If I were to look up the definition of a fall day, I’d find a picture of today with its blue sky, warm sun and a ruffle the leaves breeze.

I’m late with Coffee because of the Seaside Festival parade. I’m a sucker for parades, especially local ones. Today’s parade had fire engines, old cars, including a police car with the best siren sound, clowns, a few floats, the cub scouts, the girl scouts, a karate school and the local high school band. Smoky Bear was there too as was a Chinese dragon. Even St. Patrick made a surprise visit. It was lovely sitting and waiting for the parade to start. I just closed my eyes and let the warmth of the sun shine on my face. The parade lasted about forty minutes then I wended my way home on the back road, the one which follows the shore line. The ocean is beautiful today.

This long weekend is the last hurrah for the cape. The seasonal places still open will close after Monday, and we’ll get our roads back. The gawkers will be gone until next year. A ride on 6A will no longer be interminable.

When I was a kid, we never came to the cape for a vacation so it was a brand new place for us to explore when we moved here. I remember my brother and I hitched to Hyannis where my father worked. He was surprised to see us and not so happy we’d hitched, but it was the only way to get around. There were no buses, and my mother couldn’t yet drive. My father used to have to drive me everywhere. It made neither of us happy. Back then all the motels and stores closed on Labor Day so on the Tuesday after Labor Day, Route 28 went dark. Only two movie theaters were open all winter, one in Hyannis and another in Harwichport. The cape was pretty desolate.

Now, there are motels and restaurants open all year. There are a couple of malls and one has a movieplex with more screens than I can remember. The cape has changed dramatically over the years, but seeing the parade today reminded me that it’s still a place where people flock to local parades to clap for the fire department and the National Guard.