Photo of the Day: Condiments

This is a fun one, taken at one of my favorite bars in Rhode Island. It’s an epic kind of place, and I hope it survives this weird time we’re in. It’s basically a SHACK on the beach, but a huge shack, with a big stage, and pinball machines, a pool table, and horrifying bathrooms. My sister worked there for years, and her best friends also worked there and/or managed the place. It’s a Cheers kind of place “where everybody knows your name.” It’s built right on the beach, with a deck in the back, where the waves roll right under the deck. Hurricanes are hell on this joint, as you can imagine. I’ve been there on cold winter nights, as we drank beer and looked out at the white seagulls bobbing on the black freezing waves. I’ve been there on Thanksgiving morning for their annual brunch, only for people who work there and their families. I’ve gone to see music there. Every time I go there I see half my high school class. It’s a place where surfers and fishermen sit side by side. On summer days and nights it’s so packed you kind of want to avoid it. Particularly the outside bar, where my sister used to bartend. It was INSANE out there. Crowds four people deep lining up at the bar, as the waves crashed right below us. You could sit out there and have breakfast and a Bloody Mary (or not, coffee is fine). I took this on one of those summer mornings and you can see how you’re floating right over the edge, the edge of the land. I love that place. I hope the world opens up again. I have found I’m not as much of a misanthrope as I thought. I miss people. I miss crowds. I miss gathering together, with the sound of the waves all around us, eating scrambled eggs and bacon in the sunshine.