Week 34 - Relaxing Beach Week

The week started out with absolutely gorgeous weather and we had guests scheduled for every day. It was going to be a great week. Unless Hurricane Erin caused problems.

John was going out to lunch with his friend Nancy on Monday so I called Janice and she came over for lunch and the afternoon. Janice was my best friend from 7th grade through college so it was fun catching up and we laughed for hours. When John got back and asked what was so funny, we couldn't even say. After Janice left, we had yummy burgers for supper and enjoy this beautiful sunset. Beach living. Gotta love it.

Deanne was coming on Tuesday but wanted to go out for lunch. She and I went to The Coast Guard House, which is right on the water in Narragansett and is a Rhode Island institution. I had a lobster roll and we split the most delicious pea salad. We then shopped in Wakefield before she dropped me back at the cottage because she had a zoom at 4:00. Kathy, who used to own the cottage and was how we found it in 2020, was coming for supper. While Dee and I were out, John had gone to the fish store for fresh swordfish (caught that morning) and the farm stand for sweet corn. It was all delicious and the conversation flowed. It was another lovely day.

Wednesday was Cornelia day. We became friends when we lived in adjacent dorm rooms on our junior year abroad in France. It's been more than 40 years. How are we that old? Anyway, we met her at Aunt Carrie's for clamcakes and chowder and then she came back to the cottage for a chatty afternoon until she had to leave for a hair appointment. For a change, I cooked dinner - sausage and peppers with zucchini. The veg came from my garden and had survived being packed in my suitcase just fine. Some of the peppers were spicy (they weren't supposed to be) but it was still good. It was raining so we watched Rogue Agent, which was worth the watch, and went to bed early. 

Hurricane Erin was off the coast and starting to affect our weather by Thursday. The tide was incredibly high and it was cloudy and windy all day. With the high temp only 68, it was pretty chilly. John's aunt and uncle were coming for drinks and nibbles that afternoon and luckily the sun was coming out by then. We had a nice time chatting and ate so many snacks with our drinks that after they left, we skipped supper and had an early night after watching a few episodes of Leanne on Netflix.

It had been cool all week and still was but Friday was our beach day. Carolyn and Matt were coming but with Erin offshore, the waves were huge and swimming wasn't allowed at the state beach. They got to the cottage at noon but John and I aren't ones to sit on the beach so we stayed at the cottage for lunch and said we'd walk down and meet them later. They were planning to leave the beach at 4:30 so we walked down for 3:00. It was too windy for an umbrella so it was a good thing we weren't there long. The waves were crazy big and roared onto shore. I went down to stand in the waves (that was allowed) and they were so strong that just one wave pulled the sand out from under my feet. Sheesh! We drove back to the cottage and John made his marinated chicken, which is always yummy. We watched more Leanne after they left then I took my last outside shower of the year and sat out on the deck listening to the waves crashing from the beach, which is about a quarter mile from the cottage. The stars were bright and I enjoyed sitting there for quite awhile. Another beach week was over. In a flash.

Check out time on Saturday is 10:00 so we got up and got busy packing clothes, linens and food. The car was loaded and we drove out at 10:15. We went to the big Job Lot (a RI store that's like Big Lots used to be but better) in East Greenwich and didn't even get through it all before we had to head to Carolyn's. Our friend Bob was coming and we were going to have a lunch of leftovers from the cottage, which we had plenty of. It was another fun catch up and then John dropped me at Janice's, where I'd be staying for a few days before flying home.

I normally stay with Carolyn or Deanne when I'm in RI but Carolyn was starting school that Tuesday and Deanne is living with her mother while her new house is being built so Janice came to my rescue. Janice and I grew up together so I knew it would be fun. I settled into her spare room and her husband made burgers on the grill. Just like that, Saturday was done.

Janice lives right by the water and they have a BIG (43 foot) boat so we were going out on the boat on Sunday. Janice's brother and daughter-in-law came too and it was fabulous. Despite having grown up in RI, I'd only been out on the bay a few times. It's so cool to see things from the water - a totally different perspective. We went to a Potter Cover off Prudence Island and dropped anchor. We spent the afternoon enjoying sandwiches, snacks and just being on the water. We got back at 6:00 and when they mentioned going to "the club" for supper, I was thrilled to hear they meant The Firemen's Club in East Greenwich. It's legendary and you have to be a member, which her husband and brother are. It's prime real estate overlooking Greenwich Cove and I was thrilled to go there. The food was good and it was a perfect end to a wonderful day and week.

Another RI beach week was in the books and I had just one more day before I'd fly home on Tuesday. I was having lots of fun with Janice and got to check a few new things off my list. Still, home was calling to me. I'd be staying home for a long time once I got home. 

Week 33 - Rhode Island Bound

Any week that includes getting on a plane for vacation automatically becomes busy but this wasn't too bad. I had lots of free time in the four days until I left.

I spent Monday doing some cleaning in my nightie, including putting the laundry room back to normal after the contractors had moved things when they had to replumb my shower. There was strange gunk in my sinks down there - a layer or what felt like rusted metal. It took time to chip off and then left rust stains on the enamel. Anyway, when I was done with chores, the nightie went into the hamper, I took a shower and got dressed. I made a strawberry rhubarb pie to take to knitting, which was the icing on the productive day I'd had.

I did laundry and hung it out on Tuesday and then spent some time neatizing the house, including organizing my knitting, between episodes of The Studio on Apple TV. I made egg roll in a bowl for supper then went to my library board meeting. Not quite as productive as Monday but not a total slug day. I was in pretty good shape for my trip too with clean clothes to pack and the house chores done.

With that in mind and a clear calendar on Wednesday, I decided it was time to tackle a one day project, which was my bedroom. Clothes were off the list but I went through the bottom of my closet and cleared all the surfaces. Then I started cleaning. It was the perfect project and looked great when I was done. I also finally was able to set up Venmo on my credit union account having given up on my Wahoo State Bank account, where I'd failed to get it to work three times. Pixel, who was looking much better, got her last dose of antibiotics. It was a good day.

I was heading to Lincoln on Thursday for lunch with Dana and Cindy so recycled my glass on the way into town then dropped some travel presents off to Darla before picking them up. We had a lovely middle eastern lunch at Fattoush, which Dana recommended. The big boss - Vice Chancellor for Business and Finance, Mike Zeleny - was leaving UNL and I'd be missing his party so grabbed a few minutes with him between his meetings to say goodbye. And since I was on the third floor, I talked to Ben then went upstairs to chat with Erica and Layton. It had been a long time since I'd spent so much time in the office but it was great to catch up with people.

Friday was all about getting ready - watering plants (inside and out), setting up many litter boxes, cleaning out the fridge, doing a final load of laundry and packing. I even knitted the final squares on my temperature blanket to catch up from my last trip, knowing I'd be twelve days behind again before I got back from RI. I had plenty of time to get this all done though so it wasn't stressful. I had to be up at 4:30 for my early flight so went to bed early and called myself prepared.

I got a decent amount of sleep before my alarm went off and was on the road by 5:15. My flights were completely uneventful. John picked me up and we went straight to The Crow's Nest for my favorite fried clams. Delish! We went to Trader Joe's for supplies then headed to the cottage, which is where it got interesting. It was strange to see that Vivian's camper had been removed and there was a nice, new deck on the cottage but the door for the outside shower was gone. Changes.

Our neighbors came over to greet us and helped us unload but when we looked for the key in the lockbox, it was not there. John called and texted the owner but didn't get an immediate response so he got creative. The kitchen window that opens onto the deck wasn't locked so John unscrewed the screen and climbed in the window. Yay! We unpacked the groceries, made beds and settled in. But when it came time for dinner, we had nothing to eat despite buying tons of food at TJ's. I made us fried egg sandwiches and we called it good.  When it was time for bed, I evaluated who could see me if I showered outside and decided it was only one house across the pond and they'd need binoculars so I used my phone for light and took a nudie shower outside. All good. 

Sunday was a low key day with no visitors coming. I took my breakfast out to the deck and then spent the entire morning there knitting, thoroughly enjoying my happy place. We headed out for Stop & Shop to fill in the gaps in the food we'd bought at TJ's. Lots of meat was procured and we had saugies (a RI hotdog) for supper. With the fridge stocked, we were ready for a week of visiting with friends and relaxing. We had a gorgeous sunset to end the evening (the pic at the start of this post.