“Birds! Birds! Ye are beautiful things,
With your earth-treading feet,
And your cloud-cleaving wings!”
By Eliza Cook
Our neighborhood has quite a few birds. Daughter Sue has a small nest of tiny birds in the corner of her gutter. We have at least two cardinals and a very noisy mockingbird. Last week, daughter Sue and her friend Joanne saw a bald eagle on Route 6 in Barnstable. Hubby and I and 28 additional seniors just returned from five days at the Irish Village in South Yarmouth. Each day as we sat in the dining hall at the hotel, we saw a bird with a red breast and maybe a red head trying to get through the curved part of a small window at the top of one of the tall windows. Hubby was able to take a photo of the bird so it probably was a robin although he wasn’t able to get a good photo of its head. We all laughed as he continued to batter its head. Talk about determination!
As I mentioned, 30 of us seniors left for the Cape a week ago Monday afternoon. Our pals Greg and Sarah Ashe left home a little early and were able to get in a trip to the pool before we arrived. Eileen Collins, the organizer of our trip, and her fellow travelers also arrived before we did. They had eaten at Seafood Sam’s. We had not eaten lunch so we stopped at Friendly’s in Hyannis. Both of us had cheeseburgers. We remembered daughter Sue’s suggestion and ordered our burgers on sourdough bread. We thought that the burgers were extra good and we attributed the good taste to the sourdough bread.
That evening, most of those who were not playing dominoes came to the dining hall to hear the musician Fintan Stanley. Those of us who go to the Irish Pastoral Centre’s monthly luncheon had recently enjoyed Fintan and his music. He played so many songs that we knew, so we joined in singing with him. (I must say that our three sopranos from Lower Mills, Mary, Pat, and Barbara, were in fine voice that evening.) Fintan even complimented his “Keystone Choir” for their fine singing.
Back we walked to our rooms about 10:30 p.m. We watched some of the news and especially the weather on TV. It was only about 50 degrees at that time of evening. We fell asleep easily since Hubby and I had been awake since 4:30 a.m. We had set the alarm for 7 a.m. and I was up first so I went to the main lobby to get two half-cups of decaf coffee. There was hardly anyone in the lobby at that early hour. By the time I got back to our room, Hubby was up and shaving. We watched some of the morning news on NECN while we waited to meet our group at 8 a.m. I didn’t have to look at the menu. I ordered hash, with one scrambled egg. Hubby splurged and ordered bacon and eggs. Several around us ordered pancakes. (How I was tempted.) Quite a few ordered a fruit cup, including Hubby and me.
When we finished breakfast, we started out on our trip to Dennisport. My first stop was to the Post Office. The staff at that office is so nice. I was looking for 10-and 20-cent stamps to mail packages. The clerk gave me all of those stamps that she had. Then she asked if there was anything else I needed. “May I have a book of “forever” stamps,” I said. “Would you like flag stamps or water lilies?” she asked. She saw my face light up and immediately brought out the water lily stamps. They are gorgeous!
Then we went a little farther down the road to the Job Lot Store. That store is much neater than many Job Lots because it is larger than most. Of course, we had to go to the Dollar Tree Store. Hubby has already bought several strings of battery-operated, multi-colored bells, which he has draped on our yew bushes near the front stairs on several recent evenings. They look positively beautiful when it is dark. Of course, he had to purchase a few more strings. Between the strings of colored bells and the solar-powered candles that he put on either side of our walkway to the back yard, we look like we are an extra runway for Logan Airport.
It was getting toward noon on Tuesday so we decided that we would drive up Route 134 to Patriot Plaza. There is a Burger King there. We like BK but wanted something other than a burger. I remembered that Stop & Shop sold sandwiches. Hubby went in and found them. There was a white-bread sandwich with Willow Tree Chicken Salad in one of the cold cases. Hubby took that for himself. He asked if there were any tuna sandwiches. “I’ll make one for you,” said the clerk. Out Hubby came with the sandwiches and a small bag of potato chips. We had already bought Diet Cokes at the Dollar Tree Store in Dennisport, so we were all set for lunch.
We drove to the Agway Store to get some cat food for Louie. We bought about 20 cans. Usually we like to go through the garden area of that store but it had started to rain quite heavily so we didn’t even look at the beautiful whiskey barrels that were for sale. They were beautifully made, but we didn’t want to get wet. As we came through the cashier, we told him the story we had from last autumn. A woman and her dog were behind me in line at the register. The dog could smell the dog biscuits that the cashier had in a container to reward good dogs. His front paws went up on the counter and he took a biscuit. Then he tried to get another one but the clerk had put the container under the counter. As Hubby and I left the store, the dog thought that I was the one giving out treats so he tried to follow me. We all laughed as he tugged on his leash. What a good dog!
I must stop and tell you about Tom, our friend at the Irish Village and now a part owner. A few weeks back, Tom had a beer keg fall on his foot. It was sore so he had it x-rayed. He was told it was not broken. Several weeks later, it still was not better. Another x-ray showed that his foot was, indeed, broken. While we were down at the Village, Tom was wearing a boot. We were amazed at how well he was able to get around the place as quickly as he did.
On the way back to the Irish Village, it began to rain quite heavily again. Then it would stop just as quickly. Hubby had to put the heat on in the car to stop the windows from fogging up because of the outside cold air. We brought some of our purchases into our room. We knew that Eileen had asked that we come down to eat at 6:30 p.m. That would have us being served between busloads of fellow travelers, whom the Irish Village staff feeds each evening. It is amazing how efficient the staff is in feeding so many in such a short time. Hubby and I told ourselves that we would rest for a short time. Then we would get into the pool.
An hour and a half later, we finally woke up. We washed our hands and faces and hurried to the dining room. Tuesday night was one of the evenings when dinner was included. I enjoyed the beef tips other years so I ordered those this evening. Pal Gregory told Hubby that the sirloin steak was excellent so he ordered it with a baked potato. He would switch to prime rib on Thursday evening. I decided that I would order a fruit cup for an appetizer and keep it for my dessert. I was going to be good! Then pal Eileen suggested that I get a dessert also. I said I would want only ice cream, with a little bit of strawberry sauce. She said to ask for the strawberries on the side, so I did. I gave Hubby a little kick when he ordered my absolute favorite dessert, strawberry shortcake. Hubby never even spoke at dinner. He was so busy with his steak and baked potato. When the desserts came, I gave him some of my strawberries in juice. There will be more about our five days at the Irish Village next week, including the names of our fellow travellers.
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Here is a thought that I received in an e-mail from the Friendship Social (for those with disabilities) that we attended on Sunday: “A good life is when you smile often, dream big, laugh a lot, and realize how blessed you are for what you have.”
