Slipping Life’s Bounds

Tessa Morgan first worked with clay to sooth her teenage angst and nurse the creativity her parents instilled in her when she was a little girl. In the 35 years since, that early work—tiny pots she made at a neighbor’s house in the Maryland countryside outside Washington, D.C.—has evolved into vases, lamps, bowls, and tiles that sing with Morgan’s spirited designs and gorgeous hand-mixed glazes. Read more…

Posted in Art, Arts & Culture

Tile Artistry

Showcasing some of the finest art in New England and beyond, Tree’s Place, on Route 6A in Orleans, is firmly established as a renowned gallery featuring nationally celebrated artists. Its gallery walls gleam with an array of distinguished works by contemporary American artists, many of them local to Cape Cod. Read more…

Posted in Architecture, Arts & Culture

Our Fall Life

Autumn on Cape Cod and the Islands is a special time, treasured by year-rounders and “shoulder-season” visitors alike. The earth, sea, and sky are often glorious panoramas of light, shadow, and color, as if Mother Nature saved summer’s end for stunning grand finale fireworks. Skies are suffused with brilliant purples and blues, seaside meadows, backyard gardens, and even deck planters burst into rainbows of color, marshes turn golden, and cranberry bogs are so incredibly scarlet that you can’t believe such a color is real.

It is a time of year that never grows old, a surprising treat especially for those of us who work round the clock all summer spreading the word about this place we love. “Just wait until September comes,” we say to each other as we envy this world on vacation all around us—visitors relaxed on beaches, barefoot at ice cream stands, strolling through shops. “Come back in October,” we say to friends who hate to head back over the bridge to America—the real world—and life without an ocean and a bay, miles of dunes, bogs round every corner, and the light, the uplifting light all around us.

I can’t tell you how many times I have heard people say, “September and October are the best months of the year on the Cape and Islands.” Aside from the autumnal beauty of nature, there are also dozens of seafood festivals, craft fairs, art gallery openings, and outdoor concerts in all 17 Cape and Islands’ communities in the autumn. In this issue, we tell you about lots of those events, from that perennial favorite, Bourne’s Scallop Festival, to Wellfleet’s incredibly popular OysterFest, and out to Nantucket’s third annual gourmand Hogtoberfest.

In this issue, we also explore the wealth of Cape Cod’s multi-season art world in our feature on talented Rowley Gallery artist Lorraine Trenholm (don’t miss her oil painting demo in Orleans on September 24th!), take you along through the thrills and chills of a ghostly tour in historic Barnstable, and keep you warm on cool fall days with fresh bread and roll recipes from Cape and Islands bakers. And if you spent too much time in our famous summer sun, we even share hints from local skin care doctors and professionals on how to rejuvenate your skin.

In our new Social Life section, we share some snap shots of last summer’s fun. Be sure to take a look at one of the highlights of my summer—my first fishing trip ever as part of a fund-raising event for the American Cancer Society, I had the thrill of landing a whopper of a striped bass off Nantucket. The above photo is a preview of that moment. And that’s just the beginning of the fun and fabulous tales we share with you in this issue of your Cape Cod LIFE.

Come back again soon,

Posted in Arts & Culture, Social LIFE

Social Life

Bourne Farm Wine Tasting–June 11
At the second Annual Wine Tasting held at West Falmouth’s Bourne Farm to benefit Falmouth’s Salt Pond Areas Bird Sanctuaries, President Barrie W. Murray, left, and her daughter Whitney Murray were all smiles.

Summer Fête en Plein Air– June 18
John MacPhee of Aspen Cross Financial Group and Irina MacPhee, owner of West Barnstable’s Pastiche of Cape Cod, savored the success of the Annual Summer Fete en Plein Air, hosted on the grounds at Pastiche of Cape Cod. The event benefitted and was sponsored by the West Barnstable Civic Association.

Cahoon Museum Gala– June 30
Bunnie Stevens, co-chair, Alyce Morrissey, chair, and Francesca Carriuolo, honorary chair, enjoyed the Cahoon Museum Gala at Osterville’s Wianno Club.
Read more…

Posted in Arts & Culture, Social LIFE

Art Without End

Lorraine W. Trenholm is as restless as her two horses loping outside, on her 75-acre property perched on a Colorado mesa. Awake since 4:30 a.m., Trenholm’s morning has been chock-a-block with activity: feeding her Saluki hounds, teaching a pastels class in a nearby town, and, not least, talking about her prolific work. Her nature-inspired paintings are impressionistic celebrations—like the places she plants herself, laced with a powerful but subdued energy.

“I’m a restless spirit,” Trenholm says. “I have gotten the impression that I make some galleries crazy because I bounce around in subject matter and style.” She pauses, then adds with an apologetic smile in her voice, “I am my paintings.” She adheres to strict demands on herself. “The best paintings create a compelling image. You can do 25 images and only four will be compelling images.” Read more…

Posted in Art, Arts & Culture

President Obama Visits Cape Cod & Martha’s Vineyard

When President Obama touched down in Cape Cod for his 2011 Martha’s Vineyard getaway, Cape Cod Life Publications’ office manager was there with her triplet granddaughters to greet him!

Posted in Arts & Culture, Social LIFE

On the Cove in Cataumet

Seaside living at its best can be found in this exquisite five-bedroom architect designed home in peaceful Cataumet. Take in marvelous sunsets and south west breezes, or head out from your own mooring float to picturesque harbors and sandy island beaches. Relax and enjoy the fishing, shellfishing, birding and sunbathing right outside your door.

Heal and Restore

A Haunting In Barnstable

The building at 3217 Main St. in Barnstable Village doesn’t look like it’s haunted. But don’t tell that to the lawyer who rented an office there a few years ago. He was working late one night, heard a strange noise, and saw the door latch to a closet drop down. Things got even more eerie the following day when he witnessed a ghostly woman entering his room, wearing a dress and carrying a hatchet. In the next room, he reported seeing a woman churning butter next to the fireplace. He immediately broke his lease. Perhaps not coincidentally, the building is now for sale.

Preserving the Cape Cod Character

Gazing across the Fort Hill overlook in Eastham, the magnificence of Cape Cod’s natural beauty and rich cultural history comes into full view. The Nauset salt marsh and ocean that sustained native peoples and early European settlers spreads out below. Heathland and fields, still populated by migratory birds, butterflies, and rabbits, reflect the agricultural past of the site, the former Knowles farm. The 19th-century home of Captain Edward Penniman, framed in view by a whale’s jawbone for a garden gate, recalls the region’s maritime heritage. It is a scene of fleeting serenity that has been eons in the making. Read more…