Beavertail Sunset

Some images captured from a family--my brother's visiting family, my parents, and my daughter's boyfriend included--picnic at my favorite place to catch the sun going down--at Beavertail on the island of Conanicut.

The Beavertail Lighthouse (more about the lighthouse here) sits on a "beaver tail" shaped spit of land that juts out into Narragansett Bay, across from Newport on one side of the bay and directly across from where I live on the other(western) side of the bay. The lighthouse is one of the oldest in the country, having been built first in 1749, and was rebuilt numerous times. The earlier wooden ones were destroyed(by fire from British troops in the Revolutionary War, and by hurricanes and storms) before the present lighthouse was built in 1856 out of granite. Guess someone finally figured out that a lighthouse made out of stone rather than wood might be best.
There is a state park there(153 acres) with grassy areas(perfect for Frisbee) and miles of rocky shoreline to explore.

It isn't easy being Green....

...when it's so gosh darn HOT!

Yeah, we have an air conditioner(a newly purchased and very powerful one that pretty much cools down the entire house. I live in a small place.)and I am happier than I ever thought I would be, having one(ordinarily, I hate being cooped up with the A/C on and being cold and not fresh air). My husband loves the A/C even more than me. He gets warm very easily and has a hard time sleeping in the summer, even when I am perfectly fine on a mild night with the windows open.

But, still...I feel guilty about running one so often. I constantly think of all the other air conditioners and fans running in all the other homes and businesses and the enormous power usage(as well as the bill!). The connection between our comfort and energy use and way of life and .....disastrous oil spills in the ocean is all too clear to me.

Still, having the A/C was a godsend to us.

We had company stay with us for four days and it was smoking hot the entire time, so in order that our guests(my brother and his wife and their two small children) were comfortable here with us, especially at night in bed, we had that machine running almost non-stop.

In summers past in this house, we had an older one that did kind of a poor job of cooling down the place, but we rarely had to turn it on(maybe a full seven days in the entire summer), anyway.

But, since May(and even April) it has been hotter than usual. Before this summer, I thought we had the ideal summers here on the coast of Rhode Island-usually no higher than 85*F(25*C), and often a cool breeze, especially in the mornings. I would sip hot tea, sometimes with a sweater on, outside in the evenings. But there hasn't really been any of that kind of weather all summer, so far.

Today, at least, we were able to keep the windows open and not run that thing. I hear birds. And kids screaming as they whizz past our house on their bikes--there is a hill they coast on and it bottoms out right in front of our house.

There is a fan whirring away in the other room. I like that gentler noise better. It makes me think of summers past, especially when I was a kid. All we had were fans. And supper outdoors. Sometimes, in a heat wave, we slept down in the cellar, or outside, even. I don't really remember too many air-conditioned places growing up. Maybe the movie theatres were air conditioned. But even stores had these enormous fans , instead of air conditioning. There were open doors and windows in businesses. Now there are sealed up Big Box stores and malls with windows that don't open. So, air conditioning has to be used. And again, guiltily, but truthfully, I have to admit I love that frosty blast I feel as I walk into a business these days.

I wonder how it's been up in Camden, Maine lately. I'll always remember a week in July when I stayed near there (about seven years ago) and the town's grocery store with it's front door wide open, and the cold breeze off the harbor coming in the place. There was absolutely no need for even a fan in that place!

I am heading up north to the White Mountains in a few days. The weather report is suggesting we may get temps in the low 80's during the day and nights in the 50's(10*C). I really hope its true.

Wordless skies....

The view on July 4th, from my hammock under our choke cherry tree.....

And the sky later in the day.....

Seeing, hearing, tasting.....

...on a HOT summer night. (currently 81*F/27*C -reached 99*F/37*C today!)

Went out for ice cream. Pistachio in a waffle cone for me,

--chocolate brownie in a sugar cone for R-- at the place at the top of the hill tonight

Drove back home with our cones,

dog hanging out the window, sniffing and gulping in the humid night air

listening to "Mustang Sally" on the radio

then sitting on the back deck

licking the cool creamy ice cream

sounds of moths flicking against the porch light

bats swooping

fireflies twinkling

all very quiet, except for the buzz of air conditioners on the houses on our street

Well, it was quiet, but then a crackle of leftover 4th of July fireworks from somewhere in the neighborhood

Your Ice Cream Personality:

You like to think of yourself as a fairly modest person. And it's true that you don't talk yourself up... but you're also pretty happy with who you are. You are a pretty cautious person. You look before you leap, and you don't leap often. There's a bit of a wild child within you, but it doesn't get out often. You are a fairly open minded person with a wide range of tastes. You are quite accepting of unusual ideas and people. You are a natural multi-tasker. You feel alive when you're doing more than one thing at a time (this is not true for me at all--I have to multi-task at work almost all the time and I hate it). You are a serious and contemplative person. You definitely do your own thing in life.

Take the

The Ice Cream Personality Test

Blogthings: Cheaper Than a Therapist

Ahhh...summer...

image courtesy Country Living

I have been working a little more than usual lately and that has turned me into a bit of a cranky beast, so that is why I stayed away from here. I would have kvetched too much about the customers.

"why does everyone want things framed in a rush for weekend company coming when it's summer and most likely everyone is outdoors anyway?

And why do I have to hear 'certain' people complain about the price of custom framing when they are framing something for their SUMMER home and on their cell phone with their cleaning lady?"

Grrr....see what I mean?

Having a few glorious(hot and hotter!) days off in a row finally because of the 4th of July holiday(won't have to go in to work until the 7th of July)

has changed my whole attitude and I am loving the summer again.

This town is a little nuts and overrun with extra people right now. The beaches are a big draw and with the the holiday weekend and hot temps, an even bigger draw. Trying to navigate my way through the beach and Pier area and simply trying to go into town to shop is pretty frustrating.

Yesterday, I saw cars with licence plates from

Massachusetts, New York, Connecticut(the big three around here),

as well as Vermont,

Ontario,

Quebec,

Illinois

and Wisconsin.

Ever since certain fireworks were made legal in this state (a few months ago), it seems everyone is letting off firecrackers(this all started Thursday night in my neighborhood). Luckily, both my cat and dog are not too afraid of the noise.

Last night was a perfect summer night, with clear skies full of stars, and a little bat and firefly action to compete with the fireworks display over the river(a few people do this in our neighborhood every year the night before the 4th).

We'll be leaving the house at around 4:00 this afternoon for a annual cook-out/pool party at a friend's house. They are right next door to a public park where this is a huge fireworks display every year(a pretty impressive one for a small town), so we just sit out on the front yard to watch the show.

I just finished making a pitcher of white Sangria, and making some stuffed pepperoncini peppers(I made these last year and they were scarfed down within fifteen minutes)

Of course, I have to use the good and real Greek kind that are spicy enough, like the Sclafani brand.
Stuffed Pepperoncini

Ingredients:
6 slices bacon, cut into small pieces
1/3 cup minced shallots
1 red bell pepper, minced
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese,
softened
1 tablespoon milk
32 ounces pepperoncini
Directions:
1.
In a large skillet, cook bacon over medium heat until bacon is browned. Move bacon to paper towels. Keep bacon drippings.
2.
In drippings, cook shallots and red pepper over medium heat until vegetables are tender. Cook about 5 minutes. Remove skillet from heat and let cool for 20 minutes.
3.
In a small bowl, beat cream cheese and milk with an electric mixer at medium speed until smooth. Stir bacon and shallot into the mixture.
4.
Spoon cream cheese mixture into a heavy weight plastic bag. Cut a small hole in one corner to squeeze the filling from. With small knife, cut a slit lengthwise into each pepper. Do not cut the whole way through the pepper. By squeezing the bag, pipe cream cheese mixture into peppers. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour, up to one day.