Back from the Oysterfest; we had great weather, sat on the beach, saw the seals at Newton Hollow, ate at the Lobster Pot - we did everything on my list.  But the best part of Wellfleet is people watching.  And the one I was most interested in was the boy on the boat. 

In August I had noticed a light on in a boat moored in front of the Seashells, the cottages where I stayed then, and the past week.  I was told that he lived on the boat, had a girlfriend and a dog.  And, sure enough, I saw them coming and going with the high tides.  Well, he is still there with his dog, but the girlfriend has moved on.  I knew he was in the boat when the small rowboat was attached.  One morning I saw the boy rise from the small shelter - this is not a large boat, a small sailboat- .  He had a large backpack and pulled the rowboat to him, climbed in and then the dog appeared.  As the boy rowed to shore, the dog stood upright, front paws on the edge of the boat, looking like the captain of the ship. I wanted to get a picture of this, but it was not meant to be.  I'd see the rowboat there, know they were aboard, look away for a moment, and the rowboat was gone.  Just as quick as that.

One night we saw the boy and the dog watching the sunset and I just imagined what kind of life that must be - sleeping in a rocking boat, dependent on the tides to get in and out...And what did he do all day?  Yes, I obsessed over the boy and the dog and the boat, but that is Wellfleet, you have so much time and quiet, it gives you a chance to think about things you normally wouldn't have any interest in.

The same at the beach, you hear a piece of conversation, as people pass, and you build it up into your imagination.  I heard this at Duck Harbor, a man in a group of four, two couples, said this as he passed, "If I wasn't watching that kite, I would never had seen the UFO."  Now that is something to think about.

And leaving Duck Harbor, there was a new bench, near the parking lot with this inscription "For Anne the woman who loved this place, from Tom the man who loved her."  Beautiful.  Like Maria's bench at Preservation Hall - "my heart belongs in Wellfleet"- I can imagine a stranger reading that and wondering about Maria and her love for a small town on the Cape.  Well, back to reality.  I haven't even thought about the boy and the dog for three days,