I decided to order their “Bacon Lover’s BLT.”

Me: I’ll have a BLT plate, please [that means it comes with hash browns.]
Waitress: You want a BACON BLT?

Being hungry and tired and not geared up to mess with someone’s head, I simply said yes, but oh, the fun I could have had under different circumstances:

Waitress (calling order to cook), A BLT, hold the bacon, hold the lettuce, hold the tomato.

[after cook calls her over for a consultation]
Waitress: What do you want on your BLT?

Me: Well, the obvious! It is a BLT, isn’t it? Bison, legumes and tartar sauce. Duh!!

My relatives had boxes of arrowheads and axes.
——————————-
“downstreet” OMG another yankee!

Nothing like doing a search for your home town, and the first several results are for a virus.

I left my heart in Castine Maine. And it is still there, nearby anyway, and very well cared for. (I’ve got others, don’t worry.) And the woman I left it with has been married twice to the same girl, and now they can do it again but legal!!!!

(I’m simplifying that story quite a bit)

I know Coxsackie pretty well too. Did some archaeology there, and of course, there is Coxsackie Chert (a nice speckly Onondoga, a little chunky but it keeps a nice edge and looks pretty) . We’ve done a fair amount of chert foraging in the area. And of course, the virus.

I always thought that Coxsackie flatts would be a great name for a novel.

And speaking of free food …. arrrg, I can hardly move. I just had one of the nicest meals ever. Expect a better than average “restaurant review” any day now.

Back in those days, not just salami, but any kind of sausage in a casing was pretty new to the folks in the state of Maine. So, imagine a lobsterman coming home for his dinner after a long day of pulling and setting traps.

[sniff, sniff] “What’s that I smell cookin’, Martha?”

“Why, John, it’s somethin’ new I’m tryin’ — called a ‘sassage’. Here ya are, have some.”

“Looks good. … Smells good. … Tastes good. …
But oncet ya clean it, there’s nothin’ much to it.”

—
OK, that should do it for today.

Maybe not so tangential as you thought. I’m a Bowdoin alum, and also think that Castine is one of the nicest small towns on the Maine coast.

Yes, the subs in Brunswick were good (and where else could you get a lobster salad sub?). Of course, there were no chains of sub shops back then — each store was independently owned and operated. If I recall correctly, there were three or four sub (and pizza) shops in the first couple blocks of Maine Street after you crossed the Maine Central tracks on the way “downstreet” from the college. They were highly competitive for business from college students, sailors from Brunswick Naval Air Station, and airmen from Topsham AFB, and quality counted. Only problem in those days was it was really hard to get either decent salami or decent dill pickles anywhere in the state of Maine.