Berry Bushes

Andrew and I drove to Warwick late this morning to explore the City Park--which despite its baseball diamonds and playgrounds is much more like an arboretum than anything else. It's a small peninsula shaped like a manatee's face (that downward-pointing bulbous nose that also brings to mind a young male elephant seal, you know?) framed by narrow coves and gazing southward toward Greenwich Bay. The flat tip of its nose is a slim beach, accessible by an equally slim road or--as Andrew and I found--the walking trail.

Well, it's really a walking/biking trail, paved and with a white stripe painted down its center. Bikes to the right, pedestrians to the left. One way. Of course half of the (two dozen or so) people we encountered had completely ignored all this, and were walking on whatever side they liked in whatever direction they liked.

It was a three mile walk, and the path was never straight and flat for more than a few steps at a time; it's all low hills and twists and dips. The trees were incredibly green and tall enough to give me a cramp in my neck (because I apparently like to look up at the tops of the trees more than at the not-straight-and-level path I'm walking, like an idiot. Miraculous I didn't pitch over into the bushes at least once).

Through the trees you can gradually see one of the coves widen from streams into real bodies of water, complete with very loud birds and very quiet sailboats. It was gorgeous.

After about two miles, I noticed that some of the bushes we passed were sporting some kind of berry--I think raspberries, though I didn't want to taste them to find out. Just in case.

Another hundred yards along I heard a very cautious crash, crash coming quite close to us on the other side of a very tall and thick wall of bushes--including raspberry(?) bushes. The signs at the beginning of the trail warned us that we're sharing the peninsula with deer, coyotes, and pheasants, and I was determined that we'd see all three of them today. So of course when I heard what had to be something large and four-legged coming toward us, I had to get a look. Except I couldn't. Because of the giant wall of raspberry bush. And whatever thorny bush it was sharing space with. We spent a good five minutes trying to find a hole in the wall to look through, and although we did see a number of cute little birds moving expertly through the thorns, we couldn't figure out what big thing was moving around back there.

So naturally I started imagining all kinds of wonderful nonsense, mostly about mythical creatures and magic and walls between worlds made of raspberry bushes and thorns.

I can't wait to get back there.

Abusing Sophie

A very shaky and poorly-lit video for you:



Clearly she (wrongly) believes that naptime is sacred.

Also, the river that I posted pictures of yesterday is the Woonasquatucket river, which is pronounced rather like One-ah-sqwa-tuck-it, but said very quickly.

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.

Handsome Dude

We spent about two hours at the DMV today, getting our new licenses set up. Unfortunately, this photo was taken at dinner afterwards, and won't be appearing on Andrew's new driver's license. Oh well.

All I Really Need Is Ice Cream

Several updates!

The morning after I sent those resumes I received two responses. One (a data entry position) that initially sounded legitimate turned into something that sounds like a get-rich-quick scam. The other was a real estate agent who wants an assistant to work from home while he's overseas, someone who can set their own hours and such. His email sounded kind of . . . off. So I decided to wait to get some more responses before replying to him.

And it paid off! Yesterday morning I received an email informing me that I sound like a very good candidate for a job, and asked me to fill out a form with more info about myself/how I work/etc, in preparation for an interview next week. The trouble is, I don't know which job it was for. You see, when I sent out my emails of inquiry, I was very careful to reference the job position and identification number, because when you reply to a Craigslist ad (which is where all these jobs came from), you send them to an _____@craigslist.com address, which forwards your email to the recipient's personal email. And then the recipient replies to you from their personal email, not from the @craigslist.com address that you originally emailed.

So in this case, I sent an email off to the @craigslist address, and the people replied to me with their @company address without copying my email so I couldn't see which job they are. So, uh. Guess I'll find out which job that was when I get an interview next week! (Assuming they like my survey answers well enough to interview me, at least.)

Just in case though, today I went out and bought two skirts (one below-knee length and the other just-above-knee length) to match my blazer. I'm assuming below-knee is more formal for an interview. And I'm about to go out and get panty hose and mascara and a portfolio thing to carry my necessary information in. It's interview season!

A P.F. Chang's is going to be opening at Providence Place Mall sometime in the next month or two. This guy was established on the sidewalk outside what will be the restaurant's outer entrance. He's maybe twenty feet tall, and clearly intent on terrorizing the passers-by. (Or maybe being terrorized by them? His face is not a happy face.)

 And another capitol grounds shot, since I was wandering by it.

In other news, I was social yesterday! There's a writer's group that meets at the Warwick Library (about fifteen, almost twenty minutes south of our apartment), and I braved up and went to their July meeting. Only three other people showed up: Rob, Jen, and Emily. Rob is the group's organizer and writes sci-fi. Jen is a new member (though she and her husband grew up with Rob), and writes YA and memoirs. Emily is trying to break out of a several-year-long writer's block, and submitted a kind of magical realism short story that was amazing. She wrote it several years ago, before the funk set in, and I was just completely in love with it. She's quiet and quirky and reminds me a lot of Katie. We bonded a bit over the writer's block thing, since I'm in the same position. I'm hoping to strong-arm her into being my friend. =D

The group is only for people over twenty-one, which is incredibly nice. And usually, Rob told me, there are closer to six or eight people at a meeting; this was a rare occurrence. But whatever the case, they were all incredibly friendly and I loved spending two hours with them. Can't wait for the next meeting, at the end of August! Hopefully I'll even find a way to get together with one or all of them before then.

And also, last night was another WaterFire night. Took more pictures!

You can kind of see a road block protecting the white tents from oncoming traffic. And yes, those roads around WaterFire that aren't blocked off entirely are filled with almost as many people as cars. And the people tend to think that they have the right-of-way, even though they don't. =/

Buildings! Guys, my camera was taking these pictures without flash or tripod. Not bad at all!

Okay, this one's a little blurry. That's a gondola going under the bridge, and another one coming up to it.

That's Providence Place Mall rising triumphantly over the canal. The canal opens into a big circle here, with water flowing out at about 6:00 and flowing in at about 2:00. (I mean, location-wise, if looking straight ahead at the mall is 12:00. Not talking time.)

Under the bridge, chandeliers are installed, and big mirrors to reflect their light. From the surface of the water to the bottom of the bridge's arch is maybe eight feet--those fires are big.

I'm pretty sure he's Saint Francis? Need to find out. That pillar is several stories tall; I'd have to go back during the day to get a decent picture of him.

I took some videos, too, but those will have to wait until later!

A Serious Question

I just sent out no less than ten emails of inquiry plus resumes. Yes, it is well past midnight.

I honestly can't help but wonder if the people who receive these emails will look at the time stamp on them and think, An adult awake past midnight in the middle of the week? Sounds like trouble. I wonder what their problem is. Antisocial? Nocturnal? Vampire-obsessed fangirl?

Hopefully not. I mean, vampire thing aside--some things can't be hidden. Me sending out these resumes at an unholy hour of the night can't prejudice them against me, right? Surely they're more likely to think, Wow, this person must be very interested in the position! which is, after all, only a very nice way to say, Wow, this person is desperate.

In any case: ten more businesses have received my resume as of this morning! Several of them I'm even excited about. All of my fingers and toes are crossed.

Furniture!

We received our furniture yesterday! Hurray! Finally!

Andrew's mess art stuff has been carefully deposited in front of the living room's radiator, within easy reach of his new workstation:

(Andrew's nook as seen from my wicker chair.)

(And as seen from the doorway between the living room and the bedroom. Also, this is Andrew's last week of classes! Hurray! Finally!)

As well as Andrew's desk and chair, we also received another bookshelf, which I immediately put to use:

Now that my books are in the living room, I can use that open shelving space in the bedroom to store more clothes! Which is going to be perfect when it starts getting cooler and I need my sweaters and scarves and things.

Our wireless internet stuff is now craftily hidden behind the framed picture on the bookshelf. No, those are not tentacles hanging from the doorknob, those are old shoe laces that have been repurposed for Augustine's batting pleasure. (Even Sophie made a few attempts at hitting them! Failed, though.)

Also, our new futon is set up! How exciting to see a new bed that looks exactly like the old bed, huh? Still, here you go:

In other news, Augustine has realized that my wicker chair is extraordinarily comfy. I now have to pry him out of it whenever I want to sit down.

Do you know, I haven't had to take allergy medicine since we moved up here? None.

However, we've traded my allergies for really outrageous humidity. I'd thrown some thin cotton shorts over a chair last night, and when I picked them up to put them away this morning, they were damp. They weren't damp when I'd put them there. That's how humid it is. Yuck.

A long-time friend of mine, Kaly, whom I've visited once or twice during Christmas trips to Albuquerque, is in Providence right now--in fact, the friend she's staying with lives about three or four blocks down the street from me. Small world! We're going to meet at the Starbucks tomorrow morning and spend a couple of hours catching up. Looking forward to it. =)