Friday, April 3, 2015

Good Things in Brewster

There are many reasons that I like the historic Cape Cod town of Brewster: The beaches. The historic charm. Good restaurants. The Cape Cod Museum of Natural History. And a few other things, like the following...

One morning while the boys were at day camp at the Museum of Natural History, my mother and I went for a nice walk on a trail near the museum. I love walks in the woods, and this did not disappoint. 
  

I enjoy imagining the people who inhabited this land hundreds of years ago. We know that they were here. 
Maybe in some ways, they still are.


Wild beauty.


Marshland around the woods.


River to the sea...


Brewster has an excellent library, the Brewster Ladies' Library. Authors go and do research and writing there (I've seen them credit the library in their work, and not just local authors). I'd love to work there someday in my retirement years. It's such a lovely place!

When my mom and Sam and I went to the library last summer there was a display of pictures up of a young Helen Keller and some letters she wrote. This was a treat because Helen Keller happens to be one of my favorite women from history. She and her famous teacher Annie Sullivan vacationed numerous times in Brewster at a sea captain's house that I have passed by many, many times during our summers here. I had no idea that they had been there!

This is the first known picture of Helen and Annie, along with the famous doll that Annie gave to Helen when she first arrived to be Helen's teacher. The picture was taken when they were staying in Brewster. Read here for more information about this; it's really cool!




 This was possibly an even younger Helen Keller...they're not sure yet (see below).



Another thing I like about this library is that it has a huge book sale each summer in its basement. We've gotten lots of great books at very low prices this way over the years.

There was an adorable Winnie the Pooh rug in the children's area of the book sale. 
Winnie the Pooh is a nostalgic childhood favorite of mine.



And last but certainly not least, I love the shopping in Brewster.  It has one of my favorite places to shop on the Cape, the Lemon Tree Village Shops. It's a collection of unique little shops that sell a wonderful variety of wares, including my favorite pottery shop ever, Lemon Tree Pottery. 



Anybody want a lion?



There's a really cool shop there in which everything is handcrafted of wood, including this amazing marble tower that I haven't been able to stop thinking about last summer. I am very much leaning towards getting this for the Cape house this summer. The kids loved it, and I did too.



A few photos with Mr. Lion...


 Me and my little shopping buddy. (Or as Peter would call him, my partner in crime.)


Hoot hoot. Feeling the owl love.



I love Brewster!