This past weekend, Brewster held its 27th Annual Brewster in Bloom celebration. The festivities were made especially memorable because everything at the Old Manse Inn, from the daffodils to the magnolia tree, was in full bloom.

As a rule, all the daffodils pop up in March and are gone by the time Brewster in Bloom comes around. In addition to all the beautiful Spring flowers, we had amazing weather – sunny, dry and about seventy degrees. In the spirit of the weekend, Maggie, my friend Joan, and I, participated in the Cape Cod 5 – 5K Bloom Run, which this year, was dedicated to the victims of the terrorist attack at the Boston Marathon.

This was the first time for me and Maggie, and we entered as walkers. We had a great time, and finishing the race gave us a real sense of accomplishment.

We barely had time to recover from the race when it was back to the Inn to prepare for the next event – The Brewster in Bloom Parade. Our assistant innkeeper’s husband donated his cool little car for the parade. My dear friend Judy, who is clearly more talented than I, created all the art work for our sports-car-float. This year’s theme was “green” and since the Old Manse Inn is green-certified, Judy decorated the car with a fantastic creation of the inn with trees and bunnies. As we were advised not to throw candy from our “float” we engaged the services of our granddaughter, Gianna and her friend Kim to walk along-side and hand out special handmade bags of Old Manse Inn candy.

I haven’t been in a parade since I was a girl scout in grammar school. I was amazed at the amount of attendees. I can’t think of a better way to spend an afternoon with family and friends. We had beautiful weather, great entertainment – and it’s all free. Guests of the Old Manse Inn enjoyed mimosas on our porch, which is the perfect spot for viewing the parade.

It didn’t end there. The Old Manse Inn opened its doors for an open house. The historical society was here to sell tickets for this summer’s “Widow’s War Tour of Satucket Village”.

You aren’t going to want to miss next year’s festivities – so I promise to send out reminders.

Losing an hours sleep didn’t detour a special walk for Maggie, me and our good friend Joan. We are always looking for new and different walks on Cape Cod.
The 9 mile drive to Nauset Beach Salt Pond Visitors Center is open all year, giving breathtaking views of Nauset Marsh and the Atlantic.
Convenient to the popular 1.5 mile Nauset Marsh Trail and the Buttonbush Trail, a .25 mile multi-sensory trail that featuring a guide rope and text panels printed in large lettering and Braille, and the Nauset Bicycle Trail.
Today we took the trail in the woods. It’s about a 2 mile walk to get to Coast Guard Beach. We were surprised to see so few trees fallen from our winter storms. We often see many surfers at the beach. Not today. It was high tide and the waters were still quite rough. We also enjoy the many birds we encounter along the way. Cape Cod offer several places for bird watching

Coast Guard Beach

Coast Guard Beach

Heron at trails

We always recommend a trip to Salt Pond not only for the walking trails but the museum has so many interesting things including short movies.

Another perfect day on Cape Cod and the sun is shining as we arrive at the Old Manse Inn in Brewster.

Back in February (on Valentine’s Day to be exact — how perfect) we received our little bundle of joy, Maggie/short for Princess Magnolia, named after the magnolia tree that flanks the front of the inn. She has had a few of months to adjust to life here as our beloved mascot and all of the guests have come to love our little Portuguese Water Dog.

If you haven’t stayed at the Old Manse Inn since February, we can’t wait for you to come again and meet her. Here are some photos in attempted chronological order so you can share our joy.