This week we arrived at first day of summer. It’s not a critical data point, but I’d completely lost track of formal season markers until I heard it on the radio. I was driving around my hometown in the pre-waking hours, taking relative advantage of jet lag by running errands before everyone woke up and took over the streets. This was when I pulled into Stop & Shop and heard the local DJ pipe up: “It’s the first day of summer,” he said to us, “What’s your favorite Cape Cod activity?” 

It’s kind of an easy but not exactly answerable question, this particular one. It’s easy in that there are so many possibilities that come to mind. Hard in really naming something that sounds substantive. Something that others might find worthy of mentioning. Like the dogwoods in bloom this time of year.

I love getting up early on a Cape Cod summer morning. Invariably I will explore Main Street and peering into the 90% of storefronts that I have never actually visited. And probably never will. There’s the lobster ice cream on offer at Ben and Bill’s Chocolate Emporium but what I really like is going to Stop & Shop and buying a bunch of regular ice cream. Soft As A Grape t-shirt shop looks nice but I don’t need any Cape Cod shirts. All of these places have their clientele and appeal—it’s just not what I list at the top of my summer activities. 

I did actually get my hair cut on Main Street yesterday. I was in a pinch and went down the line of Falmouth hairdressers until someone had an availability. The person cutting my hair was a brand-new transplant, and she was asking me to list the restaurants I was keen to return to now that I was back home for a week.  I tried to think on it. I drew blanks.

“Well,” I told her, “I know I live in Italy but I do love going back to Papa Gino’s pizza.”  It’s a comical answer but really the only Cape meals I was looking forward to happened to take place in the living room in front of a hockey game. Nothing fancy, nothing really worthy of mention. Again, like the DJ’s question, I didn’t feel as though I was giving her an answer worthy of my appreciation for being at home. 

I love to go for a run. Anywhere on Cape Cod, but skirting the sea so I can be deposited in front of the Steamship Authority in Woods Hole is my favorite. If I can get my brother out of bed early enough and drag him along, then this is even better. But this almost never happens. We usually end up running together once he’s out of bed and moving when the sun is high in the sky. He is a night owl who likes his alone time, I am an early bird with no intention to sing or be sung to in those early hours.

I do love heading to the beach at sunset for a one of a kind, never quite the same color display. There’s lots of people who love this too, and indeed it’s a year-round activity that can’t be beat.

I love being at home. Doing stuff. Chipping away at projects. Dreaming up new ideas both big and small with no overwhelming concern about whether we’ll ever actually get to them. “It’s on the list” is an often-heard refrain around here. The list of things to get to never gets smaller—there are only additions. But all of these tasks aren’t garden variety life admin stuff. They are more the kind of goals that keep your brain wanting to run. Engaged and excited to wake up and tackle them. And to return back to the Cool 102 DJ, none of this exactly specific to Cape Cod in the summer. 

I’ve got other activities that I love to do too. Like going to ask Dad questions about how to do things. Or asking him do something for me like I’m still in Mashpee Middle School and have to dream up something cool. There is no problem too big or small for me to ask him. Be it a task in the woodshop or something around the house that is well beyond my grasp of knowledge, more now than ever I appreciate the fact that in this Cape summer I still have him to turn to.

There’s a feeling I get When I look to the west And my spirit is crying for leaving. I love climbing into just about any vehicle and spinning the dial to the most Cape Coddy of music stations. Or playing it around the house. I toggle back between Cool 102 and Pixy 103. The fact that I spin to either of these while wearing whatever I found in my bedroom from ten years ago—old t-shirts, paint-spattered shorts. These are the actions that make me old. And all of them—especially the fact that the radio continues to play the same music since I was a kid— now act as a Balm of Gilead.

The more that I think about it, there is not too much variation between the seasons on Cape Cod. It’s enough to be present and do the things that you love. As for me, I didn’t sit around and wait to hear what other radio listeners might enjoy doing here in the summer. I am sure that they are all worthy activities, but I honestly couldn’t be bothered to know. I’m too interested in digging into my own stuff. And, I needed to get in and out of Stop & Shop before it got too busy. Lots of people come to the Cape for a reason, and that’s more than enough reason for me to get in and out of town before they’re up and running for the day.