The 'Other' House

If you're wondering why there haven't been any house updates this week, it's because we've been seeing another house on the side. Yep, we are cheating on our house by taking a last-minute vacation to visit Starboard Light, Josh's family's house on Cape Cod.
This fabulous getaway originally belonged to Josh's great-grandparents and then his grandparents, so everyone in his family has lots of fond summertime memories of this place. In fact, the house is like a member of the family. I first visited in 1996, soon after Josh and I started dating, and fell in love with its quirky charms and amazing location just like everyone else who's ever been here. We try to visit every summer.

The house sits right across the street from the water and has it's own little beach on the harbor. Here is the view from the top of the stairs leading down to the beach. There's a yacht club down the street, so all those little sails are kids in itty bitty sailboats being towed back in after their afternoon sailing lesson.
We arrived on Monday afternoon to a picture-perfect day of clear blue skies, a nice breeze, and a warm welcome from Josh's uncle (also named Josh) and cousin Eliza. After we unloaded the car and got settled in, Uncle Josh suggested we go fishing, so we rowed out to his old wooden motorboat and headed out.
Now, I'm not a big seafood lover, but I couldn't pass up an opportunity to cruise around in a boat on such a beautiful day. Especially with this cheerful lot. (That's Uncle Josh and Eliza doing their best 'American Gothic' impression.)
We'd only been out for about 20 minutes when Eliza got a bite. She reeled in this impressive 8.5-pound, 31-inch bluefish. Very exciting! At least it was until the Joshes attempted to kill it with a small baseball bat and a knife. It was the Rasputin of fishes!
The bluefish became dinner that evening. Uncle Josh and I went to the local market to pick up some ingredients for a recipe they had decided on, so I bought myself some chicken and adapted the recipe so I'd end up with a similar entree. It was quite a feast.

After Uncle Josh and Eliza left Tuesday afternoon, Josh and I decided to take another tour around the harbor. Since it was very calm, I thought it would be fun to paddle around in the kayak.
But it was a 1-person kayak, so Josh had to improvise his own watercraft. He actually managed to paddle himself around on this contraption, which is a beach chair on top of his windsurfing board. It was quite comical!
Wednesday was much cooler and cloudy, but Josh could not resist the lure of the water, so we rowed across the harbor in the dinghy to Harding's Beach and walked around the old Stage Harbor lighthouse -- a popular subject for local artists and photographers.
It rained most of today, but it was windy enough that Josh was able to do some windsurfing. We both did a fair amount of work, since the house now has WiFi, in hopes that it would free up the rest of our time here when the weather improves. It's supposed to clear up tomorrow afternoon and be nice for the rest of the weekend, so we can put the laptops away and enjoy the great outdoors.