Lobster flavored Saturday

After sleeping in and serving up a leisurely breakfast, Pete suggested we all pile into the Honda and go for a Saturday drive into Providence. The first point of interest on our Ocean State tour was the S.W.A.T. and police practice range that is on the other side of the airport from the house. From Pete and Carole’s house at random times, we often hear the sounds of gunfire in the distance beyond the trees. On many occasions sending the dogs into panting, quivering bouts of anxiety. Pete figured to show us where it all was coming from. No one was there today, but we could see the range through the chain link fence. They have facades of houses and plywood bad guys set up. Can’t believe it is set up only blocks from high density neighborhoods.

Ever since the next door neighbor cut down the large maple tree between their houses, Pete has been expressing concern about the lack of privacy and exposure to the sun in the afternoons. Our next stop on our drive was the nursery next to the airport to check out the trees that they have in their inventory. The Airport Nursery has been run by the same family for over three generations. Our guy Dave was the grandson and had tons of knowledge on the trees and how to care for them. They have a couple of the harder to find medium sized maples standing around 20 feet tall. They run $1600 to $2200 delivered and planted. Something to consider, instant shade and good sized tree.

From there, we did a quick visit to Lowes to look at their trees and to buy new storage boxes for organizing Lexi. Their trees were really small. A whole lot cheaper, but many years to wait for a bit of shade. Do we have the years to spare?

Now that the chores were done, we continued on to downtown Providence driving past the home office of Citizen’s Bank where Pete spent the majority of his adult years helping people finance their homes and businesses. We drove through old historical neighborhoods and ended up passing through the campus at Brown University. There was lots of activity with students filling the streets and filing out of local pubs and eateries as the Harvard football team had just beat Brown 32-22. We worked our through some pockets of traffic back towards the commons by downtown where a Native American group was having an event with drumming and reenactments going on. Parking was close to non-existent so we kept going cruising along the riverfront and heading back towards Warwick.

When Pete and Carole had first moved to Rhode Island in the 50s their first house was over near Cranston. We did a quick drive by to show PJ the family history. Time for some rest and to see how the new storage bins are going to fit, so back to Julian Rd.

No visit to Rhode Island is complete without a few key culinary items – quahogs, clam cakes, chowder and most importantly, the tasty local lobsters. Pete had gone down to the local seafood distributor and picked up a trio of live Maine lobsters for our dinner tonight. Pete himself is not too keen on the salt water bugs, so he had the last of the ham while the ladies and I savoured the hot buttered goodness of the fresher than fresh crustaceans. Carole cooked them to perfection and we served them up with salad and chips. An epicurean delight.

In New England, the Patriots and Red Sox rule. Every second person you meet on the street is wearing a jersey from one of the two teams. So the evening saw Pete and I watching the Red Sox win their tenth straight game as they move into the playoffs. Another victory to cap an enjoyable day on the town.