Snow and Holiday Songs

There is nothing quite like the combination of snow and holiday songs!

Nestled in the warmth of my home where I can comfortable gaze at the beauty of the first proper snowstorm to hit Newport this season, holiday songs have been running around my head since the snowflakes started falling!

I wanted to share a few with you & issue a challenge as to whether you can read the words of the songs below without starting to hum either to yourself or aloud….

Let It Snow!
Oh, the weather outside is frightful, But the fire is so delightful, And since we've no place to go, Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.

Winter Wonderland
Sleigh bells ring, are you listening, in the lane, snow is glistening; A beautiful sight, we're happy tonight, walking in a winter wonderland.

Jingle Bells
Dashing through the snow, On a one-horse open sleigh, Over the fields we go, Laughing all the way; Bells on bob-tail ring, making spirits bright, Oh What fun it is to ride and sing, A sleighing song tonight, Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way! O what fun it is to ride in a one-horse open sleigh.

Frosty the Snow Man
Frosty the Snow Man was a jolly happy soul, with a corncob pipe and a button nose and two eyes made out of coal, Frosty the Snow Man is a fairy tale they say, He was made of snow but the children know how he came to life one day.

I’m humming, how about you?

Happy Holidays!

Studies in Pessimism

It’s rough out there. Staying positive can present a bit of a challenge these days, especially if you are, like me, of a naturally melancholic bent to begin with. Billion dollar bailouts. Terrorist attacks. Dwindling retirement accounts. Falling home prices. And that’s just out there in the macrocosm. Here in my own personal little microcosm, conditions aren’t a whole lot better. One friend is on the verge of losing her house to foreclosure. A former co-worker from the NYYC committed suicide last month. Evils big and little seem to be multiplying exponentially all around me, like a cartoon snowball careening down a hill, growing huger & more avalanche-like as it picks up speed. Christmas is coming. My bank account never looked worse. My cat is still missing. My 52nd birthday looms. My weight is not what it should be. My houses aren’t selling. Another turn of the snowball. Add some self-doubt to the equation. What had I accomplished with my life? My achievements felt, well…small, my contributions paltry, my significance negligible. The upbeat approach was fast becoming a thing of the past, a speck in the distance.

So there was nothing else for it - it was time for a trip to the bookstore. When my internal settings need adjusting, only a bookstore can fix me. A conflicted agnostic, I don’t have a church. A therapy drop-out, I don’t have a therapist. I do, however, have a bookstore right down the street. So it was there I turned my trudging steps towards.

It’s been a bad decade for bookstores on the island, and the Newport ones have been steadily disappearing ever since the Barnes & Noble opened in Middletown several years ago. The sole exception has been Kelley’s Books, on the corner of Broadway and Malbone. A used bookstore on a busy street without so much as a parking lot, Kelley’s is an unlikely candidate for role of sole survivor, but there you have it. Used books, bent covers, poor overhead lighting. No lattes are served, no fresh mozzarella & pesto panini are available, no cds or greeting cards or magazines are sold. The inventory isn’t computerized, the proprietor tracks his customers on hand printed index cards he keeps in a dented metal box under the register and the background music isn’t even Muzak – there’s just a staticky radio tuned to a classical music FM station. Kelley’s is an un-hip throwback to a time when the only reason you went to a bookstore was to look for books, period. Even better, since it’s a used bookstore, your finds are pretty much dictated by chance and serendipity. Any pre-planned agenda is pointless; the only way to go is to abdicate all pretense at control and just browse, drift with the tides. And maybe it is precisely this not having to be in mental control that is the sweet secret reward of a visit to the bookstore. What a relief to not have to be responsible for your own consciousness, even just temporarily… In fact, now that I think about it, it’s probably safe to say that just about all of my vices tend in that direction. Farewell, self!

But back to the books. Instead of finding what you’re looking for, you’ll find what you weren’t looking for, and sometimes what you didn’t even know existed. Did I need a book on three modern Icelandic poets? I didn’t even know Iceland had any modern poets. Did I walk in there in search of yet another copy of Boswell’s Life of Johnson? Nah. Did I have any intention of settling down with a good re-read of Schopenhauer’s Studies in Pessimism? Nope. But no way could I resist the gloriously self-pitying melodrama of his opening line, to wit, “Unless suffering is the direct and immediate object of life, our existence must entirely fail of its aim.” Bitter words, fighting words, succinctly if mordantly put, and so completely over the top that I burst out laughing, right there in the aisle.

So if you’re feeling the pain of the season, I suggest you hie yourself over to Kelley’s for a dose of righteous attitude readjustment. Forget real estate. Forget the economy. Forget your mortgage and your car payment and your tax problems. Lose yourself in the stacks. Flip through an art book. Check out the science fiction. Pull out that classic you’ve always been meaning to read. You’ll be chuckling along with Schopenhauer in no time.

Newport Nutcracker

If you are looking for an enjoyable cultural activity to help you get into the Holiday spirit, I recommend the Island Moving Company’s “A Newport Nutcracker”.

Newport’s most romantic mansion – Rosecliff – is the setting for this unique take on this holiday classic. This magnificent venue for the performance is fully exploited as the audience experiences the performance by moving through many of the mansion’s rooms following the dancers as the story develops.

The action begins in the central foyer with the sweeping sweetheart staircase as the stage for the fight between the mice and soldiers. The action then moves onto the ballroom and then a reception room with a wonderful Christmas tree. During the second act, the audience gets to rest their legs in café style tables in the glorious ballroom.

The cast includes the dancers of the Island Moving Company as well as 100 children in two casts from dance studios throughout Rhode Island. The children are truly adorable as well as being talented!

There aren’t many performances left, so call for tickets (401) 847 4470.

Sunrises and Sunsets over Narragansett Bay

Some prefer sunrises as they evoke the start of a new day and all the possibilities this brings. Being more of a night owl than an earlier riser, I prefer sunsets.

For me, a spectacular sunset can be the highlight of my whole day. I like to think of a sunset as God’s spectacular light show celebrating the end of a day and giving one time to enjoy the beauty of this natural phenomenon as well as reflect on one’s day. A friend recently asked me where I saw my favourite sunset. It’s a tie between two sunsets of the many I vividly recall.

One being a spectacular sunset I experienced whilst sailing across the Atlantic Ocean. After a wonderful day sailing in moderate winds and filled with warming sunshine, we sat at the bow of the yacht and watched the sun disappear on the horizon. As we out in the middle of the ocean with absolutely nothing around us except miles and miles of ocean, the entire horizon was illuminated with oranges, yellows, and reds. We actually clapped when the sunset show was over!

My other all time favourite sunset was this summer at Castle Hill Inn with friends from Connecticut, England, and Germany. I had proudly hosted my guests and showed them some of the highlights of our little slice of heaven all day. We were tired and sought a place to relax and enjoy the end of the day. We went to Castle Hill Inn and enjoyed a fabulous sunset over Narragansett Bay whilst sipping cocktails from our comfortable Adirondack chairs on the lawn.

If you want the luxury of watching the sunset over Narragansett Bay from your home, consider Puesta del Sol – which means sunset in Spanish – at the exclusive Carnegie Abbey Club. This custom designed home offers a gallery-style great room anchored by the two-story stone fireplace.

The cathedral ceilings provide a wealth of openness and light throughout the home. Facing west, you could enjoy endless glorious sunsets!

Alternatively if you want to create your own dream home to watch the sunset over the Bay, there is a west facing lot of vacant land on Seashore Drive in Jamestown where you could build your ideal home complete with a dock to moor your yacht. Sound appealing?

Where are some of your favourite places to watch the sunset?

Photo Bloopers

Just when you think there's nothing worse than trying to get information on a home for sale that has only one exterior photo...you see some that may be better off without additional photos. If you've ever tried it, you know it's not that easy to take great photos of a home for sale. It's hard to get the light right. Just a little clutter looks like a lot when you photograph it. Even if you have the loveliest tile in a sparkling new half bath, how do you get more than a corner of the bathroom?

Even though they may not help sell the house, some are quite amusing and I've been collecting some for a blog. Did these poor sellers ever look online at what their agent posted? Upon further research I found there are sites and blogs dedicated to bad real estate photos. Yes, really!

So just for a giggle...

Dumpsters!

Wasn't there an empty corner in this room?

This is for a piece of vacant land.

Taken while falling down the stairs?

Note the ankle bracelet on this guy. Does home confinement mean he conveys with the house?

Bathrooms are tough, but closing the lid really helps.

Got any you'd like to add?

10 Signs of Fall in Newport

In addition to the crisp, clear weather and a bit of foliage, there are more things that signal the end of summer and the beginning of a new season in Newport.

1. Less boats and more empty docks and moorings every day

2. The festival/concert tent at the Newport Yachting Center disappears and the Ice Skating Rink returns

3. PARKING! – no more sticker parking and no more meters

4. the lifeguard stands at the beach disappear

5. the roses have a second (third or fourth if you have the right kind) bloom that surprises even those who enjoy it every year

6. the summer college kids are replaced with school year college students

7. visitors who arrive on the cruise ships enjoy our scenery and history with less crowded streets and shops

8. the big yachts are at Newport Shipyard preparing for their sail south

9. the cannons at the 3 yacht clubs, which signal the flags going up at 8am and down at sunset, go silent

10. ??? any suggestions for #10?

Sheep may safely graze

Reality is in short supply these days, and nowhere is that more true than in Newport, a town that makes it’s living by celebrating - and selling - its own history. Or versions of it. From Queen Anne Square (a fiction from top to bottom) to the beautiful but unfortunately reproduction 4500 square foot “colonial” McMansions to the quaintly cobblestoned “wharf” areas (a Timberland store is in keeping with the historical record of the wharves? I think not), the lies are so deftly intertwined with the truths that it sometimes seems like I live in some kind of Truman Show of the collective mind. What’s real? What isn’t? Even us townies can’t always tell.

Take for example Queen Anne Square, that bucolic & totally quintessential New England town green. There’s the perfect whitewashed steepled church…there’s the grassy commons…there’s the ring of centuries old houses and shops surrounding it. Can’t you just see the flock of sheep crossing it, bells sonorously a-twinkle? It’s all so perfect. So post-cardish. So exactly what you’d expect to find. And so totally fake.

Historically, Newport never had a commons or a town green – in fact, that was pretty much the whole point of the place. Towns in the Massachusetts Bay Colony had town greens featuring a church at one end because they were theocracies in which every facet of life was dictated by or organized around the Congregational Church. In contrast, Newport – and the rest of Rhode Island – was founded by renegades & exiles from that Puritan society, dissenters who opposed those autocratic beliefs with their very lives, who hacked their way down here through an Indian-filled wilderness all the way from Boston in order to institute their very radical, very utopian, “lively experiment”. Their goal was to found a community that was NOT organized around a single church, but in which worshippers of ALL faiths were welcome. Puritans. Jews. Quakers. Baptists. It’s the one single moment in this state’s history of which we can all feel unreservedly proud. No single church would be allowed to dominate in Rhode Island. The point of Newport was that there wasn’t a town green.

Except of course now there is. Queen Anne’s Square appeared about 40 years ago under the aegis of an urban redevelopment plan. The area in front of Trinity Church was bulldozed of dozens of old buildings, buildings consisting of exactly the kind of real “historical reality” that we’re all so sanctimonious about these days, and in its place, voila! An insta-green was created. And as if that weren’t enough to confuse everybody, this Disneyesque stage set was ringed with authentic 18th century buildings, a reinforcing of the false by means of exploiting the true, and then the whole illusion was cemented into place – rather brilliantly, actually - by branding the result of these efforts “Queen Anne’s Square”, a name of which effectively conjures up misty, vaguely Shakesperean images, of simple English folk wearing big white ruffs, wimples, leather helmets, big-buckled shoes. Sheep on the green.

But let’s not get too down on the enterprise. The entire construction reveals a lot more about the values of the 20th century than it does about the 18th. So I say, let’s keep it around. We’ve actually managed to create an artifact of ourselves for future generations, if they can only manage to sort through all the conflicting messages and layers of meaning - and if we can only manage to resist the temptation to tweak the truth just a little more.

That Old Black Magic

Do you sometimes need a little help? I know I do. That’s why I got so excited when Erzulie’s Authentic Voodoo Shop, over on Franklin Street, opened earlier this year – thank god, I said to myself, at last there’s a pipeline to major supernatural powers right here in town. No more dithering around with those weak & ineffective mainstream religions. It takes the Black Arts to sell real estate in this market! Naturally, I immediately ran over there to check it out.

One thing you should know right off the bat, if you go: Don’t touch anything. I mean it. There are stern signs all over the shop commanding you not to. If you want to pick anything up, open a book, examine an object, sniff an essential oil or a soap or a candle, go to the “sample tables” in the back room. Non-compliance with this rule will earn you a brusque, whats-the-matter-with-you-can’t-you-read type of scolding from Anna, the proprietress, a gorgeous, red-headed goddess-type who, for some obscure reason, goes by the moniker, “Root Queen”. I was an immediate fan of her you-idiot approach to the buying public, and if you’ve ever spent five minutes behind a cash register, you’ll be too. A no-nonsense, early thirties-something type, Anna is the brains behind the whole operation, with shops in New Orleans and London and now Newport, RI. In whatever that leaves her for downtime, she’s also a practicing Voodoo priestess, and claims to be able to voodoo-istically help you with ANYTHING. That’s right, ANYTHING.

Tempting, no?

But for those not yet quite ready to turn their lives, their hearts, and their immortal souls over to the Root Queen, Erzulies offers plenty of items for the do-it-yourselfer. Wangas (what’s that you ask? I say, go in yourself & find out!), voodoo dolls (what the heck, I bought two, Papa Legba & Sirena), fetishes, charm bags, handcrafted oils and essences, ritual candles, and several truly fabulous sequined cult flags from Haiti, works of art in themselves and serious dream finds for the ethnographic collector. I don’t know if it’s magic-magic, but it sure is shopping magic; Eurzalie’s is probably the most interesting new store to open in Newport in years. And top it all off with a resident high priestess who can disappear all your troubles and you’re talking about a force to be reckoned with…!

Renovating the HDC from the inside out

For many years now, the City of Newport's Historic District Commission has been the bane of the existence of those who own property in the neighborhoods within the Commission's jurisdiction. The absence of any real qualifying professional standards for Commission members, the utter lack of clear guidelines, an arbitrary, capricious, and nepotistic approach to enforcement, application & fee structures without rhyme or reason, and of course, the hell of having to sit through interminable Commission meetings, waiting for your name to be called in order that you might present your "case" for replacing that old window in your garage or rebuild your front steps - these are to name just a few of the procedural inequities that have turned this initially laudable effort at architectural preservation into a mind-blowingly hateful experience that smacks of Big Brother. Untold hundreds of Newport property owners have suffered untold annoyances at the hands of these fools. The received wisdom around town was that if your interior decorator or your contractor or your next door neighbor didn't sit on the HDC, you were pretty much out of luck.

But hopefully, all that is about to change. Late last spring the City Council empaneled a task force whose purpose is to review and REVISE the historic district ordinance. This task force - which has been meeting regularly several times a month - is comprised of a group of selected residents with professional backgrounds in the fields of architecture, building, history, preservation, and law. That group subsequently split into several sub-committees, which have been meeting once a week. All of the meetings are posted and open to the public. Save for the committee members themselves, the meetings are invariably poorly attended. Come on, folks! For all of you who've been complaining about the workings of the HDC - or have ever complained in the past - this is your big chance to help these hard-working volunteers set things right, finally and once and for all.