June 16-June30                  North Kingstown

We are delighted to receive photos of our great granddaughter, Margot Ruth (note the middle name) who is a beautiful six-month-old addition to the family.  We love having a baby once more to enjoy. Unfortunately, Taft and Kennedy have a busy schedule this summer and will not be coming to the boat.  We always look forward to their visits. Taft is a huge fan of my blueberry pie and  also the oysters and lobster we serve on the aft deck.

We finally found cleaners to get the boat in pristine condition before our guest, Deborah Reed, would arrive on June 23.  They were expensive but did a great job and I planned to have them return weekly.  Unfortunately, they cancelled twice after the initial visit.  I dismissed them and have engaged Cory, the grandson of the owner who is not as proficient but more reliable. 

We were excited to welcome Deborah to Rhode Island and the boat.  A long-time friend and fellow docent at the Kimbell Museum, Deborah is a charming, erudite person whose degrees in interior design and art history make her an exceptional font of knowledge.  I was eager to show her the mansions of Newport and their elaborate architecture and furnishings.

Our first visit was to The Breakers, the magnificent oceanfront hone of the Vanderbilts.  Our three-hour tour gave us a comprehensive view of life in the Golden Age. The following day, we went to Rough Point, the ancestral home of Doris Duke.  Built in English Baronial style at the turn of the twentieth century, it reflected the exquisite taste of its wealthy owners.

 Friday was a long day but a fun day!  We caught an early train at Wickford Station (ten minutes from the boat) and went to South Station in Boston.  We arrived at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum just as it opened.  Our Kimbell credentials granted us free admission.  Deborah had recently read the biography the Mrs. Gardner and was familiar with most of the collection and its provenance.  After a leisurely tour, we had a lovely lunch in the new dining room (part of the recent addition by Renzo Piano). 

We Ubered to the nearby Museum of Fine Arts (again granted free admission) to view the collection of John Singer Sargent’s paintings.  Our time was limited so we Ubered to South Station and returned to Wickford.  I dozed off on the train.  David met us and we immediately went to Caffe Milano for dinner. Both Deborah and I were tired and quickly went to bed.  On Saturday morning, I drove to the airport and said goodbye to a special friend.  We were delighted to have her share time with us  in Rhode Island.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2026

Our departure for the boat was later this year as we planned to attend the wedding of Amanda, daughter of Maria Barrios, our long-time housekeeper.  It was a memorable occasion, and we were delighted to be in attendance.  Amanda had just completed her PhD studies in aeronautical engineering at Cal Tech.  Her brother, David, earned his MD degree in the same week.  We are so proud of this exceptional family.

Stephanie and Sharon Arnold, a great friend, flew with us to Providence.  After a long day, we took Uber to the boat and found it clean and ready.  We quickly made reservations at Tavern by the Sea, a favorite local restaurant.  Could not wait for lobster rolls!

On Sunday, the girls accompanied David to the grocery store.  They spent several hours and purchased more than we can consume in several weeks.  They had to find extra storage space.  We were happy to meet John and Betsie, friends from last year.  They are now docked next to us.   Jill Cohen, a special friend. joined us for lunch at the renowned Matunuck Oyster Bar.

On Tuesday the girls chose to remain on the boat and complete cleaning and organizing the galley and the bar on the aft deck.  They were amazing and the results were positive.  

On Wednesday morning, I had a severe problem with breathing issues and left by ambulance at 4:00 AM for the hospital.  For two days, I was subjected to a battery of tests and was given excellent care by the medical staff.  Thrilled to be released with recommendations for future care, I happily returned to the boat.  Unfortunately, I missed Sharon’s departure for her home in Lincoln, Nebraska. Stephanie insisted on staying several more days to ensure I was following orders for my care.

Stephanie and I made a trip to the local needlepoint shop to replenish our threads supply.  On the return  to the boat, we took an alternate route and stopped by the Hyundai dealership to look at an automobile David had found on the internet.  Our beloved VW SUV suffered considerable paint problems and other issues.  We had agreed we needed a newer car.  The 2020 Hyundai Santa Fe model David had researched online was perfect for our needs.  Stephanie and I completed the paperwork, signed the check and left our old car on the lot.  Looking new, inside and out, our car was impressive.

We had a lovely farewell dinner for Stephanie at Beech, a favorite restaurant in Jamestown.  We enjoyed driving our pretty new car on the trip.  David reluctantly took Stephanie to the airport on Monday.  She was immediately missed.

Now we are finishing some projects on the boat. Carpet cleaners came and did a great job on the salon.  We are fortunate to have good help available.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

September 8-October 11        North Kingstown, Rhode Island                 

We had Covid inoculations to prevent that dreaded disease.  David had no reactions, but I became ill.  For almost six days, I mostly stayed in bed sleeping.  David was an excellent nurse and cleaned, cooked and gave me TLC. 

Except for a few windy or rainy days, we have had beautiful fall weather.  The trees are changing color and downtown is a scene of red and gold leaves.  Sunsets are sooner so we are planning dinners on the aft deck much earlier. We have developed some great seafood recipes that are easy to make so cooking on the boat is frequent.

We remember great times with guests on The Bottom Line this summer.  Kennedy and Taft were delightful and we are anticipating the birth of their daughter in December.  Julie and Greg are always welcome guests and we are pleased they come annually to visitl.  Eric, our neighbor in Fort Worth, made a short stay on his trip to Massachusetts. Jill, our longtime friend who lives near Boston, came for visits that lasted only a few hours but gave us opportunity to share good memories.

 We enjoyed dinner with John and Betsie at Il Milano and with Cecil and Bob at The White Horse Tavern in Newport.  We celebrated Maria’s birthday with a festive dinner at The White Horse Tavern.  The following weekend, they treated us to a wonderful dinner at Trattoria Romano in Johnston, a suburb of Providence noted for being a Mafia enclave.  The restaurant was elegant, and the food and service were excellent.  As Maria and John once lived nearby, they enlightened us with information about the Rhode Island Mafia. The Italian influence was evident in restaurant choices.

On Sunday, October 3, we were treated to a dinghy tour of the harbor by John and Maria who were considerate and thoughtful to provide needed help into and out of the dinghy.  Our tour included a visit with Jen, a Wickford resident who was sunning with a friend on her 120-year-old sailboat.  Once a pirate ship in the Caribbean, the boat was beautifully restored by Dominic, Jen’s significant other (a local favorite who wears a ponytail and is always barefoot).

  We enjoyed the diversity of the boaters we met this summer. Most are interesting, intelligent and adventuresome people who come from different places.  Some like Betsie and John, Cecil and Bob, Joan and Mike and Maria and John have become good friends. 

Stephanie arrives today to celebrate her birthday and help us pack for home.  We plan to go to Providence and explore the Italian area of Federal Hill with a celebration dinner at a special restaurant.  The following day, we pack and say goodbye to friends.  Rube comes on Saturday morning to drive us to the airport and return our car to the marina.  Our five month stay on The Bottom Line has been a lovely, memorable experience. 

 

August 22-September 7            North Kingstown, Rhode Island

Our boat is equipped with a propane gas grill on the bridge.  We rarely utilize it because most marinas forbid open flames on boats.  The location was also inconvenient for easy access.  We researched electric grills and selected a small Weber that would easily store on top of the bar area on the aft deck.

John and Maria joined us for our inaugural attempt to cook steaks.  Following directions, David placed four large New York strips on the very hot grill and waited.  At the determined time, he tested the meat and was surprised and upset to find it overcooked.  Although tender and flavorful, our steaks were definitely past the medium-rare stage we desired.  More practice is required.

We were delighted to have Jill visit us again.  The day was sunny and cool so we planned lunch on the aft deck.  Baked scrod, a mixed salad and a light dessert accompanied lots of conversation as we reminisced and made future plans.  We are hoping Jill will visit us next spring in Texas. 

Several years ago, we spent a week in Fairhaven, Massachusetts to avoid a pending hurricane.  We were fascinated by lovely older homes and several significant buildings.  H.H. Rogers, a retired Standard Oil executive and multimillionaire, returned to his hometown and generously endowed the city with a public library, city hall and Unitarian Church in Gothic architectural style.   The church is a magnificent structure with notable artwork and stained glass windows which easily rival those by Tiffany. 

We made a road trip to New Bedford and Fairhaven (twin cities across a river) to renew memories.  New Bedford remains a major port on the East Coast and the coastal part of the city is highly commercial, however, adjacent is the well-preserved older section with cobblestone streets and lovely shops and restaurants.  I enjoyed visiting the Whaling Museum while David and Pretzel  people watched on the patio.  All readers of Moby Dick (or viewers of the movie), know the prominence of New Bedford as a whaling port.

Afterwards, we had a delicious lunch at Tia Maria’s.  The menu reflected the great Portuguese influence in the area.  It was a lovely day and we enjoyed a leisurely lunch with delicious food and very friendly service.  Our waitress was also a commercial fisher and catches huge tuna and bluefish on her days off.

Labor Day weekend was fun with considerable activity of boats, paddleboards and kayaks in our harbor.  Our boat is still at dock due to a repair need. 

 

           

 

 

 

 

August 11-21                     North Kingstown and Providence, Rhode Island

We had consecutive days for almost a week of lovely cool weather with little wind.  Perfect time to take the boat out to the bay but—an engine exhaust problem kept us at the dock.  We sadly watched others leaving and returning from trips to Block Island and places on Long Island and listen to their reports of great days on the water.  We are still waiting on the repairs to our disabled engine.

For several days, we have watched the progress of Hurricane Erin as it moved toward the East Coast.  On August 19, the weather changed and we experienced light rain and wind.  This continued the following day and prompted us to bring umbrellas as we departed for our overnight stay in Providence.  We were celebrating our 71^st wedding anniversary.  Pretzel was being cared for by Cody and his sisters.

We had booked a Providence City Tour to experience some of the sights and history of this beautiful city.  With only six of us on the small bus, the guide was exceptionally helpful in providing insight into the diverse areas and attractions.  The large Italian area was our favorite.  We visited a neighborhood market and bakery that displayed amazing varieties of food and pastries.  Italian pride is displayed in the painting of street lines and fire hydrants in green, red and white, colors of the Italian flag.  Numerous restaurants were in the area and it is a popular busy place on weekends.

As one of the thirteen colonies, Rhode Island has a long history with its founding by Roger Williams.  The beautiful Baptist Church, oldest in America, remains a vibrant part of the city and a tribute to the efforts of Williams to support separation of church and state. We were impressed with the campus of Brown University, an Ivy League school with many notable graduates.  Situated on a hilly site overlooking the Providence River, its many buildings present diverse architectural styles surrounding a lovely grassy quadrangle.

Johnson and Wales is a highly ranked culinary arts school with a downtown campus.  Five other colleges are located in the city and the population will expand soon as the school year begins.

We had reservations for dinner at Al Forno, a highly recommended Italian restaurant.  David was not feeling well.  We booked a later time at the restaurant.  He still was not feeling well.  We missed that reservation so I made another later one at a nearby restaurant.  David rallied and we drove there but found no parking place near.  As it was raining, we did not wish to walk far.  Fortunately, we remembered a favorite place, Capriccio, only a block away with valet parking.  It was almost 9:00 and we did not have a reservation but were greeted warmly and quickly seated in their beautiful dining room.   We had a delicious dinner with great service.  Our anniversary was a lovely success!

Hurricane Erin brought wind but little rain.  As we returned to the boat, we carefully walked the dock as we observed considerable chop in the harbor.  The boat was securely tied but it was buffeted by the waves.  Fortunately, the winds decreased by midnight.  We were greeted by a lovely morning with sun and blue skies.

 

           

 

 

July 26-August 10             North Kingstown, Rhode Island

This is the height of boating season for Rhode Island and our marina is always a popular destination for boaters on Narragansett Bay.  This year there is an added attraction as we have three large yellow plastic ducks perched atop one of the central docks.  They were a gift from the marina owner to his grandchildren and everyone is enjoying the whimsical touch.  Channel 10 from Boston interviewed the grandchildren and showed the ducks on the evening news. 

Another interesting sight in the dock next to us is a beautiful 104 year old excursion boat owned by one of our boating friends.  He collects older boats and may charter this last one for parties.  It is in pristine condition and a    showstopper!

With persistence, Maria obtained reservations for the newest popular restaurant near us.  Located in a beautifully renovated diner, Il Milano seats fewer than fifty people (there is a lovely outdoor venue) and serves delicious Italian dishes.  We were pleased with the excellent food and attentive service.  The unusual, somewhat quirky setting does not detract from the upscale ambiance.    We returned the following weekend with Cecil and Bob (on the boat next to us) and dined in the garden area.  We had another lovely evening with exceptional food.

Eric Philbrook, our neighbor in Fort Worth, came to Massachusetts on business and we were delighted he accepted our invitation to the boat.  He came for drinks on the aft deck before dinner at our local favorite, Tavern by the Sea.  We were fortunate.  We had a perfect table on the deck with a lovely view, great service and wonderful food.  The weather was cool, and we enjoyed a long, interesting evening as we learned more about Eric and his experiences.  We continued for dessert on the aft deck of the boat.  Eric left the following morning to visit his mother in Portland, Maine.  We were delighted to have him visit.

August 11 is Victory Day, a state holiday commemorating the end of WWII, and will be the final day of a beautiful weekend with sunny skies and little wind.  We are enjoying hours sitting on the aft deck and watching a parade of boats, kayakers, and paddleboarders. 

 

           

 

 

 

 

 

July 15-25                North Kingstown, Rhode Island

We welcomed an invitation for lunch on John and Maria’s beautiful Hatteras boat.  Donna, Maria’s aunt and godmother, was their guest and we spent considerable time discussing her interesting life (she was for thirty plus years an ER nurse in Alexandria, Virginia) and books we liked or did not.  She is a voracious reader and had many recommendations.  Lunch was a casual affair with an assortment of snacks and pizza. 

David spends hours each month making food for Pretzel.  She is a very spoiled dog and eats better food than is available to many children.  He usually mixes six pounds of ground turkey, six cans each of cut green beans and cut carrots with four cups of cooked rice.  The cooked mixture is then divided into plastic containers and frozen for convenient use.  Pretzel loves it and will seldom eat anything else

We attended an outdoor concert at the beach only a few blocks from our marina.  We had new canvas folding chairs for seating comfort and enjoyed a picnic dinner before the performance.  The show was deightful with a Rhode Isloand version of country music.  It was fun watching small chidren (and some eager elderly couples) dancing in front of the stage.  The weather was cool and pleasant.  A delightful evening.

We were pleased to greet Greg and Julie Galier, cousins from Dallas, at Providence airport.  Greg immediately mentioned his longing for lobster, oysters and blueberry pie.  We anticipated this and had all of it ready for dinner on the aft deck.  The following day they took our car to Newport to follow the Cliff Walk (more strenuous than expected) and tour the expansive Marble House, one of the renowned mansions.  As fans of the series The Gilded Age, they were eager to locate sites and know about persons portrayed in the show. 

We spent the following day touring the Narraganset beach area followed by a farewell dinner at Blu on the Water in East Greenwich.  Julie and Greg enjoyed large lobster rolls.  Greg photographed them to show envious friends at home.  On Saturday morning, we drove to Kingston train station for their departure to New York.   They would meet Tripp, their son on summer break from studies at Seton Hall University in Orange, New Jersey.  Unfortunately, there was a ticket mishap and we learned they had to wait several hours to take another train.  We later had a video from them showing they were celebrating at the revolving rooftop bar at the Hyatt Times Square.