reflections

There also are plenty of what I call shoebox houses on the Cape—large, asymmetrical buildings with flat roofs, looking like a series of boxes joined together. I’m not a fan.

In fact, there is one such structure on the bay side whose owner flouted the local ordinances in building it and merely, and apparently happily, paid the fines. Especially sad is that the late painter Edward Hopper’s house—a large, white Cape—is a few hundred yards away.

The woman we rent from in Wellfleet told me she had to negotiate with the town planning board to get permission to demolish an unused chimney in her 1850 house. In fact, only the top ten feet remained, and the bricks were supported on a metal frame in the attic. Severe, perhaps, but such rules maintain the beauty of the town. She also told me, when I was curious about some oddly placed doors in our