Gladys Taber (1899–1980)

2023 - ‘70’s Immersion Reading Challenge

My Own Cape Cod by Gladys Taber (1971 1st ed.) 251 pages. Mailed to my friend, Donna, who lives in Maine.

Gladys Bagg Taber (1899–1980), author of 59 books

SETTING: on Mill Pond near Eastham, Cape Cod, Massachusetts

I could kick myself in the butt. I lived in Maine for 4 years, from 2000-2004, and never toured the Cape Cod area, which is a very interesting arm-shaped peninsula. Dang! Now, that’s all I can think about. I’m making plans now to make that drive, making my list of things I want to see and do. It may be a couple of years before we head back up that way, though…gotta make it through Bidenomics.

The author had two homes. Her primary home was on 38 acres in Stillmeadow, Connecticut, and her summer home, called Still Cove, was on Mill Pond, near Eastham, Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Taber spent about six months, spring and fall, in the center of that arm. I really enjoyed reading this, which kind of read like a diary on daily happenings in and around town, but without all the disruptions of dates and years. Gladys Tabor lived another 9 years after publishing this book. I would say just in time to capture the times of the ‘70’s on Cape Cod.

She lived in a changing era. The peninsula and its small towns were transitioning into an everybody knew everybody and your business, with friendly support, to strangers and their non-personal ways, which were taking over businesses. The old timers were dying off.

The population on Cape Cod in 1970 was 88,000 with the summer crowd bringing it to 200,000 people. The current population, in 2023, is 209,660, and that’s before the ‘summer codders’ arrive. Whew! Maybe October would be the best time to travel up there, missing the summer crowd, but just in time for the fall colors.


*********END OF REVIEW*********


DEVILED CLAM BAKE (p. 110)

For one 7-1/2-oz-can minced clams, drained, you need:

2 T. butter
1/4 c. Seasoned bread crumbs
1/3 c. Clam juice
1/2 tsp. Lemon juice (or a bit more)
1/2 tsp. Seasoned salt
1/4 tsp. Basil
1/4 tsp. Marjoram
1/4 tsp. Thyme
A few drops Worcestershire sauce

Mix all ingredients well. Spread in clam shells, dot with butter, grated cheese and paprika (or smoked paprika?)

Bake in 350° oven for 20 minutes. Let cool slightly and serve.


SCALLOPED OYSTERS (p. 111)

1 pint drained oysters (save the liquor)

In a shallow greased baking pan, put a layer of 1/2 c. bread crumb, 1 c. cracker crumbs, 1/2 c. melted butter, mixed together well. Lay the oysters gently on this bed and cover with the rest of the crumbs. Pour the oyster liquor and 1 T. cream over. Season with salt and pepper. Bake in 450° oven for 20 minutes. Dust with paprika (smoked paprika?) and serve. Makes 4 servings.


INTERESTING LITTLE TIDBITS

P. 167: Cape Codders, back in the ‘70’s, at least, didn’t usually draw their curtains or blinds after dark. They thought something was wrong with you if you did. They didn’t lock their doors either. Same here. In fact, I’ve never had curtains or blinds in any of our houses over the years. But, with this open border thing going on, we have blackout blinds for the first time in our life. We are living in a new era.

Quote: It is so still that even the cry of the gulls has ceased. I know how fortunate these Cape youngsters are to have the gift of quiet in their lives. On Mill Pond, there is no jukebox, no hippie band, no screaming of obscenities. Robin and Holly are enjoying the heritage I wish all teenagers could share. (p. 100)

Taber could only name 5 kids who she watched grow up to be hard working and respectable adults. She complained a bit about the “hippie” kids with long hair, dirty and barefoot that were beginning to hang out on the beach benches wasting away. So, she saw changes then, and now look at our youth.

She mentioned several times, Hal Borland, one of my favorite authors, as a good friend of hers. (p. 50) Hal Borland must live near her home in Connecticut.

Taber complained of Daylight Savings. She hated turning the clock back, and everyone she knew didn’t like it either. Well, fifty-two years later, in 2023, we have sprung the clock forward for the very last time. Daylight Savings Time has finally ended.


THINGS TO POSSIBLY SEE AND DO IN CAPE COD…(if they still exist):

- OCTOBER - best time to go see beautiful fall colors in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont
- FIRST ENCOUNTER BEACH - where Pilgrims first encountered Indians. There’s a plaque commemorating the encounter (p. 178)
- CORN HILL - where Miles Standish (born c. 1584, Lancashire, Eng.—died Oct. 3, 1656, Duxbury, Mass), British-American colonist and military leader of the Plymouth colony, went exploring and followed an Indian Trail to buried corn. They stole all of it and found what they believed to be an Indian graveyard. On the way back, William Bradford (c. 19 March 1590 – 9 May 1657) stepped under a leaning tree and was caught in a trap, hanging by one leg. Payback? Taber believes so. (p. 179)
- SNOW’S HOME & GARDEN - in Orleans
- MILL POND - near Eastham, home of this author (pictured on page 17 and 59) AND where Blyth and Ridgway took off in a row boat across the Atlantic to England. BOOK: "A Fighting Chance" by John M. Ridgway and Chay Blyth (1967).
ROCK HARBOR - author’s favorite place to view harbor
- NAUSET LIGHT
- PROVINCETOWN - where Mayflower first landed, but then settled at Plymouth; Thoreau took transportation to Orleans and walked from Orleans to Provincetown [27 miles] around 1855-57. (p. 216)
- BEACHCOMBING - early morning…best beach?


GARDEN NOTES:

PLANTING CORN ON HILLS: Per hill - 3 dead fish (from Bailey’s?) with heads pointing towards corn, 5 kernels per hill. TRY IT THIS YEAR!!!!!!

POKEBERRY, BEETS - used as dye in early days. Pokeberry dyed t-shirt? I have plenty of pokeberries around here. Fun project. Freeze some berries (or juice) for dying Easter eggs next year.


ONLINE SITES OF PLACES MENTIONED IN BOOK (EXTRA READING):

PHILBRICK’s SNACK SHACK ON NAUSET BEACH…known all around for their onion rings. Destroyed in 2018 nor’easter.

https://onemoregoodadventure.com/tag/philbricks-snack-shack/

THE LOBSTER CLAW RESTAURANT (in Orleans…was a favorite of author’s and her friend, Eileen DeLory)…after 50 years in business, it closed down in 2020.

https://www.boston.com/food/restaurants/2020/08/25/the-lobster-claw-closed/

THE INN AT CAPE COD…Is this the same Inn on the edge of Town Cove mentioned on page 162 with purple turret poking up from the roof. Maybe previously called The Lobster House? (p. 164) on the bay side of Orleans near Skaket and described as once a magnificent mansion?

Type in search engine: innatcapecod.com

NAUSET COAST GUARD STATION, EASTHAM, CAPE COD, MASS

THE OUTERMOST HOUSE - destroyed in a nor’easter in 1978. Its original location was a hundred yards out in the sea. That’s how much the ocean levels have risen.

https://www.literarytraveler.com/articles/the-outermost-house-henry-bestons-cape...

BOOK: “The Outermost House: A Year of Life on the Great Beach of Cape Cod” by Henry Beston (1928).… (plus d'informations)

A collection of correspondence between two authors living in rural New England in the mid-20th century.
I think my enjoyment of this was rather hampered by the fact that I was reading page scans on the Internet Archive... probably my least favorite way of reading. Also, one has to be in the right, leisurely mood to enjoy a book like this and be patient with its succession of chatty nothings (and I categorize them that way affectionately!). There were some beautifully written passages, ones that made me feel a bit wistful about what it would be like to take such care over recording the small moments in life.
If these collections of letters were ever properly digitized, I'd probably try some more, sometime.… (plus d'informations)

Ever wish that you could slow life down, turn off the noise and the chatter and just listen to the sea birds calling? Want to live in a place where you know everyone, they know you, and the neighbors bring you clams they dug on your beach? Have a desire to own a house that has a name? Well, I sometimes want all of those things, and I had them vicariously this week with Gladys Taber at her Cape Cod home, Still Cove, via this lovely book that whisked me back to 1970 again.

I had never heard of Gladys Taber, who wrote the Diary of Domesticity column for the Lady’s Home Journal in the late 1930’s, and Butternut Wisdom for Family Circle through the 1960’s. She is a very practical, down-to-earth writer, and the feeling you have reading her is that you are being given a tour of the area by your kind hostess, who is willing to introduce you to everyone who helps to make the community special. When you return to her cottage, she serves you hearty New England fare and lets you put your feet up by her fireplace.

I loved her descriptions of animals, particularly her Abyssinian cat, Amber. I frequently looked up from her book and eyeballed my own furry friend who was lying in bed beside me and thought…”She is talking about you.”

This book felt like a mini-vacation to me, and I sorely needed one. Many thanks to my lovely Goodreads friend, Diane, for introducing me to Gladys Taber. You can bet I will be keeping my eyes open for others of her books. I shudder to think I might have passed them up in the past.

In closing, I will print one of her poems that I found particularly moving:

I SHALL REMEMBER

I met two girls that silvery rainy night
They wore the raindrops as they welcomed me.
September grass grew delicate and light
Near the pale roses leaning toward the sea.
Scattering quail fled soft as falling leaves,
For Autumn lay across the narrow land.
And hearts accept--they must--but summer grieves
Abandoning again the blessed strand.

The house gave steady open testament
That much endures as seasons ebb away,
Wide-open doors, warm lights shone eloquent
Welcome for those who stopped--so brief a stay.

Summer is over, but tonight I shall remember
Two girls, the rain, and roses in September.
… (plus d'informations)