walking a mile in the mornings with me, after a break in our walking for the first few days after his surgery. We enjoyed our walk this morning as he seems to be recovering quickly. Then I had my monthly Newcomers book club meeting. Five of us met in person in the backyard of our fearless leader, Sally Holbrook, and two other members joined us on Zoom. We had a new member join us today and we spent time introducing ourselves to her and learning about her move to Falmouth. She is quite a bit younger than the rest of us, but it is great to have new energy. Then it was time to pick Ollie up from school as this was an Early Release day. We had planned to drive to Plymouth to see the Mayflower, but the weather was so spectacular that he didn’t want to spend it riding in a car.
I agreed, so I took him home where Heather had convinced Sam, Jonah, and Sam’s friend Robert that it would be fun to visit Quissett Harbor and walk out to The Knob. It is a beautiful spot this world. The Goldpebbles LOVE Quissiett Harbor, so off we went for an afternoon of fun in the sun.
On the car ride to The Knob, I warned the boys that I read on Facebook that there have been some changes to the winding, narrow seaside path out to the rocky hill overlooking Buzzards Bay known as The Knob. I read that it is no longer narrow and winding as it has been widened considerably. When we got there, they started down the path in front of me and then I heard the sighs of exasperation. “How can the signs tell us to respect nature when they have destroyed it?” I found them high atop a pile of brush that has been cleared to make the path wider. I tried to explain that the brush will grow back soon enough. They were having none of it, but they soon got over it and continued on out the path. There is a rocky beach on the right side of the path and they climbed down the stairs to sit on the rocks. Then we walked on out to The Knob, enjoyed the view of Buzzards Bay, and headed back by way of the rocky beach along Quissett Harbor. They spent a lot of time adding to the rock cairns along the way. Each boy built cairns that they were very proud of and grabbed my phone from time to time to take photos of them. As we walked back, there were boulders and lots of rocks to negotiate, so I was always bringing up the rear. As I picked my way carefully through the rocks, mostly looking down, at one point, I looked ahead a bit and saw these skinny pink legs topped by a black back standing on a boulder. My first thought was that it looked like a rather gigantic black-winged stilt bird, but then I realized it was just Sam. I had been amazed by his restraint of not jumping into the water today. But now he had started wading to find rocks for another cairn.
The Goldpebbles + Robert ended their adventure by making sand balls and throwing them at boulders out in the water. I am always amazed at how much time boys can spend truly enjoying such an activity. But I just sat on a rock and waited, soaking up the last rays of today’s sun and the sound of boys enjoying a battle with a boulder. Ah, the joys of the simple things in life.
