Summer on Cape Cod. Aaaahhhh… Usually that deep exhale with a smile is followed by happy thoughts; Beautiful New England scenery. Fun with family and friends on numerous beaches. Cracking open a cold one around 4pm on a 80˚ sunny Saturday afternoon while prepping the grill for some edible outdoor miracle that would blow away Bobby Flay. Then there’s the moment you first see the Bourne Bridge. The drive over it as we roll the windows down and smell that wonderful salt air. At its exit, being greeted by the beautifully manicured “Cape Cod” greenery at the rotary. Aaaaahhhh…. Summer on Cape Cod.
Exhale done and smile gone.
It’s only mid-July and I am so done with it all. Yes, already. I’m so ready for fall. I’m so ready for jeans and boots and bringing an extra sweater, JIC.
DONE.
The traffic is just the worst it’s ever been. Route 28 is a joke session. Mid-Cape Highway is always jammed up. Every village has its traffic issues. Paul Revere’s historic ride on horseback has seemed to have included an invite for all to visit. Name the plate… I’ve seen it: New York. New Jersey. Connecticut. Rhode Island. Pennsylvania. Vermont. (Vermont people, why do you come here? Never mind… question for another day) People driving around in vacation mode, under the speed limit, looking, pointing, all the while with their little dog on their lap. Don’t get me started. Or… stahhhted. (Sorry. Need this blog to be understood by one and all.)
HOWEVER: working on Cape Cod has one perk (well, at LEAST one). Pierce-Coté is located in scenic Osterville. This is not Hyannis, folks. This is a high-end, fancy-schmancy, big-old money village. And Pierce-Coté has the luxury to be next door to a cute little old-fashioned market with creaky wide-planked wooden floors that has one of my favorite things: PENNY CANDY!!!!
So when I’m inevitably in over my head in the art department, I step away from Adobe’s Creative Suite life suck, and I walk over to Fancy’s Market. I nudge my way through the tourists getting their $14 deli sandwiches for the beach (or my personal favorite: The old lady in her Lily Pulitzer hunched over a shopping cart to get her weekly shopping done: TP, relish, a lemon, Toblerone, vodka…) I find my way to the penny candy section. You still go and grab one of those cute little brown paper bags and fill up on the candy Cape Cod has to offer. And that DOES make me happy.
At least until Fall.
–Lynn O’Brien, Pierce-Coté
