The rest is still unwritten

Time is just flying by now- I have 2.5 months left on the Cape! It's quite outrageous if you ask me. Things have been going really well, and they seem to just keep getting better. I completed the first big event I was planning called Canal Clean-up which is pretty descriptive so I don't thing I need to explain further. We recruited over 250 volunteers to remove debris from the Cape Cod Canal and the final number of bags was 157 with the weight coming in at 774 pounds! LET'S GET READY TO RUMMBLLEEEEE! Over half of the rubbish was recyclable and we had a large team separating to make sure all that could be recycled was. This is a project that AmeriCorps does every year, but this year our team decided to make it zero waste so we had biodegradable trash bags, plates, flatware, cups, etc. We made sure all the snacks we bought either did not have packaging (apples and bananas instead of granola bars for ex) OR their packaging was recyclable. We had music from a local radio station (and the Falmouth Fiddlers came to perform during lunch!), educational booths to promote recycling/composting, kid booths like face painting and canvas bag decorating (sound familiar anyone ;-) Yeah..that was one of my idears) AND we had free food for all. I was the Logistics Coordinator so I was in charge of venue selection, daily scheduling, main contact person, oversight of all other coordinators (like food donations, volunteers, etc) and basically piecing the day together. It was stressful, but amazing at the end of the day knowing that we made this happen.

Out outdoor service projects have become much less grueling now that the sun has decided to warm our little home on the arm. I have a down right awful farmers tan developing, and that's only going to get worse. We actually still have to wear long sleeves and pants during most of our services because of the ticks and P.I.- I was cutting down a TREE of Poison Ivy last week that was smacking me in the face- but don't worry Ash- I Technu'd! (Ashley came to visit me one weekend last month and thought she got P.I. so we told her to lather up in Technu because its amazing...turns out she was allergic to Technu :-/..whoops..love ya Ash :-)

Activity on the Cape is really starting to pick up, so I have started to cross off things on my bucket list knowing that it is going to be extremely hard to do so when the population quadruples. One thing was to complete the Cape Cod Rail Trail- it is a bike path that starts in Dennis (mid-bicep region) and ends in Wellfleet (skinniest wrist part)- it is 22 miles long one way. Amanda and I rode up on Saturday a few weeks ago, stayed the night in Wellfleet, and then rode home on Sunday. Needless to say it was a weekend full of activity- as soon as we got to Wellfleet we were kidnapped to go play games all day so we played Kickball, Volleyball, Ultimate, Football and ended with a nice game of Buttball (kids game..innocent I swear!). Then we went whale watching (another bucket list item) in the early evening which was INCREDIBLE! It blew me out of the water (hehe..get it..whale watching..blow holes..blew out of the water...eh....)

The weekend after that was PATRIOTS WEEKEND!! Monday April 20th, most of the state of Massachusetts got off work for Patriots Day and being the New York girl that I am, had no idea what this holiday was for. No one in my house knew either and one person even thought it was for the Patriots--not the historical ones--but the football team. Special but you can't blame him because New Englanders do love their sport teams! GO CELTICS! So back to Patriots Day- this day is in fact one for the historical Patriots, filled with battle reenactments in both Lexington and Concord, a parade, AND the Boston Marathon. I went with a group of AmeriMembers to Boston to watch the marathon and celebrate the day and it was crazy, insane, and amazing. Boston was full of life- there were people everywhere watching the run or the Red Sox and everyone, regardless of the event, was cheering. That day I truly fell in love with Boston- everyone was so encouraging and yelling 'you can do it's and 'great job's to all the runners. I never thought I could run a marathon, but after watching the race I could see why people do- it must be the greatest feeling to see so many strangers showing support for all your hard work.

I didn't run a marathon BUT I did run in the Mothers Day 5K in Portland, Maine this weekend! Melany, Maria, Meg, Jenny and I went up for the weekend to run in support of all the mothers out there (I gave you a shout-out mom!) and to see beautiful Maine. It may be frigid in the winter- but at this time of the year, it really is, as the license plate claims, Vacationland. We went to a Lighthouse on the cliffs, went through old stone forts and if that wasn't New England enough we went downtown where all the streets are still cobblestone. Twas a good time.

Coming up next on the agenda of life is to finish up all the planning for the Junior Solar Sprint (the event I am the sole Coordinator for) Recently I received enough donation money to order T-shirts for the students racing solar cars, as well as the volunteers. The shirts are going to say "Solar Roller" on the back with a picture Jessica (girl in my program) drew of a sun and a solar car- I'M PUMPED! I also received 25 pizza donations from various businesses, 150 single bags of Cape Cod Potato Chips, some veggie trays from grocery stores and a fruit and granola bar/healthy snack platter from Trader Joes! It is really coming together- I am very nervous for the event..VERY nervous- but am also excited as well.

Another project on the agenda is to continue working on a greenhouse a few of us are building for the Bourne House- we were supposed to erect it last Saturday but then it started raining and power tools + rain = NOT fun times. I will add pictures when that's complete!

Right now I have to go get ready for some serious Horseshoe crab surveying. My house is part of a New England wide survey of horseshoe crab matings on all the beaches up and down the Northeast coast. We were assigned a beach and we have to go out and count how many crabs we see in specific quadrants, during high tides and low tides for the next month or so. So basically we are the mercy of the tides- last week two people had to start the two hour survey at 2 a.m. Thankfully mine is starting at 9 am and it's currently sunny and 65 so I am pretty happy.
Gotta run! Have some fun!