Newport Thanksgiving

Spent Thanksgiving with a co-worker, Chris, and his steady, Amelia. In the increasingly odd connections occuring with the move back to New England, turns out that Amanda and I worked together when I was up at SubSchool.

When I mapquested Chris’ place, turned out that it was a little over a mile from my temporary digs (below)
so I set out on foot, bearing pie, CoolWhip, rolls, butter, and, most importantly, wine.

Unlike New York, or even Boston, two cities of similar vintage, Newport has remained essentially unchanged for three and a half centuries. The streets are tiny and somewhat disconnected, and the houses are all good, solid, post and beam construction. The waterfront is lined with piers, wharfs, and docks which once were filled with merchants from around the world. In late November, 2003, there’s not a whole lot of masts cutting the skyline, but in July and August, the harbor below is a maze of floating docks, slips, and boats.

Most of the boats are out of the water now for winter storage and overhaul. I snapped this at one of the shipyards; these have lines from a relatively famous designer, Hershoff, I think.

To get to Chris’ house, I strolled past block after block of houses with placards on them saying “1700’s coffee house”, “Listed on the Nat’l Register of historic places”, and other trivia. As I’ve mentioned before, coming up here as a southern boy gives a sense of history that it’s hard to get in the new South. It also kind of humanizes the Revolution, putting a little perspective to how much smaller the population was, and how important individual contribution was to establishing community and country.

Supper was excellent. We gave thanks for old and new friends; for family and home; and for continued opportunity.

Amelia’s folks had sent her bar-b-q from her hometown, and Chris had done a delicious turkey breast. Two stuffings, two cranberry sauces, yams, and pumpkin pie to wash it down. We tried this year’s Beaujolais Neuveaux; not sure if I’m going to continue that tradition. At least not with the Georges DeBeouf wines. The last few years have tasted really ‘green’ and grassy; granted, it’s supposed to taste like a young wine, but it’s been a little bit more distracting than I’d hoped. This year’s had a great purple color, very clear, and not a bad nose. There wasn’t the sugar that many had promised due to France’s heat wave this summer. Or, I could just be talking out of my butt. In any case, my not-so-sensative palette wasn’t impressed.

Walking home was another joy. The wind had stopped, and Naragansett Bay was like a sheet of glass. I snapped this picture of the Newport Bridge, going over to Jamestown Island. The reflection shows the smoothness of the water.

Here’s another picture of the shipyard shown earlier. It’s from a different angle, and shows a couple of the larger boats on blocks.

Lastly, I saw this little dinghy tied up downtown. IMO, it’s got very pleasant lines.

Happy Thanksgiving to y’all.

Posted by jank at November 28, 2003 9:04 AM