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Robert Frost once said, “We love the things we love for what they are”- and not, presumably, for what we might wish them to be. This is as true an observation for places as for people. Take Brush Valley, for example.
Brush Valley is a modest-sized valley that lies just south of Truro’s Ballston Beach. It is one of a dozen or more ancient glacial valleys, or “hollows”, that bisect the Outer Cape from Eastham to North Truro They were created when the last great ice sheets moved down from the north and covered Cape Cod some 25-30,000 years ago.
WELLFLEET I was examining some of my rare stamps and perusing the latest issue of What Have You Done For Me Philately when I heard an odd slurping sound directly behind my chair. Spinning around, I noticed that Randall, my butler and astrologer, was licking valuable stamps and sticking them to his forehead.
A chase ensued, but the spry Randall was an elusive quarry. I nearly caught up to him at the end of the driveway, but then slipped on a carelessly discarded slice of Gorgonzola and collided with the mailbox. Letters flew about like confetti, and as they fluttered to earth, I saw that most of them were addressed to Pond Name Guy.
TRURO I was knee-deep in an amateur duck-herding competition, sorely missing the help of my recently retired border collie and bookie, Vigorish, when a malicious mallard clamped down on my inner thigh. I tried to hide my tears from the flock, but they sensed weakness and scattered. Even the judges booed, then held up scorecards, which, to my addled brain, seemed to spell out this message: Have you ever visited that strange little pond in Lombard Hollow? Does it have a name?
I gave my ducks the bird and skedaddled. The Curious Prius was already purring in the driveway and it was a short trip to the wild woods of South Truro. We parked just off Route 6; the rest of the journey would be on foot along a dirt road that stretches from the highway all the way to Old County Road.