Collections on Cape Cod

Storm clouds blew over the East Coast last week. Crosby Landing Beach, in Brewster, received its share of Mother Nature's fury. It was windy, rainy, and chilly on the morning Tim and I took a walk down the dog path that parallels the coastline. At its end, the narrow path turns left and over a dune for the return to the parking lot on the beach. 

 A smooth sandy drift blocked our passage. As we walked around, we found a surprise.

Someone had found a bottle opener/corkscrew and placed it on the fence post. A remnant of fun from the beach this past summer. Thinking of foot safety, I picked it up for our collection of lost objects we've come across on the beach.

Over the years on Cape Cod, we've collected some unusual objects. 

As you know, I collect other things. Whenever I travel, walk, or explore, I'm always watching and listening.  I find interesting people who tell me their stories, their histories, and memories. I use experiences from my youth.  I incorporate feelings or images that I come across on my daily walks. There are old houses, cranberry bogs, ancient paths, and hidden treasures not yet uncovered on the beach or on a nearby field. All waiting to be discovered, if you only look. And I always look!

When I craft my novels, I pull on everything that comes across my life's journey. 

In my latest novel, The Old Cape Teapot, my contemporary character, Nancy Caldwell, visits her son on Antigua. He's in the Peace Corps on the island.  While there, she meets a direct descendant of a pirate survivor from the pirate ship Whydah that sunk off the coast of Cape Cod in 1717. 

Well...I do have a son who served in the Peace Corp on the island of Antigua and based some of the story on my own experiences when I visited him back in the late nineties.

ANTIGUA 

Did I sleep surrounded in netting to keep the lizards out of my bed? Of course. 

 Did my son, Tim, build an orphanage for special needs children? Yes.

Was there a small cafe at the end of the road by his little house? Yes, and I did eat goat stew!

Have I ever met a real pirate? Have I ever found treasure? The answers to these questions I intend to keep secret.  But I will tell you that I'm always searching. I hope you are too! 

My third historical novel, The Old Cape's Hollywood Secret, will be coming in the summer of 2016. Nancy Caldwell takes you back to1947 in Hollywood and on Cape Cod.  This time it's an adventure/ thriller with a touch of history and the glamour of old Hollywood.

Check out where I'll be over the month of October under EVENTS.