Motus Mentis

Today was the occasion of the 7th Annual Wellfleet OysterFest, and, as usual, folks came from all over to visit our charming seaside village, to browse the displays put up by our many artists and craftspeople, and, first and foremost, to gorge upon the succulent bivalves for which the town is justly famed. The beer […]

One of the leading thinkers and writers on the subjects that interest me most — the human mind, the evolution of life, and the connection between the two — is Harvard’s Steven Pinker. His books The Language Instinct, How the Mind Works, Words and Rules, and The Blank Slate are all outstanding, and should be read by anyone who shares my fascination with these complex and enormously important areas if inquiry. What I didn’t know, though, was that he is also both a marvelous photographer and a habitué of Cape Cod’s outer extremities. I have just stumbled upon a collection of his photographs of the waters, skies, beaches and wildlife of Provincetown, Truro, and Wellfleet, and they are simply stupendous.

Pinker’s Cape images are gathered into two galleries, here and here, and the main page for all of his photography is here. Please do take a look; you won’t be disappointed. You will also get an idea of why I love this unique place so.

As readers will recall, this past weekend was the occasion of Wellfleet’s annual Oysterfest. It was a splendid event, as always. The weather was just beautiful – cool and crisp, with a deep blue sky and golden autumnal sunshine, and thousands of visitors were on hand, drawn to our charming seacoast village by the promise of happy company, good food, rivers of beer, amusing special events, local arts & crafts, and of course a limitless supply of sweet and succulent Wellfleet oysters, served up in every imaginable configuration.

One of the events on the crowded agenda was a spelling bee, which your humble correspondent was persuaded to enter. Though I am, if it doesn’t seem unduly immodest to say so, a damned fine speller, I did not prevail. After several rounds I found myself presented with a noun I had never heard of: a widely distributed aquatic plant known as the cabomba. I had no choice but to take a guess, and offered C-A-B-A-M-B-A (with the voice of the departed Ritchie Valens ringing in my ears), and that was it for me.

What was the winning word? I’m sorry to say I don’t remember. There were several that were served up right at the end; I recall the eventual winner, a literate young woman, grappling with foraminifer, eutrophication, and minuscule, but I can’t remember which was the final hurdle, if it was in fact any of those. I imagine I was still swooning in stunned disbelief.

The first prize was a copy of Mark Kurlansky’s The Big Oyster: History on the Half Shell, which would have made a lovely addition to my library (I already have a copy of his excellent history of the codfish).

Oh well, there’s always next year.

Cabomba.

It was a damp and blustery day in Wellfleet yesterday, as the low-pressure system dubbed Ernesto passed to our west. With high pressure to the east, the resulting gradient made for strong winds blowing in from the Atlantic onto the Cape Cod backshore. I dropped by the beach at Newcomb Hollow with my trusty Sony Cybershot, and snapped the image below:

But a still picture really doesn’t do it justice. As it happens my little camera will take movies as well, so if you’d like to, you can download brief clip – complete with poorly recorded audio – here. (Best to right-click the link and choose “Save Target As”, then save and run the file on your machine.)

There are places here and there that are noted by painters and photographers for the special quality of their light. Southern France is one; van Gogh made some of his most beautiful paintings in and around Arles. St. Petersburg (Russia, not Florida!) is another, and so, as it happens, is the far end of Cape Cod.