Sep 8, 2012 - Last day in Rhode Island

Today is our last day in Rhode Island. We spent most of the day getting the trailer set for travel. We stopped at Del’s and picked up the family some frozen lemonade after we topped off the truck. Love this New England treat and will miss not having it around for that sweet/tart taste to cool you off on a hot, humid day. After dinner tonight our granddaughters regaled us with their flute playing and dancing. It was fun to watch them and give them applause for their efforts. Lauren, the oldest (10) did not like something her father said...

Sep 6, 2012 - Breakfast and dinner

When we woke up today neither of us felt like making breakfast so we headed up to the house to see if Carol and Mike wanted to go out. Unfortunately, they weren’t home. We decided to go to a nice diner we had been to before a few years ago when we were here called The Breakfast Nook. You know the kind of place where it’s been around for a long time, nice fancy, kind of rough inside with not that much for seating, but oh, my, do they serve the best breakfasts there. As we were leaving who was driving in to the parking lot but Carol and Mike....

Sep 5, 2012 - Wednesday in the rain

It rained so hard today that there is only about 1/2 inch before the swimming pool overflows. I have been in this kind of weather when I lived in Chicago 30 some years ago and had forgotten how the thunder, lightening and pouring rain were so different from Seattle's. Walked out the door of the trailer this morning, between drops, and wow, was like being in a steam bath. It is supposed to rain off and on the rest of the week. A fitting set up for our departure, I must say. We are leaving Rhode Island on Sunday to visit with John's brother...

Sep 4, 2012 - Rainy Day in Rhode Island

This was my first experience with rain that came with a lot of humidity. Now I always assumed that rain was humidity so I looked it up on Google. Well, I was right in some way, but got lost in the translation. There is relative, absolute and specific humidity. So, I will explain today in my way. It was raining but it felt sticky outside. I suppose that is what rain in Florida feels like, or even, Rhode Island. Being from the west coast I haven't experienced "sticky" rain before. So, now I can identify with muggy rain. I had best stop now,...

Sep 3, 2012 - Happy Labor Day

I thought this was so beautiful and quite fitting for Labor Day. I hope you all were able to celebrate the day with friends and or family. I HEAR AMERICA SINGING ~ Walt Whitman I hear America singing, the varied carols I hear, Those of mechanics, each one singing his as it should be blithe and strong, The carpenter singing his as he measures his plank or beam, The mason singing his as he makes ready for work, or leaves off work, The boatman singing what belongs to him in his boat, the deckhand singing on the steamboat deck, The shoemaker...

Aug 27, 2012 - Easton Beach in Newport

Today was beach day and off we headed to Easton Beach in Newport, R.I. For some reason this is also known as beach #2. I think I missed the explanation somewhere in the telling. After cramming in the lawn chairs, towels, diving equipment, goggles, sun tan lotion, snacks, water, flip flops and the 6 of us into the van we were finally ready to go. It was a ½ drive and we found a parking spot right on the street. Took everything out of the van and marched down the short walk to the sand. There was a red tide today, so we walked down a bit...

Aug 26, 2012 - Ice Cream & the Dollar Store

We took Megan out this afternoon while Lauren was with her other grandmother. We went to Hill Top Creamery for her favorite ice cream. Soft vanilla with hard chocolate shell dipped in sprinkles. We all got the junior size (very small), went back behind the building where they have colorful plastic Adirondack chairs to eat our ice cream and talk. Little did we know it would take her almost an hour to eat that small amount of ice cream! Holy Cow! But we got a chance to chit chat. She has quite an imagination. Next door to the creamery is an...

Aug 25, 2012 - Lobster for dinner

We spent the day going through boxes in the back of the truck with me "sacrificing" some of my stuff to give to good will. Gave us two big spaces that John is "whoop de dooing" about. Read some, spent time in the pool and then Michael put some lobsters on the barbie and we had a fine dinner. Along with potato salad and grilled corn, and a nice bottle of homemade wine. What a feast!! The kids had pizza. And, we had to send Lauren into the bedroom to watch a movie while we ate. Last time she named the lobsters, then spent 20 minutes crying...

Aug 24, 2012 - Point Judith Lighthouse

Finally, we made it to Exeter. I was seriously expecting a small town, with a name like that it should have been charming. What a surprise…if you blink, you miss it. We stopped at the town hall and found out that this was, indeed, the town. When we first walked in, the town clerk, well, she looked very stern and a bit scary. Felt kind of funny asking her about a vampire, actually we felt quite stupid, but we forged ahead. Once we played the tourist she lightened up and told us where to find Mercy Brown’s gravesite. That told us that we...

Aug 23, 2012 - Change of plans

As it turned out, we did not go to Exeter. I think I had best not say where we are going unless I am absolutely, positively sure. Life takes a bend sometimes and your plans change. Not being melodramatic, but my stupid computer DVD was not working and I could not get anything to open. Struggled with it for some time until I realized I needed help. On the phone to Lee Ann, my camera, computer gal. She spent so much time trying to figure out why my DVD drive wasn't showing on my computer. Bless her heart. We tried this, we tried...

Aug 22, 2012 - Beavertail Lighthouse

We drove into Jamestown to see the Beavertail Lighthouse. It was built in 1749 and is still the premier lighthouse for the entrance to Narragansett Bay. It was named Beavertail Lighthouse because the land it sits on looks like a beaver’s tail. The light has been reconstructed many times since it was built. The original lighthouse was made of wood and the lighthouse keeper used whale oil to keep the light burning. “In 1779, as British sailors retreating from Newport near the end of the American Revolutionary War, they left a trail of...

Aug 20, 2012 - Butterfly Zoo in Massachusetts

Today we went to the Butterfly Zoo in Massachusetts. We all found it pretty cool with lots of beautiful and rare butterflies to see. The place was not what we were expecting, in fact it looked down right messy. The area was not landscaped well, in fact, no landscaping at all and you walk down a path of messy plants and weeds. This old guy meets you at the door to the hothouse and asked were you are from...we said Seattle, he kept talking about Oregon. Well, it's close. Then we were escorted into a fully enclosed covered patio where the...