Month: June 2010

What the hell? – Update: still broken – Update #2: miracle?

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I seem to have broken my header picture.  I was trying to change it to something closer to summer than spring, and nothing looked quite right (but it was working), so I tried to put the flowers back.  Not working.  The file is in the right folder (I didn’t move it out), it’s the right size (I didn’t change it), and it’s in my stylesheet with the right file name, but it’s not showing up on the screen.  Gah.  I already had a headache.  This isn’t helping.

Update: Now the picture and the tag line are broken.  I need to update the template and my version of WordPress, and while I’m at it, I might just change the way the whole site looks.  I’m too irritated to do any of that now, plus it’ll keep me up later than I want to be up, and I’ll just get more and more irritated if I know I’m going to be exhausted tomorrow because I’m up fixing this, so I’m putting it off.    I’m irritated just thinking about it.   I’m irritated about my repeated use of the word “irritated”.  Ugh.

So.  Calm, relaxing, deep breaths.  I can fix this tomorrow.

Update #2: Um…I’m on my work laptop this morning and everything looks fine.  I didn’t do anything.  Tiny elves must have fixed it overnight and now I owe them some monumentally huge favor that will be called in at the most inconvenient time.  I’m still going to do those updates, though.  Probably over the weekend.

Writing things down doesn’t always work

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This is the second day in a row I’ve forgotten to pick up my dry cleaning.  And that’s kind of a problem this time, ’cause ALL of my work clothes are there.  What am I supposed to wear tomorrow?  I think I’ll have to wear what I wore yesterday or the day before again.  Not really a big deal since when I’m downtown, I never see the same people two days in a row.  But still.  How could I have forgotten again?  I wrote it down!

I know exactly how I forgot ’cause I do this every time I plan on stopping somewhere on my way home from work.  Whether it’s the pharmacy, the bank (which I also forgot about today – I remembered as I typed those words), the grocery store, or the dry cleaner’s, I have to tell myself over and over again just so I won’t go into auto-pilot mode and go straight home.  It rarely works, in part because I’m usually on the phone.  I’m talking to someone (today it was John, venting about work) and repeating my errands to myself isn’t as effective when I’m trying to have a coherent conversation.  So I find myself in the driveway.  Often, that’s when I remember the errand, and I just back right out and go.  Today, though, I was unloading groceries from the car (I didn’t start talking to John until after the Wegman’s stop) and letting the dogs out.  I sat down at the computer, remembered the dry cleaning, grabbed my keys, and looked at the clock.  Then I yelled a few not-nice things into the phone (still talking to John) because it was 7pm on the dot, and that’s when my dry cleaner closes.

What do I have to do?  Install dry-erase boards on my dashboard?  …  That’s not a bad idea.

Down to two and a half free shelves

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I was home from work a little early today, so I decided to spend my free afternoon doing my favorite kind of housework: putting books away.  I shelved all of the new books, and since I had to put them in the right places (alphabetically), I had to move all of the books, shelf by shelf.  We used to have six free shelves on this last bookshelf in the dining room, but now we’re down to two and a half.  Another 60 books or so, and we’ll be out of shelf space again.  Poor us.  We’ll have to buy more bookshelves.

Go see Bridget. She had an alien encounter (and made Cleveland look gorgeous).  Then watch this. (The two things are not at all related.)  I laughed so hard I nearly cried.

Bloodbath

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Roxy is fine.  Thought I’d start with that, since that’s pretty much how John started a phone call to me late at night on the first Monday I was in Rhode Island.  That’s two weeks ago now.  John got home from work that night and everything was fine.  He went out to rehearsal at Will’s place just before seven and got back right around ten.  He said both dogs met him at the door, as usual, wagging their tails and looking stupidly happy, as usual.  But Roxy was soaking wet all around her neck.  And then he saw this:

And this:

\

And lots more.  Those two pictures are of opposite corners of the first floor of our house.  There was blood EVERYwhere.  It was on the dishwasher, the blinds, the walls, all over the floor, the couch, and, of course, the dog.  Who was fine (and not really bleeding anymore).  John spent a couple of hours cleaning up, and then he brought Roxy upstairs to sleep and left Riley downstairs.  Roxy spent all of Tuesday at the vet, who didn’t have much to say.  She had a shallow gash along her shoulder, which apparently bleeds like a scalp wound would on a person.  As far as we can tell, Roxy had a seizure while John was a rehearsal and Riley did his crazy holding her down thing and in all the thrashing around, managed to scrape her shoulder.  Blood flew during the seizure, I’d imagine, and then Roxy did her recovery thing, which consists of her wandering aimlessly around the first floor, rubbing on everything and bumping into every hard surface.  This time, she tracked (and rubbed) blood all over everything within reach.

She really is fine.  John said she wasn’t bleeding anymore by the time he got her into the bathtub.  The vet didn’t even have to shave her.  We realized we can’t leave the two of them loose in the house when we’re not home after this, and so we can’t use the pet-sitting service anymore.  We can crate them while we’re at work or when we go out, but if we’re out of town, we can’t crate them all day and all night except for the three hours a day the pet-sitter is visiting.  Maybe if we had a house-sitter…  Luckily, the kennel had an opening (two – they have to be boarded in separate runs now, too) for the RI trip, so John left them there Wednesday morning and came to see me Wednesday night.

While I’m documenting seizures, she had that one Monday night two weeks ago (6/14), another short one the following Tuesday night (6/15), and she had one yesterday around noon (6/27).  Short, we were home, no big deal.  Every person who answers the phone at our vet’s office knows who we are.  I called this morning to update her file with yesterday’s seizure, and all I had to do was say just that: “This is Susannah, and I’m calling to update Roxy’s chart.”  They used to have to ask for my last name, my phone number, all that stuff, but not anymore.  On a positive note, two weeks ago she only had two seizures in a row, 24 hours apart instead of 12.  This time, she had one yesterday around noon and hadn’t had another one by the time I left for work this morning.  She seems to have broken the three-in-a-row-12-hours-apart pattern.  Yay!

So much for doing nothing

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Our do-nothing weekend was surprisingly productive.  We made it to the book sale and bought a ton of books, went to Home Depot on the way home, and then spent maybe half an hour re-potting my herbs, planting seeds in the little face pots, and hanging flowers from the front porch.  While we were out front, our neighbor came rushing over and gave us a pound cake!  We couldn’t imagine what for, but then she apologized for being so late with it and said it’s a thank you present for helping her husband and daughter shovel out the driveway and sidewalk last February.  I’d completely forgotten about that, at least partly because I didn’t help.  That was all John.  Such a good neighbor.  And SUCH a good pound cake.

Today, we slept in again (sleeping in is a beautiful thing) and then totally cleaned up our super messy bedroom.  Everything is put away, we got rid of some things, we dusted everywhere, and vacuumed the whole room, including under the bed.  I haven’t attacked my closet yet, but that’s coming soon.  And it’s not that scary.

Pound cake isn’t scary, either.  I want some.

Close call

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I came thisclose to missing this year’s huge used book sale.  You know, the one that happens the last weekend in June every year?  The one I usually talk up to everyone I meet?  The one I usually invite people over for so they can be in town to go with me?  I forgot about it.  John and I were just going through the garage, looking for hazardous household waste to get rid of at the high school (the county has a contractor come by every couple of months for that sort of thing), and the book sale popped into my head.  I kinda shouted “Oh, shit.  The book sale!” as I ran for the computer to check the dates (yes, it’s that important to me), and from the garage I could hear John asking, “When is it?” with some concern.  Yeah, it’s this weekend.  Like right now.  So we’ve put everything else on hold (everything else equals, um, not really anything since we weren’t doing anything and hadn’t made any plans – that’s interesting.  Maybe subconsciously we knew the book sale was this weekend and deliberately left our schedule open.) and we’re going right now.  I’m not prepared (I usually have lists), but I’ve got a pretty good idea of what we have and what I want.  Not having a list means I’ll browse more.  And that’s okay with me.

Losing my mind

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I thought something I had planned for July was actually happening in June, and I was getting John all annoyed about it because it would have happened tomorrow (Saturday), and I’d be gone for the whole day right after coming home for the first time in two weeks.  And while we were talking about it (two days ago), I realized it might actually be scheduled for a Saturday in July,  but I couldn’t be sure….  I checked, and yes, it’s not until July, and yes, I can’t tell one month from the next.  But that means we can both sleep away the whole weekend, and that kind of rest is something we could both really use.  John got in last Sunday night from Rhode Island and has worked almost nonstop since then.  His mother and youngest sister stayed a couple of nights earlier in the week (college visits), so when he got home from the airport, he spent a few hours furiously cleaning the house from top to bottom.  Several days later (now that I’m home to see it), it still looks good.  Having your mother come to stay is a powerful motivator.  I have the same reaction to visits from both sets of parents.

Anyway, we have deliberate plans to do nothing this weekend.  I could see myself going for an early morning run, but only if I happen to wake up early enough (’cause it’s HOT here).  We might try to get rid of some of the crap in the basement, but that might take too much effort.  I guess I’ll just have to wait and see.

Craving healthy food

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I don’t make smart food choices when I’m traveling.  See yesterday’s post for exhibit A.  I bought a custard-filled muffin and a cookie.  And that was not an isolated incident.  Now that I’m home (Ahem.  I’m home now.), with access to a fridge and cabinets and a Wegman’s, all I want to eat is fruit.  And vegetables.  Salads and turkey sandwiches.  This used to happen to me in the Navy, too, when I got back from being at sea for a stretch.  Fresh food disappeared fast, and we didn’t get supplies all that often.  I’d come home craving leafy green stuff.  SO not normal for me.  But it’ll be great if I can keep it up.

Keeping myself up today is something else.  I’m not nearly as tired as I was the last time I had to get up at 3:30 for a 6am flight (and I’m pretty sure that’s due to getting close to seven hours of sleep last night), but I can feel sleepiness rolling in.  I don’t think I have more than two hours left before I’m unconscious.  Hopefully John will get home before then.  Both so I can see him and so we can eat.  I’m hungry and I’m pretty sure I missed lunch today.  I had breakfast in Chicago while waiting for my connection (bagel, banana, iced vanilla chai – best drink ever), and that’s the last thing I remember eating.  8-ish.  I’m gonna have an apple while I wait.

I missed my window

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For real.  It was sunny all day long (I was able to run outside this morning), but I spent some time working in my hotel room after I got back from work today, and now that I’m ready to go out and explore, it’s raining again.  Like pouring down rain.  Lots of water is falling from the sky, really fast.  So I’ve given up and ordered food to be delivered.  It’s my last night, but I’m doing a repeat of my trip home from North Carolina and getting up at 3:30 in the morning so I can make it to the airport on time for my stupidly early flight home.  So I’m okay with staying in.

I did get to see a little bit of Duluth.  I found a jogging path that goes right along the lake, and I ran across Duluth’s aerial lift bridge (while it was down, of course).

So that was neat.  I guess.  I’m sorry.  I have NO enthusiasm for this town and I’m going to stop apologizing for it.  I don’t have to like every place I go.  I do feel like I did my part in supporting local businesses, though.  Today, anyway.  I had breakfast at the New London Cafe, which was adorably cute.  (Yes, you read that right.  It wasn’t just adorable, not just cute, but adorably cute.)  I wish I’d been able to get there for lunch, but I didn’t have enough time.  I liked them so much that I just went to their website and sent them a message.  ‘Cause I’m nice like that.  On my way home from work, I stopped at this used bookstore I’d been driving by every day.  I tried to resist, but I failed.  And come on – how could I not check it out?  It’s a pretty good little store with crazy-low prices, made even lower by the girl who rang me up.  According to the signs, I should have been paying between $1 and $2 for each of the two books I was buying, but she said she’s allowed to do her own pricing and she was WAY too excited about that.  She was clearly still in high school, very young, and she’s working there for free, and then she only charged me $1.08.  For both books.  She said it was accurate, so I didn’t complain.  And then she said I had to go this bakery just down the street ’cause at the end of the day, they sell cookies and muffins and things at a major discount.  She didn’t have to tell me twice.  They had a poppy seed muffin, which is good enough for me, but it was filled with custard, and that makes it heavenly.  🙂  So I got one (and a cookie) for the jaw-droppingly low price of 93 cents.  How do these places stay in business?  Does it cost that little to live here?  My breakfast (two eggs over easy on toast) was only $3.03.  I think I may have overstated when I said I supported local businesses today.

It stopped raining for a whole hour this evening!

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I was so excited.  I actually walked to dinner tonight.  I guess technically I walked to dinner last night, too, but only to the lobby.  Tonight, I walked four whole blocks.  Outside!  And I stayed dry!  Seriously, though, a guy at work said they’ve only had two sunny days in the last two weeks, possibly more.  Of course, the weather could be more like it is at home – dry (John says our lawn is dying), humid, and HOT.  I can’t say I’m really looking forward to that weather.  But I’ll be HOME.

Dinner was really good.  Better than last night.  I went to Va Bene.  My waiter was great, and my table had the BEST view.  I was right at the lakeside edge of their back deck.  Still inside, but with an uninterrupted view of Lake Superior and all the sailboats.  Really nice.  If you ever find yourself in Duluth, I can recommend that restaurant.  The forecast says it’s supposed to be sunny tomorrow (it said that about today, too, but I’m still hopeful), so tomorrow evening I may venture farther afield (further afield?  They both look really weird to me right now.).

The early bedtime followed by early exercise worked for me last night and today, so that’s my plan for tonight and tomorrow, too.  See ya!

Where is my brain?

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I had dinner tonight in the hotel restaurant (actually very good and decently priced) because it was chilly out and I’m lazy.  Also, I’m aiming for a ridiculously early bedtime tonight and I didn’t want to have to go far for dinner.  Anyway, on my way back to my room, I headed for the bathrooms in the lobby to throw some trash away.  I went in that bathroom earlier tonight (I had one of those sneezing fits that just won’t quit – I hate those), and when I pushed open the door this time and reached towards the trash can, I thought “this looks different from earlier – ”  When I reached that point in the thought, I snatched my hand back, jumped about three feet in the air, and threw myself back out the door.  Of the men’s bathroom.  Luckily for me, no one was in there and no one was in the hallway just outside the door to see me come flying out.

I still haven’t tried very hard to like Duluth.  At least the sun came out today.  If it’s still shining tomorrow, and more importantly, if I get enough sleep tonight and exercise tomorrow morning, I’ll try again.  I’m so done with traveling.  It’s hard to care.  I want to try, I want to see what’s great about Duluth (I’m sure there are great things), but only half-heartedly.  Traveling alone loses its appeal (it had appeal?) after the first five weeks.

Ugh, that’s depressing.  I swear, I’m just tired.  And brain-dead.

Trying not to make a snap judgement about Duluth

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I am not in the mood to appreciate Duluth.  I got to my hotel last night right around midnight (central time, so it felt like 1am).  I was a little lucky getting in, though.  The rental car counter closes at 11:30, and that’s when my flight was supposed to land, so I thought I was going to have to take a cab to the hotel, then a cab to work (since the rental car counter doesn’t open again until 7:30 in the morning, which was when I was supposed to be at work), then a cab to the airport to pick up the car after work.  I wasn’t looking forward to that.  Fortunately, my flight landed ten minutes early and the rental car counter is less than 10 feet from the baggage carousel.  The one baggage carousel.  Duluth is tiny.  So, lucky me, I got my rental car.  Small yay.  Anyway, midnight at the check-in desk and thankfully, no one else was in the lobby, ’cause the check-in guy took it upon himself to bellow my room number to the space at large rather than just point to where he wrote it down for me like most hotels.  It was 1am before I could turn off my light, and all I wanted to do was sleep for hours and hours, but 1) it wasn’t dark in my room, and 2) I had to get up 5:45 to get to work on time.  Why wasn’t it dark in my room?  Because the Holiday Inn in downtown Duluth doesn’t believe in blackout curtains.  All I had were sheers, and my room faced the bright green Holiday Inn sign.  Still, I was tired, so I didn’t notice as much as I might have on a normal night.  5:45 came too early, but I made it to work okay and then through the day without falling over.  The day itself could have been better (I forgot to buy candy to bribe my students, so they were less enthusiastic than I was used to, and the lights in the room we were in were either too bright to see the projector screen or too dark to keep anyone awake), but it went well enough.  I headed back to my room thinking I might take a walk down the lakefront to find dinner, but it was raining, so that idea went out the window.  Speaking of the window, I was going to change clothes, but I saw a rope dangling from an upper floor.  I took a closer look and found a guy on one of those window-washing platforms about three feet down and three feet to the right of my window.  I could see him, and if he looked to his right, he could see into my room.  Not okay when I only have sheers on my windows.  On top of that, about 30 seconds after I noticed him, he started drilling into the wall outside my room.  SO loud.  I was on the phone with John, and he could hear it, too.  That eventually stopped (around six), but when I called the front desk to ask about it, they said it’ll be going on all week.  Shortly after that, the fire alarm went off.  The front desk made an announcement asking us to stay in our rooms while they investigate to find out if it’s a false alarm.  The alarm went off again, and then I heard the announcement of the false alarm.  Except that then the alarm went off again.  And again.  And again.  All in all, it went off about six times before I gave up and found a new hotel.  So now I’m somewhere else, in a hotel that has a really nice lobby and really nice employees (the check-in guy was great – upgraded my room while keeping me on the rate I’m supposed to be on for work) and HEAVY CURTAINS ON THE WINDOWS.  I never knew how important that was to me until the last few weeks.  In NC, the hotel only had sheers, but it wasn’t downtown or anything, so it got fairly dark at night.  In RI, the B&B had shutters that didn’t completely block out the light, but they were so cute and I was so relaxed that, while I would have preferred a darker room, it didn’t really bother me.  When I don’t have to wake up to an alarm clock, I enjoy waking up to sunlight streaming in my window.  But for work?  While traveling?  I want a dark room and real curtains.  Especially when there are men working outside my window.

Anyway, Duluth is not winning me over.  I’m sure it’s fine, and maybe I’ll like it better when the sun is shining and I’ve had a good night’s sleep, but I’m not seeing its charm at the moment.

The Cliff Walk or How I Learned to Always Provide for Return Transportation

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At least we were wearing good walking shoes.

John and I were out the door at 6:30 Saturday morning ’cause the night before (after we got mildly sunburned from walking around all day), I had a brilliant idea.  I wanted to do the whole cliff walk and then walk back along Bellevue (about 3.5 miles each way), but neither of us wanted to do it in the sun or the heat, so why not get up before the sunshine gets so intense?  Smart, right?  Sure.  It was early, but we managed.  The first part was great: gentle sunlight, not many people out, temperature in the 60s, paved path.

The start of the Cliff Walk

There was a bird doing a Batman impression right at the beginning.  Looked kind of freaky.  Was he warning us of something?  Maybe the trail was out.  Or a storm was coming!  Or maybe we should have been on the lookout for an angry mob of birds who think they’re Batman.  Hard to say.  Maybe he was just drying his wings after his dawn swim.

Maybe we stumbled on the super secret "Welcoming the Day" ritual of this particular type of bird.

We continued on to the Forty Steps and took a few pictures of the rocky coastline…

Forty Steps from a distance. Makes you wonder why they were put there. It's cool and everything, but did they ever serve a purpose? They used to be a gathering place for the servants and workers from the mansions, but that doesn't explain why there are steps there in the first place.

Close-up. Duh.

Shortly after that, the freaky bird came back with more warnings.

If the bird really wanted to warn us, it should have learned English. Would that have been so hard? We certainly didn't get the message.

Then the paved path went away.  Still not bad, packed dirt and the occasional line of large flat rocks.  Then there were the parts where there was no path.  Just rocks.  And not flat ones, either.

Inside the fence was private property. We had to become part mountain goat to finish the cliff walk, and I don't even think we were halfway at this point.

I didn’t take any more pictures after that; I needed both hands.  John took a whole series of the place we think is Hammersmith Farm (where Jackie O grew up), but we don’t have any more of the walk itself.

Probably (possibly, anyway) Hammersmith Farm

Not too long after that (and after a scramble across more rocks that turned out not be necessary – we missed the path), we found ourselves back on level ground, where Ocean Drive starts and Bellevue ends.  We were 3.5 miles from where we started with no alternative but to walk back.  At least it was shady.  And we could see the front side of some of the mansions.  I didn’t take any mansion pictures, but I can’t resist topiary.

Camels on a desert safari across a perfectly maintained, beautifully green lawn.

Our early morning adventure ended after more than three hours and over seven miles with quick showers and then breakfast at The Franklin Spa on Spring Street.  (By the time we cleaned up, we had missed breakfast at the inn.)  The Franklin Spa does breakfast really well.  I recommend it if you’re ever in Newport.  In fact, I recommend every restaurant we went to and every park, walk, or other activity we did.

On Friday, when we were in between appointments to see retail space, we joined the crowd on Ocean Drive to see the start of the Newport Bermuda Race.  John took some great pictures and I took some so-so ones.

Looking all professional. (Don't burst my bubble if that's not what professional photographers look like.)

One of mine. Hazy, not that interesting. But still - sailboats! Racing! And a helicopter!

I really like the color in this one of John's. And the dog is cute.

John plays with depth of field and proves that I was actually there (blurry, but there).

Don't know who these people are, but I love this picture. How does he do it?

More sailboats, courtesy of John.

And that’s enough.

I’m in the cafe (I’ve typed “face” instead of “cafe” three times now) of a Borders at Providence Place Mall.  (Really nice mall, by the wall.)  John’s flight left almost an hour ago, and mine (for Duluth) doesn’t leave for another three hours, so rather than return the rental car and sit around in the airport, I figured I’d find a place with free wi-fi (not free at the airport) and hang out for a while.  Doing this.

Now I’m hungry and I need to call Dad (Happy Father’s Day, Dad!), so I’m gonna pack up my laptop.  It’ll be midnight or later before I make it to my hotel in Duluth, so this’ll be it for today.  Actually, I’ll be in Chicago for a couple or three hours, so if they have free wi-fi, I may be online again.  I’m sure you’ll manage either way.  🙂

Rhode Island has some really pretty towns, but I don’t think they eat there.

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John and I drove through parts of Rhode Island we’ve never seen before on our way to and from Providence this afternoon.  We fell in love with Bristol and Barrington (those two towns just rose to the top of where we think we want to live) and, in an entirely different (much more rural and remote) way, with Little Compton.  The main problem we foresee with Little Compton (assuming we could work from home and/or a nearby storefront) is finding where to buy groceries.  We didn’t see a single grocery store in that town or the one just north of it.  There were a couple of very small markets (one seasonal and one that seemed to only carry milk and bread), but that was it.  Where do these people buy food?

Scouting expedition

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The other day (which must have been yesterday, but feels like weeks ago already), John found a for-sale listing for retail space with an apartment above it just off Thames Street, and he took me by it on the way to work.  This morning, we decided to drop in to the real estate agency just to find out how much it’s going for.  We still want to own a used bookstore, and one way to keep costs down would be to own the building and live above the store, so it seems worthwhile to look into it.  We met an agent who understood what we were trying to do.  She didn’t try to push the expensive places on us or anything, and she wasn’t really pushing us to buy at all.  All we wanted to do was get an idea of space and see what’s available, what we might be able to afford, and if we might be happy living in an apartment again.  The short answer to that last one is probably not, not with dogs and not if we have any plans to add future family members.  But the experiment was successful.  We saw two places, both on the same street.  One had a smaller retail space (though nice), no yard at all, but two floors of living space above and a roof deck.  The apartment would need a lot of work to be nice, but it’s doable.  The second place was better.  There was more retail space, more interesting retail space (corners and turns, alcoves, a fireplace, etc), a little studio apartment behind the retail space with a back entrance that can connect to the upstairs apartment, a fenced in yard/patio (small, but cute), and upstairs was really nice.  Cathedral ceiling in the front room, with space for a table and a living area, a bay window, a (small) fireplace in the middle of the room, open on two sides, a breakfast area, a counter high enough for bar stools, and a completely redone kitchen (very nice), all new counters, cabinets (some with glass doors), appliances, etc.  The bedroom was fine, and the bathroom had a big whirlpool tub and two sinks.  There was another half-bath that was nice, too.  In short, it was a TOTALLY VERY AWESOME COOL building, and if John and I didn’t have two dogs and if we weren’t thinking about kids someday, we would reallyreallyreallyreally want this place.

But we do have dogs, and we do want kids, so I think we’ll rethink the whole living above a store thing and start looking at normal houses and renting retail space.  It’s not like this is going to happen immediately or anything.  John needs to finish his masters, we need jobs wherever it is we’d be going (or at least John would need a job), and we’ll need to figure out how we can sell our house without losing our shirts.  And, you know, our money.  🙂

SO much walking

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We got up early this morning (5-ish) to run in the fog (which was really cool), and then John drove me to work on his way to spend the day visiting houses he used to live in and old high school haunts.  Work was not bad, and the day didn’t go nearly as slow as expected, mainly because I had a very lively class.  Lots of good-natured heckling.  I’ll take that over a zombie class any day.

Once we got back to Newport (work was in Narragansett – and I’m done for the week! Yay!), we went for a walk, planning on going to the Redwood Library to look around.  Got distracted by the giant stone tower thing in Touro Park, and John said he remembered a plaque or sign or something saying it was built by vikings or something, but we couldn’t find the sign.  On our way back up to the library, we passed the Newport Tower Museum.  We were looking at the pictures and posters in the window, and I noticed a guy on the inside coming towards that window.  Before I knew it, he’d bounced outside to come talk to us.  It’s his museum, and he’s done research and written books on that tower, all while trying to figure out who really built it.  Apparently, there are a bunch of theories, but most don’t hold water (according to him).  Anyway, he took us back over to it and pointed out all kinds of interesting things about it.  Long story short: he got us interested in it and we’re going to visit his museum tomorrow and let him tell us all the stuff he found out.  And probably end up buying his book (or books).  It really was cool, and the guy was SO enthusiastic.

After that, though, we decided to put off the Redwood Library until tomorrow, and we headed down to Thames Street to the Brick Alley Pub for dinner.  Very good, just like we remembered, and then we walked.  And walked.  And walked.  Just because.  It felt like forever, and we both wanted to turn around and head back to our inn, but for some reason we kept going.  And when we finally turned around, it felt like we’d never get back.  Of course, we did, eventually, and I just mapped it.  It was only 2.5 miles.  So we’re wimps.  It’s not even that late, but we’re both really tired.  John says that’s because it’s been 40 hours since we got up this morning.  He’s probably right.

Go check out Curiosity.  She’s hilarious on the subject of her hearing loss (which I’m very sorry to hear about, but am delighted to read a post about).  (Does that make me insensitive?)

It should go without saying, since I link to practically all of her posts, but The Bloggess is one of the funniest people on the Internet.  Truly and consistently funny.  She made me laugh at almost every sentence of her post today, so, you know, go read.  And laugh.  I’m going to put my walked-out feet up and go to bed.

Feed me!

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I’m picking John up from the airport in about two hours, so this has to be quick (’cause I’m starving and I’m running out of time to eat dinner).  Very excited that he’ll be here tonight.  I still have to work tomorrow, but I’m sure the day will fly by.  (Except it won’t now that I’ve said that.  I should know better than to jinx myself like that.)

So hungry!  So rather than write something funny, pithy, or otherwise interesting, I’ll leave you with a couple of links to other places.  If you haven’t visited The Bloggess in a couple of days, go now.  She just became the craziest person in the shrink’s office, and once again, she had me laughing my head off.  Also, Desire to Inspire posted some pictures of this really cool loft I’d like to live in, if I were ever living in a major city again.

That’s all I’ve got for now ’cause I’m HUNGRY and I’m going out.  (Did I mention I’m hungry?)  Later!

What a coincidence

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As I waited at the stoplight at Bellevue and Memorial on my way home from work today, I heard someone call my name.  I looked over and, oddly enough, it was the guy from last night (the one who wouldn’t stop talking) in the car in the next lane over.  I know Newport’s a small town, but what are the odds?  Which is pretty much what we talked about for the 30 seconds before the light changed, through our open windows.

When I got back to the inn, I changed clothes and came downstairs to head out for dinner.  I’d planned to wander a little and then eat a light dinner and come back early so I could get a normal night’s sleep.  (Last night was not normal, and not long enough.)  I ducked into the parlor to grab a cookie (they set out tea and they have the BEST cookies), and I met two women who had just checked in.  We chatted a little, then a little more, and before I knew it, it had been an hour.  I decided not to keep them any longer, since I knew they wanted to head out for dinner, and they invited me along, so we continued chatting for the next three hours.  They’re staying in one of the other houses here, so I’ll probably see them again.  Hope I do.  I liked them.  🙂

(We had dinner at Puerini’s, and I had garlic sauteed with garlic, shallots, garlic, butter, garlic, herbs, and garlic in a white wine sauce.  With clams.  And garlic.  That’s how it feels (and tastes) now, anyway.  But it was good.)

The guessing game continues

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My run was too short this morning (I needed to make sure I’d have plenty of time to find the place I’m working at this week), but it was really nice.  Right around 60 degrees and overcast, with a breeze, so it was nice and cool, and I headed to the Cliff Walk to run.  Until I got there, I hadn’t noticed the ocean sounds, and then all of a sudden, I was looking down at a beach (waves and sand and everything!) and I could hear the surf hitting the rocks at the base of the cliff.  SO pleasant.  So it was a nice run.

On my way back from work, I drove in the way we used to come in, came down Broadway and around Washington Square, and then across Division Street to see our old apartment.  Looks exactly the same, even after nine years.  It could use a coat of paint, but I think it needed that when we lived there.  I climbed the stairs to my room (did I mention I’m on the 3rd floor of a bed and breakfast?), changed clothes, and went out for a walk.  I found myself on Spring Street (the wine store is still there, but I couldn’t find the breakfast place) and I got stopped by some guy on the sidewalk who asked me about my shirt.  I really need to stop wearing this one in public.  It says “Ask me about sustainability” across the front.  People do.  But this guy wouldn’t stop talking.  Forty-five minutes later, I continued my walk.  I ended up at The Black Pearl (the tavern side) for dinner, where I had one of the most delicious dishes I have ever eaten.  Scallops with bacon, mushrooms, and cream.  I don’t ever need to eat again.  I’m full up.  No more food needed.  After that, I was really glad I was walking.  And going uphill.  Exercise is good.  And when I made it to the top of the hill, my shirt (the “ask me about” part, anyway) prompted a couple to ask me for directions to The Red Parrot.  It was nice to be able to help them out.   (It helps that it’s kinda hard to miss AND I had just walked past it.)

Anyway, I’m back in my room and I want to go to bed.  The biggest decision I have to make is where I’m going to run tomorrow.

Where am I?

Guess where I am!

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I won’t really make you guess, although I could start a weekly contest.  Guess where Zannah is this week and win a prize!

I’m going to keep this short since I have to work tomorrow morning and it’s already later than I’m comfortable with, but I have to say I’m glad I’m here.  I caught my first glimpse of the bridge and I felt like I was home.  Seems a little ridiculous to feel that strongly about a place I only spent six months in, and that was  nine years ago, but we were very happy here.

I had an okay dinner at a new pasta place just around the corner from Bellevue.  It’s right next to Dunkin Donuts, where I’ll most likely be picking up breakfast in the morning.  Tomorrow, anyway.  Hopefully after that, I can delay leaving long enough to manage breakfast here.  I am staying at a bed and breakfast.

Good night!