Week 28 - Enjoying Rhode Island

Monday was our beach day and I was excited. We decided to go to East Matunuck, where we’d have no parking issues, so were able to relax and enjoy our coffee. My favorite, East Beach, has a tiny parking lot so if you’re not there early, you can’t get in. I think we got to the beach ~10:30, dropped our chairs and immediately walked the entire beach – 6,200 steps. At the end of our walk, I handed my glasses and cover up to Carolyn and went into the water for 10 minutes, after which I sat in the shade of my umbrella relishing being on the beach. I had my legs covered and was actually chilly, even after I put my cover up back on. At one point I put the umbrella down, took off my cover up and had Carolyn time me for 15 minutes. I warmed up and didn’t get a sunburn. We left the beach mid-afternoon and headed to Galilea for lobster rolls at The Portside – the restaurant my family favored from all the beachy options. It was a lovely day and, as always, taking a shower when we got home felt great. I think it’s time to find a beach house to rent for a week next summer.

Carolyn had a hair appointment on Tuesday morning so she dropped me at John’s mom’s house. John’s stepdad had just gotten out of rehab after a series of mini strokes so it was good to visit with them and check in on Brian. It was only an hour then Carolyn and I went home, where Cornelia would be joining us for a light lunch. Carolyn made us grilled cheese and we chatted away before heading to a strange bulk candy store that’s in an industrial park by the airport runway. It was fun and I got some licorice for my aunt and stocking candy for Ginny. We still had some time so Carolyn suggested a trip to the new, huge Asian grocery store in Providence – Good Fortune Market. OMG! It was enormous and fun to walk the aisles looking at every imaginable Asian product, many of which didn’t have translations so were a complete mystery. We had fun and all managed to find a few items before heading back home. Cornelia left and Carolyn and I headed to Crow’s Nest to meet Bette and Aunt Margaret for an early dinner. Yum! Belly clams and seeing my aunt. All good.

Wednesday was my last full day (quick trip) and Carolyn and I had saved it for girls’ day out. We started at the RISD Museum, which was lovely and just the right size for a bit of culture. Then we moved the car (we had good parking mojo both places) and went to Ellie’s Bakery for an absolutely amazing lunch of peach tartine and multiple delicious desserts. Downtown Providence has been transformed since I left in 1996 so we walked around and enjoyed shopping in some cute stores. When we were on our way back to the car, we passed the RI State Archives, where Carolyn’s friend Tracy works so popped in to see her.

Holy crap! Such cool things we saw. Tracy took us into the climate controlled storage room and showed us Rhode Island's original copy of the Declaration of Independence. It was one of the 14 originals - one for the capital and one for each colony. She also showed us the royal charter, complete with the royal seal, of King George authorizing an investigation of the burning of the HMS Gaspee. Rhode Islanders were on the cutting edge of the revolution, you know. What a cool way to end our Providence excursion. John was coming for dinner so we went home and cooked, meaning Carolyn cooked and I did an occasional chopping job. We had a lovely dinner of pasta with pork in a cream sauce. Delish and a nice last evening in RI.

I'd bought very little on this trip so packing was a non-issue. We had a relaxing day and then Cornelia came to take me to the airport. I had a 3 hour layover but had plenty packed for dinner, knitting and an audio book so was all set. Then the flight was delayed, again and again. I ended up spending 6.5 hours at Midway and my flight didn't leave until midnight. Instead of being home by 11:00, I didn't walk into my house until 2:30. Oh well. I'd be dragging on Friday.

And Friday was a busy day. I had scheduled vet appointments for Pixel and Tot at 11:00 and hoped to sleep late but no dice. I was up drinking coffee by 7:00 so faced the day on 4 hours of sleep. I had the easiest time ever getting the cats into the carriers and just had time for BK before I had to clear out the freezer for the appliance man's arrival at 1:00. He had the fan replaced in no time so I reorganized as I put stuff back and was drinking tea by mid-afternoon. 

I got 2 messages on Facebook about a yarn sale in Prague so called Anne and she agreed to come up for it. We were in Prague going through yarn by 6:00. It was a garage full of yarn from an avid crocheter who had died recently, leaving her husband and son with more yarn than 10 people could use in a lifetime. While there was no sock yarn, I did manage to find the 2 balls of wool yarn among the thousands and got a bunch of acrylic for Dottie's hat for the homeless project. They also gave me 2 huge bags of granny squares that needed to be sewn together. Hundreds of them! I assured them they would get made into afghan. Anne opted out of going out to dinner somewhere so I watched The Great British Baking Show and went to bed early. I'd made it through and gotten a bunch done but was running on empty.

Saturday was not a productive day. I didn't manage to make up any sleep so had a low energy day at home. I felt better on Sunday and managed to do my weekly chores to be ready for the week ahead. I also made lemon meringue pies with some of the enormous lemons Donna had brought from California. I dropped one at Donna's and had one for knitting and a tiny one for me. Nice.

It had been a fun week and my less than fully productive weekend had zero impact on life in general. I'd call that a successful vacation, right?