my sandbox

So, this past weekend I went to my folks’ house for the 4th. We were going to go to Newport overnight on the sailboat (not on the aforementioned party boat) but we got rained out.

We ended up grillin’ out at the boatyard (steaks, pot-tate-toes, corn on the cob) and then going out on someone else’s motorboat to watch the fireworks off the North Kingstown town beach. Which was also nice, ‘cept for the part where I had too much wine, and felt poorly the next day.

Previous weekend, I went to see my friends Jessica and Jeff, who live in Our Fair City, Cambridge, MA. Jessica is currently pregnant, which I was able to capture on film but which photos I am not allowed to share with the general populace, which is a shame, cause she’s a good-lookin’ pregnant woman. We made french toast, then went canoeing on the Charles (upstream of Boston a ways), then went to this guy’s 60th birthday party, then the next day went to Dim Sum. Everyone always raves about Dim Sum, which is somewhat baffling to me as all we were able to get out of the experience were a bunch of mysteriously dense dumpling like items stuffed with equally mysterious fillings. There was this thing that was kinda like bread wrapped in noodles, which I quite liked, but other than that, not much goin’ on. Jessica and I did concede that perhaps it would have helped to go with someone who knew what they were doing.

Weekend before that, I went to see Ken and Kim down on the Maryland Shore. They live near Chincoteague and Assoteague, which are those island with the wild ponies. Here’s one now:

Apparently their bellies become bloated and round because they ingest so much salt as they graze. I imagine they must be used to it, but it sounds uncomfortable. Ken and Kim and I also went bird banding, and had ice cream, and seafood (my belly became bloated and round, and uncomfortable), and went to the zoo, where I took around a gazillion pictures of a peacock. Oh, all right, here’s a couple of them:

That about catches you up with my weekend doings, for now. On the horizon, I have a trip to Philly and some visitors from Arlington, MA, which is good, cause it seems that not much goes on around here of a weekend.

Party on Boone Lake, once they get it in the water.

I just want to say up front that this post will contain no photos.  However, it will contain a map, just to keep things lively.

I’m in Rhode Island now:  got in Tues. night.  The flight was fine, if by “fine” you mean being packed into a tiny seat trying to pretend that the dozens of people around you don’t actually exist, having all the moisture sucked out of your body by a ruthlessly efficient ventilation system, and subsisting for a total travel time of ten hours on two packets of mini-pretzels when really you don’t even like pretzels in the first place, but it’s all they’ll give you, the cheap bastards; if that’s fine to you then yes, the flight was fine.  It was uneventful.  It achieved its purpose.

So now I’m at my parents’ house, which is in an older neighborhood, on a lake.   And I just want to take this opportunity to mention that, unbeknownst to many, there’s more to Rhode Island than the fact that it’s small.  It’s a fine place, all green, with birds, and blue skies, and all that.  It’s been awhile since I’ve been in RI at this time of year, so it’s kind of nice to be reminded of what a swell place it is in the late spring/early summer. 

My mom and I went wine tasting yesterday.  Yes, Rhode Island even sports a few vineyards.  We visited two.  The first was, well, lame.  The climate and short growing season here really only lends itself to a few varietals, mostly whites, but this vineyard tried to make it all - they had like 30 or 40 wines available for tasting, and four out of the five we tasted were not very good.  Seemed like they were just trying to fleece the tourists rather than make a quality product. 

The second winery, Greenvale Vineyards, was excellent (although their website has annoying harp music when you first enter it, so consider yourself fore-warned!).  The tasting room was tucked away in an old converted stable within sight of the Sakonnet River- very picturesque.  They focus primarily on whites, and had six wines for tasting, all of which were good.  They also have twin elderly springer spaniels, Sarah and Danielle.  Sarah came and slept on our feet while we tasted.  Here’s a map of where it is:  note that it’s on the same island as Newport (Aquidneck Island). 



View Larger Map


My folks are over there by the Arcadia Management Area, so we drove across Narragansett Bay on the Jamestown and Newport Bridges. It used to be that whenever I came back to RI from out west the landscape would look totally foreign to me and it would take some time for me to readjust to eastern topography and vegetation. I’ve been back and forth enough times now so that’s mostly worn off, but crossing the Narragansett Bay yesterday it struck me that it looked all weird and unfamiliar, and I realized that now the predominant “crossing the bay” image in my brain is crossing SF Bay on the Golden Gate Bridge. Narragansett Bay is smaller, and the shores are lined with trees rather than cliffs and/or city.

Anyhoo. Today’s plans include a little hike/walk around a birding area, an early evening showing of Indiana Jones, and dinner at a ribs place.

We went down to Carmel/Monterey to celebrate my parents’ 40th anniversary. Here are some pics of the time we had. My parents are so freakin’ cute it makes me want to barf.

Me with a wine glass, number 893 of a series.

Travis’s blog-friend was apparently in Monterey at the same time and saw the exact same harbor seal as us. We didn’t get any good deals on shirts, though.

Victor mit knob: