Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Tonight's picture was taken in April of 2008. Mattie loved being outside on our deck and he absolutely loved getting soaked. As you can see he grabbed a hold of the hose and wasn't watering anything in particular other than HIMSELF!




Quote of the day: Life is not an easy matter.... You cannot live through it without falling into frustration and cynicism unless you have before you a great idea which raises you above personal misery, above weakness, above all kinds of perfidy and baseness. ~ Leon Trotsky

The rain and coolness returned today. Peter started out the morning by literally walking in the marsh right outside the house we are renting. Everything was covered in fog! I know if Mattie were alive, he would have been right along side Peter on this walk. I watched many, many episodes of Scooby Doo with Mattie, and in each episode there was always some sort of monster featured. So in honor of Mattie, I entitle tonight's picture, "The Marsh Monster!"

We spent the rainy day in Provincetown, which is at the very tip of Cape Cod. The Pilgrim Monument is located in Provincetown, and this monument is 252 feet tall (350 feet above sea level). It is the highest structure around for miles, so it acts just like a beacon.

Here are some facts about the monument:

1. The monument was built from 1907 to 1910 to commemorate the first landing of the Mayflower Pilgrims in Provincetown on November 21, 1620.

2. The walk to the top of the monument entails 116 steps and 60 ramps. It takes about 10 minutes to walk up this structure.

3. The Pilgrim Monument is the tallest all-granite structure in the US. The granite came from Stonington, Maine, and each stone is the thickness of the wall. The design is patterned after the Torre Del Mangia in Siena, Italy.

4. During the climb there are many interior stones that were donated by cities, towns and organizations from all over the US.

5. President Theodore Roosevelt laid the cornerstone of the Monument on August 20, 1907.

6. President William Taft led the dedication ceremony after the Pilgrim Monument's completion on August 5, 1910.

This is Pilgrim Monument and we climbed up to the very top!

There are commemorative stones all over the interior walls of the monument. We snapped a picture of this particular stone because our friends Ann, Mary, and Helen are from Quincy. All the stones on the interior had names of Massachusetts cities on them.

I can only imagine the view we would have seen from the top of the Monument on a sunny day. Here is what it looked like through the rain and clouds.

The top of the monument is open to the weather. So it was windy and rainy, and as you can see Peter was literally climbing the walls.

A view from the top of the Monument.

As I was climbing down, Peter snapped a picture. It gives you some idea for how much climbing up we did!!! The dot of a person at the twelve o'clock position was me!

In addition to the Monument, the site also has a wonderful museum on its property. It is called the Provincetown Museum. The Museum had a WONDERFUL gift shop, wonderful displays about the Monument, the Pilgrims, and Provincetown. I took a picture of Peter by this whale jaw bone. Provincetown was an important whaling port from 1850-1900. Captain Edward Penniman brought this bone back from a whaling voyage. For many years this jaw formed an archway over the entrance to the Captain's home in Eastham.

One of the displays that caught my attention was this math book! Read the signage.... my mom was a high school math teacher (and so is Karen), and I figured they would appreciate this item!

The Pilgrims did not intend to land in Provincetown, MA. They were headed for Virginia, but after being at sea for 67 days and taken off course, they landed in the Cape. Before the 100 Pilgrims disembarked from the boat, they created the Mayflower Compact to guide and govern their colony. You can read the Compact here if you would like.

Peter and I had lunch in Provincetown, right along the water. After lunch we walked Commercial Street, which is the main street in the town. I was wandering around looking at the stores, and Peter apparently took a picture of me walking (I am at the 9 o'clock position). I can assure you that during the tourist season, this street is wall to wall people.

The final picture I would like to share with you tonight is of these glorious sunflowers. These flowers were growing outside of a house right in the center of town. Sunflowers are such happy flowers, their faces seem to smile as they reach toward the sunshine.