A microwave stands on the counter under the old-fashioned glass cupboards, but otherwise little has changed since the writer's girlhood; everyone's grandmother will recognize that enamel-topped kitchen table with its lone cutlery drawer.
In the former post office, forms and licence applications and a bottle of dried ink still stand on the counter, while in a back room stands "a nice dresser, upon which [stands] a teapot and a jug and some sheet music: 'Red Sails in the Sunset', 'The General's Fast Asleep' and 'You Can't Do That There 'Ere.' Nobody on Stroma will ever sing those songs now".
On the day we visited, two boxes of fragrant ripe peaches stood on the white marble counter, destined for fresh peach ice cream with raspberry swirls.
ONE recent Saturday, five bright green shopping bags stood on the shelf behind the counter at the new LeSportsac boutique on Madison Avenue.
Nelson, who three years ago was working behind a pro shop counter, stood on the first tee Wednesday awaiting his practice round with David Howell, the Ryder Cup player and four-time European Tour winner.
More than 300 counter-protesters stood on the steps outside the building.
The white layer cake, which was the next item on the agenda, stood proudly on the counter, decorated with raspberries and five small candles, beside a column of square cartons containing BRAVO, a sugar-free apple drink.
The menu, lettered onto a mirror hanging behind the bar, promises eggs for fifty cents; one recent morning, the hard-boiled-egg rack, a stainless-steel pyramid topped by a salt shaker, stood empty on the counter.
An old cookie jar stood on a counter but there were never any cookies in it.
