lA Message in a Bottle
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Photo: Jeff Lovinger, Provincetown
On a cold March day, while walking the beach with Graham, at Head of the Meadow Beach in Truro,
after one of our many Nor'easters that left a feast of washed-up treasures,
Graham and I came across a bottle, sitting in the sand, it's label worn, but intact.
Inside, carefully rolled and placed inside a ziploc bag, was, indeed, a message.
Graham and I took it home, and immediately, called my dear friend, and framer, Patty --
who, like me, has owned boats, spent a great amount of time on the water, and developed
a great respect for the sea. I asked her to come over to open the bottle with Graham and me.
Patty was there in a flash, and, after careful manipulation, we pulled the rolled note out of the bottle.
Happily, the note read:
"Hi My name is Morgan I come from Maine, and I live in Harpswell... I am 8 years old
and I like cats and dogs. My mom's and dad's names are Katie and Bruce. I go to school at...
and it is 1/14/05."
It ended with: "Bye Bye from Morgan Leigh... P.S. Please Write Back!!"
We'd found the message two months to the day from when it was sent from Morgan's
dad's lobster boat, the "Morgan Leigh," far from the coast of Harpswell, in Casco Bay.
Here's how we wrote back:
Photo: Jeff Lovinger, Provincetown
Shadowbox: Patty McCobb, Allerton Framing, Provincetown
We created a beautiful shadowbox -- Patty's specialty -- that included copies of two paintings
I'd done of Head of the Meadow Beach, maps of Harpswell and Cape Cod --
to show where the bottled traveled. And two small bottles --
one filled with sand from Head of the Meadow Beach, and the other containing a small note,
depicting the bottle tossed into the sea.
Morgan's parents called the day they received the package, and, after some very fun conversation,
said they wanted to come to Cape Cod -- to meet us, and to walk the beach with Graham and I
to the very spot where we found the bottle.
Morgan's family and friends stayed at a beautiful beachhouse at the mouth of
Wellfleet Harbor Memorial Day Weekend, just a short walk from our new Wellfleet home.
The Beachhouse. Photos: Elizabeth Fleeson
A Cape Cod Pot Luck was planned for the first night -- including Turkey and Cape Cod Soda Bread,
Libby's Famous Deviled Eggs, Chatham Cod, Portuguese Kale Soup, a wonderful potato salad -- all made by everyone
with love and care for this very special evening.
.
The night was capped off by fireside storytelling by Cape Cod's own Jim Wolfe, who also presented Morgan with one of his
books, along with Merrily Fenner's new Vineyard children's bestseller, "The Secret."
Olga & Graham
I got the chance to show Morgan exactly where the bottle was found, by doing what most Cape Codder's do, forming the arm of the
Cape with their own, and pointed to Head of the Meadow, just beyond the wrist, on the "back side."
Photo: Elizabeth Fleeson
The next night followed with a feast of Maine Lobsters and Wellfleet Oysters
The weekend ended the morning they all left, with a walk on the beach -- to the exact place
where Graham and I found the bottle.
The Message in a Bottle had come full circle. And from it, as Jim Wolfe eloquently said,
Morgan's bottle created ripples, like tossing a rock into a pond.
Thanks to Morgan and her message, new friendships were made, a great group of people
shared a very special weekend, and we all became part of a story not soon to be forgotten.