Timmy and I are leaving for Wellfleet tomorrow morning, but since Ria's death I just don't have the enthusiasm I use to feel at packing up beach chairs, looking for the right clothes and books and food to bring. In fact, I didn't shop for my usual goodies - dry roasted nuts, herb teas, good crackers (not just saltines), etc. It's Oysterfest, the ninth festival and I think Timmy and I have been to every one. It started with just a table set up on Main Street across from the Light House Restaurant and the spectators just stood on the hill in front of what was then Aesop's Table Restaurant and watched and cheered the shuckers. Everyone laughed when one of the shuckers' mother reached over to the table to rearrange his freshly opened oysters and the judges moaned. The first festival lasted a few hours. Now it is a weekend long event.

Maria loved the festival. She would get Regina out of school early (like ten minutes after she started) and drive out on Friday. The festival is always the Saturday and Sunday after Columbus day. They would stay at a nearby motel with a heated pool for the kid to swim in and Maria would pack everything, as if going for a week, not a couple of days. One of my best memories of the festival is sitting at a bench in the rain watching the shuck off. The man ahead in the contest was Karl with a K and the little crowd braving the rain were yelling "Karl with a K, Karl with a K" and Regina and I were yelling as loud as we could. Maria said that night, when Regina was taking her swim in the indoor pool, she was so wound up she kept yelling Karl with a K, Karl with a K, the sound echoing throught the pool room.

Another memory is of a hot day, very hot the sun beating down on us, with no shade to hide in - the leaves were off the trees. Timmy was complaining that he had forgotten his hat, didn't have on sunscreen, and Ria said, "I know what to do - I'll make you a hat out of this paper bag" and she rearranged her purchases so a grocery size brown paper bag was available. She started folding it one way, crumpling it another, and before long she had this hat, big, like the Cat in the Hat wears, and Timmy promptly put it on his head. The nearby crowd loved it, more entertainment and cheered him on. "How did you learn to make a hat like that?" I asked Ria, and she smiled and said Mary, Kevin's mother had shown them one night hats they use to make when they were working in the fields. Timmy wore it all day and even on the bus ride home.

They shuttle the crowd in school buses. You park down by the wharf and school buses run back and forth all day taking people to and from the festival. One day we were waiting in line and Ria was arranging Regina's hair. The woman behind her looked at the golden hair, shining in the sun and said to Maria, "that looks just like spun gold" and Maria beamed brightly, so proud she got tears in her eyes.

Ria loved the food at the festival. I remember once she got pizza with clams on it and talked about it for months. Oysters Rockefeller were another favorite but the oyster stew and clam chowder are worth the trip alone.

This year I am going to plant bulbs on Mr. Brown's grave. His grave is the one that Ria traced years back when Rachael was about 3 and Jeremy about 8. We have a picture of her making the rubbing. This is the same rubbing we put on her stone, an angel with an hour glass on her head. His stone is one of the oldest ones, dating back to the 1700's and I think it is fitting for him to have some flowers next spring. A little surprise for anyone who looks and wonders where they came from.