I have in my pocket two horse chestnuts from Provincetown.  We were walking on Commercial Street when I noticed piles of horse chestnuts just under a fence.  I asked Timmy to get me some and he did.  We used to have horse chestnut trees all over the place.  The last one I knew of in Tivoli was blighted and torn down.  I remember Bucky always picking up horse chestnuts and keeping them in her pocket.  Then I read Anne Morrow Lindberg and she did the same thing.  On her walks,she would stoop and pick up a chestnut and drop it in her pocket.

These chestnuts are poisonous, not like the ones for sale near the holidays.  They look alike, except the edible ones have a point.  Horse chestnuts do not.  The ones from Cape Cod are small, not big and healthy like the ones that I remembered.  They are suppose to be good for circulation and also an aid to arthritis as they are anti inflammatory.  I just like reaching into my pocket and feeling them, warm to the touch and smooth.  Like a worry stone and also a reminder of last week and 60 some years ago.  And just maybe they will help my knees.

Home from Wellfleet since last Sunday.  I love Wellfleet, especially the cabins in the Sea Shells.  Each day brings a completely different view, the changing tides, the changing sky and clouds, the sunsets and the sunrises.  I told Timmy it's like being in an art museum.  You are in one room and you think" this is beautiful".  Then you go into the next, and you say "Wow, this is really something".
And when you are heading toward Provincetown on Route 6, you go over a hill and there are the dunes to one side, the rows of identical cottages on the other side - it's like another world entirely.

We did our usual, one day a trip to Orleans for the Bird Store ( Timmy won a pencil for his riddle:  What month has 28 days in it?  There were all old people waiting in line, and one old man couldn't help himself and blurted out THEY ALL DO.  An old lady said she heard that joke back in second grade and we all had a good laugh.  Every year if you give them a joke, they give you a free pencil.  No different this year).  Then on to the Christmas Shop, Fish Market and back on the beach for the afternoon.

The next day is Provincetown, my favorite card store, a new age type store and the red Lobster for my usual lunch, crab filled avocado.  On the way back, we stop at the graveyard and plant the bulbs on Mr. Brown and give him a pumpkin, that you can see from the road.  A stop at the Preservation Hall showed us that Maria's name was no longer on the top of the bench, just on the arm.  Timmy picked the bench right up to see if it had fallen off, but no piece of slate with her words and name "my heart belongs in Wellfleet". We spoke to someone who took down the information and promised it would be fixed.

We did go to the realty that had rented us a house this summer.  The owner had found Jer's keys, lost in July and found in October.  A miracle if you ask me.  And Uncle Phil's wedding ring was still attached.  Honest people still exist in this world.

But the big surprise was the Department of Health closed the Wellfleet bay for all shellfish. So the Oysterfest was an oysterfreefest. Still a big crowd, even bigger than last year.  The music was good and the cam chowder and lobster roll hit the spot.  Coming home, we stopped at Catherine's in Great Barrington for Halloween candy.  Same as ever.  Just like seeing the geese flying south, this past week is a symbol of the summer gone and winter ahead.