Loie Fuller and Battleship Cove

It's been another quietly cold week here in Providence. Plenty of sunshine tempered by very chilly, in fact downright cold temperatures to challenge one's sense of exactly what the weather is like before dressing and going out.

As we approach the holiday season -- certainly to be marked by continued freefall in the markets as fewer and fewer people spend their diminishing cash reserves on goods and services -- as we approach the holiday it will be a short week for me. JWU has the back end of the week off; on the other hand Susie will be cranking out desserts at Gracie's of course.

Susie has Turkey Day off and we plan to spend it with Dick and Dorothy and various other members of the VandenBerg/Van Halsema clans in Massachusetts -- we do hope to get to the staff dinner at Gracie's later that day, all of the folks who for one reason or another will not be with their families this holiday. I hope to post lots of photos later in the week so stay tuned!

Anyway, after work last Friday Susie and I walked across the street to Loie Fuller, one of the city's hottest restaurants and in this very chilly weather that was the place to be. We picked a spot at the bar and had a glass of wine and an app (delicious frites) and just chatted and enjoyed being alive and being together. Afterwards we walked back home and I fixed dinner. It was really as simple as that.

After Susie headed into Gracie's on Saturday I spent the first half of the day running a variety of shopping errands. It's a nuisance not having a grocery store anywhere near us so we have to plan our week accordingly now.

Sunday was a relaxing day for the pastry queen, we had a leisurely morning followed by a short road trip to Fall River, just across the Massachuseetts state line. We were just there last weekend to see Iris Dement at the Narrows theater and returned this Sunday not to visit Lizzie Borden's house -- she of the "40 whacks"* children's song fame -- which is in any case now a B & B I'm told, no we came to Fall River this very beautiful and very cold Sunday afternoon to cruise through "Battleship Cove."

The claim here is that this is the largest collection of historic naval ships in any one location in the world. While that may seem to be pushing one's credulity, still it might just be true for all I know. It certainly is an impressive array of ships I'll say that: the huge WWII battleship, USS Massachusetts, the destroyer USS Joseph P. Kennedy, a submarine USS Lionfish, a Soviet-built guided missile frigate the Hiddensee, once operated by the East German navy, and an indoor exhibition of PT boats.

Well the worth price of admission. Although I recommend waiting for warmer weather.

Have a great holiday and take care of yourselves -- keep calm, stay warm and, to paraphrase my father's final words to me:

"Have a happy life."

And stay in touch.

*"Lizzie Borden gave her mother 40 whacks/when she saw what she had done/she gave her father 41"