IMPRESSIONS OF A CAPE COD WRITER: THE UPPER CAPE

Have a boyfriend who loves driving to different parts of the Cape, taking me along as we explore new places for both of us or for me. Recent discoveries include multiple osprey nests in every town we visited, encouraging sign for the once endangered species. For fishermen, ospreys' presence also mean plentiful fish are nearby.

"Blues" off of boyfriend's favorite fishing spot on the Upper Cape have been abundant this year. Silvery skin which glistens with the sun's rays and bright, bold yellow eyes encourage and dare fishermen to try to catch them, as the stubborn fish fight along way until brought to shore. Once released, when we'd look up to see the them leave, like magicians the "blues" would be gone as if they'd learned their lesson for the day and dove into the depths to allude other predators.

A dirt road pounded by the brutal ice, snow and brief spring rain showers brought us to a hidden beach my boyfriend had been to over the years. His voice lifted to reveal what his eyes had foreseen ahead: "Oh, no. Look at the cars!" I, unfamiliar with the spot, hadn't been surprised and told him its Memorial Day weekend and asked why the shock?

He told me that for years the oasis had been without visitors. That day, my man began to understand that the beaches he had asserted should be accessible to everyone included those he believed had been his own private sanctuary. With 20 knot wind gusts however, the only intruders enjoying the secret treasure were resilient windsurfers--an exception being one bewildered, wet-suit-wearing attempter whose sail had collapsed in the white-capped, 56 degree sea.

Boston's weather may have hovered around 80 degrees, but the ever-present wind on the Cape that day made stalwart visitors cover themselves in layers as they shivered in their beach chairs. The air temperature, on the Upper Cape stayed a cool 62 degrees, not including the wind chill. It didn't prevent, nevertheless, one college-aged "polar bear" from plunging into the water in his swim trunks. His eyes displayed complete delight.

More impressions to come. . .

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Copyright 2015 Wendy Shreve

Look for the third book in my SHADOWWATER series this Fall. For more information about my novels, go to www.shadowwater.net

NATURE'S CHECKS AND BALANCES: HAS MAN TIPPED THE SCALES?

With this year's sudden, triple eruptions of Chile's volcano, Calbuco, geologists are predicting a temporary cooling of the Earth's atmosphere, a result of spewed volcanic gases and ash which have risen into the stratosphere. Meanwhile, what's been left behind on terra firma is a blanket of ash that has ruined crops, marine life (including the region's bread-and-butter industry, salmon), damaged or destroyed homes and decimated forests. As seen after the Mt. St. Helen's eruption, however, a natural renewal and resurgence happens, where new forests, even more fertile farmland and wildlife return. It may take decades, but the surrounding environment adapts and often recovers. At least that's what scientists used to think. What has changed hasn't been Earth's resilience to withstand natural disasters; no, it's the inability of our environment to recover from human negligence.

The Mt. Everest avalanche resulting from the 7.9 cataclysm in Nepal possibly swept away years of man-made debris including oxygen bottles, garbage and, more poignant an estimated 200 bodies frozen in the permafrost from fatal sojourns up the mountain. Not far away Nepal's farmland will recover and families will rebuild their lives, but many worry that the country's purported corrupt government and historic lack of jobs, may force the Nepalese to focus solely on tourism at the expense of their surrounding environs.With oversight of foreign aid coming in, the Nepalese can salvage their homeland without solely depending on reckless tourists who disrespect the soaring mountains they climb. Let's hope that the tragic jolt Nepal suffered could be a smack on government officials' heads about their country's future. (BREAKING NEWS, via CBS THIS MORNING, Nepal's officials are considering closing the affected route up Mt. Everest.)

And the remaining garbage on the world's tallest mountain? It is the tip of the human footprint affecting much of our world. Artificial ecological disasters have begun to outnumber natural ones: fracking-induced earthquakes and contaminated water caused by industry, are two examples. Sooner than later if left unchecked, man-made, destructive catalysts will lead to widespread destruction of our crops, homes and populations.

Nature has a way of re-setting the ecological clock, but has man finally outwitted the power of Mother Earth to check and balance the destruction of our ecosystems? Stephen Hawking thinks so: "It will be difficult enough to avoid disaster in the next hundred years, let alone the next thousand or million," Stephen Hawking said. "Our only chance of long-term survival is not to remain inward-looking on planet Earth, but to spread out into space." (Space.com)

For me, never, in my lifetime did I believe we could be facing Earth's tipping point: the imminent possibility that our world will become a page in an intergalactic history book of barren planets in our galaxy.

MARS