Holiday Weekend

Cape Cod, Massachusetts, July 1963. Mom's knitting bag is nearly within reach.

A Quick Trip to Provincetown

Provincetown, Massachusetts, July 1963. It's a touristy place.

Mayflower II

Plymouth, Massachusetts, July 1963. We tour the ship during our visit to Plymouth Rock.

Expectations

Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, July 1963. When we visited the area near the Kennedy Compound, I assumed we would see some famous people. Mom consoled me.

Related by Marriage: The Summer Class

Marine Biological Laboratories, Woods Hole, Massachusetts, Summer 1981. Mr. Irene, students, and faculty gather for the physiology class picture. Mr. Irene, wearing the shades, sits fifth from right in the front row. You might recognize the instructor sitting next to Mr. Irene, on his right.

Still

Cape Cod, Massachusetts, July 1963. Summer will continue for three weeks, but the season ends.

The end of the tour.

Provincetown, Massachusetts, July 1963. It's a small tour boat.

Not Alone

Cape Cod, Massachusetts, July 1963. Dad's not far away.

Summer Lane

Cape Cod, Massachusetts, 1962. My Dad's twin sister, Jonė, and her husband, Kadis, have arrived.

Thanks to my Toronto Cousin for making this photo available to us.

We are leaving now.

My Parents took a month-long vacation each summer. Who takes off four consecutive weeks from work these days? My Mom and her medical partner made an arrangement for the annual holiday when they started working together. Extended vacations were more common where my Dad worked because things at the lab moved slowly in the summer.

I can't imagine being away from home for a month; after all, I start to anticipate the return almost as soon as I reach a destination. I don't recall whether my Parents paid bills in advance or what steps they took to secure the house. I do remember how Dad and I picked up the pile of mail that the Post Office had held during the interval. Oh: our dog, Gigi, spent the month with the woman who had given her to us.

We often stayed in places that had no phone service, so if something had happened back home, we were be difficult to reach. There were no televisions, and many of our (mountainous) destinations had spotty radio reception. As a result, we infrequently caught the news. We were in the Badlands, for example, when Dad saw a headline about the Richard Speck murders. I was glad we weren't in Chicago because I reasoned that if Speck hadn't been caught, then I would be hiding under my bed. We were in Austria in 1971 when we saw a German-language edition of TIME Magazine announcing "Satchmo is Dead."

My Best Friend and my paternal Grandmother, Tatjana, sent letters to me. I anxiously checked the mail at our lodgings each day. By the time the vacation ended, I was ready to go home.

Cape Cod, Massachusetts, July 1963. The best part of a vacation is its end.

Dunes

Cape Cod, Massachusetts, July 1963. Dad wore that polo shirt so often that when I look at this snapshot, I remember his scent.

What's in your bucket?

Cape Cod, Massachusetts, July 1963. I've stored my treasures.

Shaded Knitting

Cape Cod, Massachusetts, July 1963. Mom explains something to me while while she knits at the beach. Mom's hat might look familiar to you.

Related by Marriage: Summer School

Mr. Irene spent the summer of 1981 enrolled in the Physiology Course offered by the Marine Biological Laboratories ("MBL") in Woods Hole, Massachusetts.

Since its founding exactly 125 years ago, the MBL has offered summer courses for advanced biology students. It champions observation of the physiology and behavior of the local sea creatures—such as the giant squid, the ancient horseshoe crab, and surf clams—to understand and probe basic biological processes.

Nobel laureates were both students and instructors in the MBL summer courses. James Watson, one of the co-discoverers of the structure of DNA, was an instructor in 1954. Two future Nobel laureates in cell and molecular biology, Tim Hunt and Sidney Altman, were instructors the year Mr. Irene was a student. 

Marine Biological Laboratories, Woods Hole, Massachusetts, Summer 1981. A skiff returns to the lab after a collection trip in the Great Harbor. The main laboratory building is on the right. A more recent photo shows how much development has built up around the main complex.

*     *     *     *     *

Marine Biological Laboratories, Woods Hole, Massachusetts, Summer 1981. Mr. Irene's Physiology Class lines up for a sample collection trip of their own.

Fireside

Cape Cod, Massachusetts, July 1963. Dad again must have used the self-timer for this shot because he looks like he raced into the frame just before the camera snapped. That happened often.

Summer Rental Cottage

Cape Cod, Massachusetts, July 1963. Here's another view of Mom's Buick, "The Swan," parked in front of our rental cottage.

Pilgrim's Tower

Provincetown, Massachusetts, July 1963. We've driven from our rental cottage to spend the day in town. I remember two things about the visit to Provincetown: (1) a lot of time passed as I watched Mom browse in a yarn shop; and (2) we ate lobster chowder, and I didn't like it.

General Manners: Rinse off the sand before you go into the cottage.

Cape Cod, Massachusetts, July 1963. Dad runs his feet under the shower after a day at the beach.

Busy Beach

Cape Cod, Massachusetts, July 1963. Mom's knitting under the sunbrella, and I am digging around in the sand. I never understood the appeal of sitting on a crowded beach.

A Classic Choice

Cape Cod, Massachusetts, July 1963. Nothing looks better with a pair of jeans than a white blouse.