Jolly melancholy

In spite of the name on the window, this cafe makes me sad.

Laptop and thesaurus in hand, I had stopped by Jolly’s in northern Michigan the other day and found the door locked, the tables gone, and a sign on the door saying thanks for three great years.

Jolly’s Cafe is in Petoskey, Hemingway’s old stomping grounds. He used to write in a bar one street over, and who knows, he may well have spent time in whatever business used to be here too.  The building is certainly old enough.  It’s charming, with high ceilings, creaky wood floors, and great light.  I wrote here most days last summer, and planned to do the same this year.

Locked out of my favorite writing spot, I wandered around until I found another cafe that serves hot tea and has wi-fi:

So long, Clean Well-Lighted Place.  Hello, Dirty , Dark and Hot. (Which sounds much more erotic than my experience, as I sat sweating and wondering why anyone would order hot tea in such a furnace, actually was.)

I’ll keep looking for the right writing spot, but in the meantime, thought I’d mention that my Poem Elf postings will be sporadic in July and August as I am working on some other things.  I do have some poems and pictures in the hopper though, and should have something up next week.