Will the real lobster roll please stand up?

Remember that lobster roll I showed you last Friday? Please forget it. It's nothing but a fake, according to the good people at Grace Church in Vineyard Haven, which serves up hundreds of lobster rolls every Friday evening (almost 600 last Friday, according to their sales chart on the wall).

"Some people make them with lettuce and stuff like that," one of the hosts told me. He made a sour face. "These are the real thing." One of his co-workers seconded that sentiment: "These are the best lobster rolls you'll find on the island," she said, proudly.

They are certainly worth waiting all week to get your hands on: It's a fresh-baked bun (sort of similar to a hot dog bun, but slightly more spacious and with more of a curve to it) that's overflowing with shredded lobster. There may have been a touch of mayonnaise mixed in to hold the meat together, but if there was, I couldn't tell. No celery. No lettuce. No shallots. None of the other "inauthentic" fillers used to pad out lobster rolls at other places.
The sale starts at 4:30 p.m. every Friday during the summer, and I was glad I showed up early: Within 15 minutes, there was a quickly growing line of hungry people.

Just down the street from the church is a bed and breakfast known as The 1720 House. It's an attractive building in its own right, but what really caught my attention as I was walking past was the driveway. At first glance, it looked like chopped-up tree bark scattered all over the place. Who'd use something like that on a driveway, I wondered? Well, not the people at The 1720 House anyway. Upon closer inspection, I realized the driveway was actually covered with ground-up shells, which, considering the property's close proximity to the beach, would surely be easier to come by than gravel.

By the way, the weather here has been so gloomy that islanders seem to feel a compulsion to apologize for it. "It's never like this, really!" one man assured me. Another told me this was "not like June at all." It's not as if I was planning to blame the natives for the seemingly inescapable gray clouds and frequent bursts of rain, although it's reassuring to hear that this is merely a fluke. A little sunshine would definitely be welcome sometime soon.

Here's something that happens to me regularly when I am out of town: I am stopped on the street by other out-of-towners who seem to think I'm either a local or Mr. Information. It's occurred several times in London (and boy, are the tourists surprised when they hear my very American accent!), in New York, in Los Angeles, in Toronto. So why shouldn't it happen here? And today it did. An apparently thirsty gentlemen asked me where he could find a good wine store in Vineyard Haven. Aha! A trick question! "Vineyard Haven is a dry town," I explained. "You'll have to go to Oak Bluffs or Edgartown. But both of them have several liquor stores." He nodded and went on his way and I felt really proud of myself for a few seconds for being able to give accurate instructions. If anyone needs to know where to find alcohol on the island, please track me down and I'll set you straight.