India Point Park

Andrew and I toured approximately one hundred yards of India Point Park today, and those hundred yards were lovely--green grass, green trees, sea-scented air, and water that was the same color as the sky (that is, silver). As soon as I got out of the car I was nearly overwhelmed with joy: the place smelled exactly like Galveston. (Seven years later and I'm still homesick for Galveston. Not to say I don't miss the Austin area, too!)

It's there on the map. To get from the park to our place, just take Gano north until it runs into our street; by car it takes just two minutes or so. Assuming you don't encounter more than one person who accidentally tries to go down a one-way street the wrong way, then proceeds to back up into the intersection at a terrible angle as you're trying to go through it.

That's a sign describing the history of India Point Park. Click on it to be able to read it!

And now a video, because that's probably a bit more interesting than pictures.



And now pictures in case the video doesn't work!

Bent tree trunks!

Are those the corpses of more trees? Or a destroyed dock? They're in an almost perfect wedge formation, but not evenly spaced. There is another outcropping of wood further down the coast a few hundred yards.

I love that mill/factory on the other side of the river over there; it's giant and pretty, but I have no idea what it does. Never seen smoke coming out of those three smoke stacks. The double-arches directly to its left is a the giant I-195 bridge over the canal, located on the bottom left/center of the Google map. I'm not sure why, but I love that bridge as much as I love the factory thing next to it.

We plan to go back and really explore the park. Can't wait!

By the way, a house on our block has the most gorgeous flowers growing along their fence, including tons of lilies. Even a stargazer lily! The stargazer died yesterday, before I could remember to get over there with my camera; these are wilting, but still quite beautiful. I love walking by that house.

By the way, Massachusetts welcomes visitors with images of a very plump turkey. Because that's just what Massachusetts does. I guess.

Gettin' Stuff Done

Nothing really interesting to report. No kitty pictures. But we're making progress!

Our apartment is bare of furniture, and we're packing up the last load or two of stuff to give away. We have a mountain of trash to haul to the compactor. The cleaning-of-the-apartment adventure is underway. Utilities and all that are taken care of, for both apartments. You know, the usual moving stuff.

We'd bought a soft cat sack similar to this one for the kitties several months ago, and--as far as we know--neither of them has ever so much as touched it. So, intending to throw it away, I slipped my hand into it and picked it up off the floor. And felt something wet inside. Someone had peed in it relatively recently.

A few days ago, someone had peed on the bath mat right in front of one of the litter boxes.

I'm starting to see a trend.

We've switched the cats over to Yesterday's News, which is a pellet litter made of, obviously, recycled newspaper. I love it. Augustine uses it just fine. Sophie, I think, is resentful.

I'd tried to introduce her to it gently, pouring a little bit into her clay litter every day, easing her onto it like it's a new type of food. No dice. Or maybe I just didn't give her long enough to adjust? For the last few days both cats have been locked in Augustine's room--where the only litter box is Yesterday's News--due to fire inspections and maintenance guys coming into our apartment while we were at work. Sophie probably used the cat sack then.

I really want to use Yesterday's News during the car ride, because it's cleaner, easier to manage, and smells better than clay litter. Looks like we'll have to use clay litter, and keep trying to adjust Sophie to the new stuff. Fingers crossed that it works.

In other news, I've recently become aware of how often I say "yer" instead of "your" and "you're." Texan much?

Fun Facts #1-10

1. The un/official state drink is Autocrat Coffee Syrup. It's exactly what it sounds like--syrup that is coffee. It comes in bottles (or giant jugs!), and you squeeze it into your milk like chocolate syrup, and mix it in. Delicious. Mom II, via Ashers, introduced me to it.

2. Obviously there are no H.E.B.s up here. Instead, there are Stop-and-Shops. They're very similar to Randalls, though perhaps a touch nicer.

3. Liquor stores are called package stores. So don't get your hopes up that the house/apartment you're looking to rent is within walking distance (or next door to) a FedEx or something.

4. Similarly, ice cream shops are called creameries. (Guess what! There's a creamery just a few blocks away from our new apartment! It was destiny.)

5. Taco Bell is as popular up here after midnight as it is in Texas.

6. The roads are wide enough for a car, but they feel uncomfortably narrow. Maybe I'm just used to roads designed for giant ranch trucks and the like, though.

7. The people here are very straightforward, and that's reflected in their humor. It's both refreshing and--depending on the situation--potentially embarrassing.

8. Sometimes the local accents are difficult to understand, but not so much that my Irrational Fear #1 can be recategorized as Rational.

9. Providence Place, the gigantic mall area, reminds me of the Galleria in Houston. For some reason. It's surrounded by spaghetti-like highways, and it itself is one giant brick edifice. It's so pretty, and full of all the stores I could hope.

10. Brick is pretty rare up here, except on the college campus. And I haven't seen anything made out of stone. It's very strange to me, and makes me miss the south already. But that's okay! Because the Victorian-ish architecture is gorgeous.

Providence: Impressions

We arrived in Providence on the 18th, and I haven't written a word about it. Oops?

My first impression of the city was pretty bad, both because it took us over twelve hours of traveling and the use of every type of transportation (excepting ferry, bicycle, and donkey) to finally get to our hotel. I was exhausted and a bit grumpy and the city looked really, really scary. Of course, the train from Boston down to Providence doesn't get anywhere near the nice parts of either state, so despite all the pretty trees (there are so many pretty trees!), the only residential areas I saw looked depressing and unpleasant.

(Click below to read the rest of the post and see pictures! Note: To view a picture in more detail, right-click it and select "Open Link in New Tab.")