Stories from the Road

Stories from the road

October 21, 2016

Brewster, Mass.

Low-lying clouds and a light rain have descended upon Cape Cod at 5:00 PM on a Friday afternoon. We drove down from Mattapoisett along highway 6A this morning. I have often said that a photographer could spend his entire career taking pictures along a 25-mile stretch of scenic 6A. The marshes, the homes, the wildlife; they are all beautiful.

Steve Valle, our host, and Vicki and I went to lunch at Land Ho in Orleans. It is hard to beat the clam chowder and fresh oysters there.  Later we went to a well-known ice cream place. While there about twenty elementary school students came in to buy ice cream and candy. It was Friday, they had money, and they were all excited. I thought this is a kind of pure joy that is hard to come by as an adult. Steve took a picture that captured the scene.

On the way out of the shop a local stopped me and said he had to tell me something he had overheard. One of the kids said to another, “ Did you just text me?” His friend replied, “ I don’t know. What did I say?” The man and the woman he was with couldn’t stop laughing!

Our friend Tom Hardy should be in the air now on a medivac flight from France to San Diego. Tom was in the ICU in France for three weeks fighting an infection. We all are hoping for the best for Tom and Michele, his wife, who has done an amazing job helping to mobilize his care under the most trying of circumstances. If everything goes according to plan, Tom should be in Palomar Hospital by 8:00 tonight. After writing this, I received a text from Michele that the plane had landed in San Diego.