Twelve months of gratitude.

 Gratitude has become my word of choice and here are a few reasons why. In December 2012, I was offered a contract from Booktrope Publishing in Seattle Washington to publish my first novel. Many of you know I love history and the Cape, so when I combined the two with a passion for writing and telling a good story, The Old Cape House was born.

This historical fiction, available sometime in late October, as an ebook and paperback, uncovers a Cape Cod secret, hidden for 300 years, through the lives of Maria Hallett in the 1700s and contemporary Nancy Caldwell. More details later...

On top of that great news, I was in the middle of a successful recovery from a hip replacement that had occurred in September of the same year. Eager to get back to a normal life, I did a dumb thing...I fell through an open hatch, falling five feet down, landing on the cement floor of our old Cape Cod basement. It was dark, I was helping Tim with some electrical fine-tuning, the lights were out, and I forgot it was open. Just stupid on my part.

Long story short...I broke no bones but tore my rotator cuff. I can laugh now, especially when I think about during the few seconds of my falling, I was determined not to land on my new hip, which I didn't. I was lucky. Then I had another surgery to repair the shoulder and after several more months of physical therapy I'm back to exploring and discovering all the unique things about Cape Cod and feeling very grateful to live in such a beautiful place. Plus, it gave me plenty of time to edit and re-edit my manuscript in preparation for publication.

 

Crosby Landing–Brewster

 Hemenway Landing–Eastham– the shorebirds search for dinner.

Photo courtesy of P. Eppich

 In August, my brother, niece and sister came visiting from Ohio. I gratefully turned into a tourist, tagging along with them to show them some of my favorite spots for treasures. Here in this photo, my brother and I examine interesting shells that were found as the delicate sound of the tide returned to the beach. It was a beautiful day.

 

A few weeks later, as Tim and I resumed our daily walks, I was fortunate to find this interesting pottery shard in Brewster.

 

Walking a little farther down the beach, the tide presented us with a beautiful pattern of rivulets in the sand.  

Now that I'm back to normal, we're walking more, and enjoying the Cape's beautiful sunsets–perfect endings to our days.