Dining al fresco has always been big on the North Shore. This summer, it’s big by necessity.
Tables are farther apart, but it’s still al fresco, or “fresh air.”
Seeing this brings back memories of carefree days. You take a nostalgic trip in time. You remember picking up a bag of hot dogs and fries from a North Shore hot dog joint on a summer midday in an earlier decade. You take this good stuff to the beach. Ah, the smell of sunscreen and warm sand. You and your group find a table along the breezy lakefront.
MIKE LUBOW ILLUSTRATION BY KIRSTEN ULVE
Bubbling drinks in icy cups, hot dogs with the works, crisp fries. No wonder plump sea gulls were hovering.
After some beach time, you all went to the ice cream shop in town where you got cones and took ‘em to the town square. There, you licked, the cones melted, and now the recollection melts, too.
But that was al fresco, OK. And the al fresco dining you see around today’s Shore brings it back. Relish the memories, as you do your best to enjoy summer safely these days in the “fresh air.”
This column was adapted by Mike Lubow from his book: Wild Notes: Observations over time about birds and other fleeting things. Available on amazon.com.
