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Shorts and flips flops aren’t the usual attire of the president of a company, but that’s what Justin Labdon, president of Cape Cod Beach Chair Company, has chosen over the suit and tie wardrobe of the workaday world. Labdon left the high-tech world over a decade ago to return to the Cape and establish himself as a businessman that you could only find in a coastal community. Now, when he isn’t building beach chairs, he’s kicking back, fully reclined, on any of the Cape’s beaches in the comfortable, low-slung models reflective of his professionally casual lifestyle. Read more…
A Fine Wine & Dine on Nantucket
World class wines from France. Fresh oysters from Duxbury. Black bass caught off the coast of Nantucket. Superb salmon flown straight from Scotland. Fine cuts of lamb from Colorado. Black truffles ordered from Paris. All prepared and served by highly regarded chefs and sommeliers in an elegant Nantucket home on a lovely summer evening.
These were just some of the attractions for a “Great Wines in A Grand House” dinner held last summer as a premiere 2011 Nantucket Wine Festival event. The evening was a star-studded extravaganza created by well-known chef, Robert Sisca of Boston’s award-winning Bistro du Midi, several French winemakers, and a Nantucket couple who shared their historic home with 18 lucky guests. Read more…
- Posted in Social LIFE, Summer, Traditions, Wine
On a beach with panoramic ocean views. In a field with vintage touches. At an inn, surrounded by gardens and village charm. The possibilities are endless, and armed with a vision, engaged couples can use wedding tents to build a venue with emotional resonance. A tented wedding is a creative, personalized approach to a memorable day.
Ocean Wed
Cape Cod’s natural beauty and a historic mansion frame a perfect seaside wedding.
Most people who live on Cape Cod year-round already have a certain reverence for the physical beauty just minutes from their door. When it comes to weddings, no fancy trimmings or extraneous bells and whistles are necessary to celebrate the spirit of this place. All you really need to do is show up and let the timeless, intoxicating fusion of ocean and sky work its magic (a little prayer to the weather gods never hurts either). Read more…
- Posted in Nature, Style & Fashion, Summer, Weddings
When Cape Cod residents first plant their landscapes, many choose evergreen trees and shrubs believing that having foliage all year round is of prime importance. At some point, however, the realization sets in that their yard is a sea of green. Evergreens may have beautiful all-seasons foliage, but these monochromatic trees and shrubs don’t satisfy most humans’ innate desire for color. Read more…
Reap What You Sow
Starting your own vegetables from seed is time consuming—but worth the work—for Cape Cod gardens.
The pleasure of vegetable gardening never grows old. Even on Cape Cod—where variable soil conditions range from sandy to solid clay and erratic weather patterns run from humid summers to cold storm-battered autumns—there’s nothing like growing your own tomatoes, beans, brussels sprouts, lettuce, or whatever vegetable suits your fancy.
The gardening season on Cape Cod and the Islands is longer than in many other New England regions. The surrounding ocean warms things up every summer, which is why this area has a hardiness designation of Zone 7. Zone 7 stretches from Cape Cod to Georgia and includes places like Charlotte, North Carolina. Read more…
- Posted in Gardens, Spring, Susan Dewey's Blog
The spring season has a subtle presence on Cape Cod. Surrounded by cool waters, the land warms up at a glacial pace. While inland friends begin to talk about picnics, baseball games, and sunbathing, we are still bundled up in fleece, trudging along our beaches with wind-burned faces. Still, there are days in March and April when the sun feels so warm that you can lay down on the sand and almost believe you are sunbathing . . . so long as you keep your parka on.
There is an austere beauty to the beaches and the marshlands at this time of year. The first week of March as my husband and I walked along Centerville’s Long Beach, the light on the ocean was so bright, we had to put on sunglasses. The marshes glowed gold and it was warm enough that our 15-year-old Lab dove into the ocean after a flock of Mallards.
We said to each other that we are lucky to live here, natural riches all around us. Sometimes when I look at the Cape landscape in the winter or early spring—the spiky marsh grasses, stunted oaks, twisted pines, scrubby cranberry bushes and prickly cedars, I think of what Mayflower pilgrim William Bradford wrote about his first sight of the Cape on a December day in 1620.
Bradford described the Cape as “a hideous dessert (sic) wilderness . . . of a wild and savage hue.” I think that description is still apt, even though we try to tame this unruly place with our manicured lawns and perfect gardens. Still, we all know that nature can blow away all our orderly impulses in a heartbeat. After every winter storm our beaches and marshes are altered, sometimes dramatically. That is what happened this winter to the shell tree on Long Beach.
For years we have admired the shell tree, a scraggly, long gone cedar festooned with shells by walkers. The first time I saw it, I thought something magical had happened on that cool April day and that the tree in the distance bloomed with some kind of rare flower. The tree was a white cloud in the distance, limbs heavy with shells.
There have been some bad storms this winter and when we saw the shell tree on our recent walk, several limbs were gone. The shell tree is a sad sight now. But we discovered that something wonderful has happened. All along Long Beach’s trails, shrubs and trees are covered with more shell flowers.
Our daffodils may be late and our lawns slow to green, but on Long Beach there are flowers blooming year-round on this, our splendid wild desert.
Happy Spring,
Susan Dewey, Associate Publisher & Editor
sdewey@capecodlife.com
- Posted in Nature, Spring, Traditions
Creating a simple hydrangea wreath for year-round pleasure
Last weekend I walked around the old cranberry bog on Bumps River Road close to our house with my best friend and our dogs and all around us nature was giving a flamboyant goodbye to summer . . .always a bittersweet time on Cape Cod and the Islands. It is hard to let go of that glorious golden time every year. As I said in the just released 2011 winter issue of Cape Cod HOME, I am always sad when the hydrangeas—that emblem of Cape Cod—begin to turn from intense blue—just like the sky over a Cape beach in summer—to muted greens, grays, and soft purples.
We have lots of hydrangeas surrounding our old Cape house, in beds around the yard—these show-stopping beauties burst into bloom around the end of June and perform their hearts out until around mid-October. A few weeks ago when my husband, Steve, and I were doing our fall clean-up (raking, raking raking!), I decided to take a break and make a few hydrangea wreaths. These wreaths can be done with blossoms that still hold color, or even those that have faded to that lovely beige color, kind of like old lace.
- Posted in Arts & Culture, Nature, Seasonal, Style & Fashion, Susan Dewey's Blog
Home Sweet Holiday Home
“There’s no place like home for the holidays.” Those words ring especially true for Denise Barker of East Sandwich. Her charming Cape is a constantly evolving expression of her love for Cape Cod, photography, nature, and her family, especially during the holiday season, with two crackling fireplaces spreading warmth and freshly baked Christmas treats piled high on pretty pedestal plates displayed on the kitchen counter. Denise makes the holiday season special with all her festive, uniquely creative touches.
In 2002 when Denise and her husband, Scott, were house-hunting they had a punch list of wants and needs for their family of five. The couple loved the historic character of East Sandwich, and coming upon an unfinished Cape with a yard full of pear and apple trees they knew they had found the right place.
- Posted in Arts & Culture, Family Fun, Interiors, Seasonal, Seasonal: Winter, Style & Fashion, Traditions
Good Things in Life – Nov ’11
Must-Have Articles, Accessories & Products
CAPE COD KEEPSAKES
Two Cape Codders have collaborated to transform their love of the Cape’s natural world into Dune Jewelry and Beachsand Snowflakes—handcrafted gifts that are making a splash online and in several regional shops. Sterling silver necklaces from the Dune Jewelry line (www.dunejewelry.com) feature a simple yet sophisticated pendant ($130) inlaid with sand gathered from your favorite Cape beach (sand has been collected from 300 beaches worldwide). Beachsand Snowflakes ($24, www.beachsandsnowflakes.com) are the perfect gift for beach lovers from Bourne to Provincetown. These items are available in more than 20 Cape stores, including Trees Place in Orleans, Fein Things in Centerville, and Village Trading Co. in Mashpee.
- Posted in Seasonal, Seasonal: Winter, Shopping
