Wednesday, April 25, 2012
ROADTRIP TO PROVIDENCE AND CONNECTICUTT
I am very late with recording our fine roadtrip. Here goes.
We wanted to visit Dana and visit his girlfriend Jen as well and see our friend Alice who is struggling against the cancer that has given her years of battle and is battling very hard again now after some years of respite.
Jen will hereafter be known as The Jeneral. It is her knickname at work and we coopted it to not confuse her with any other Jens. However, I would hate if you pictured from that pen name a rather regimented and stern woman with military leanings. Jeneral is a gentle artist, working on the textures (which means color as well) of the settings in the video game at 38 where Dana works on programing. In fact, she was the first artist hired to design for the game and her work was so impressive that she quicly moved up the ladder from Assistant to being in charge of a group of artists in what I'll call the "texture" department where she trains and teaches and monitors output of the rest of those working to provide the setting and the equipment with "texture."
At first I thought this meant that she crunched numbers on a computer, but she actually draws on the screen, using it like a modern paper.
We had a dozen plans of how to arrange the weekend and moved them about to help Alice so that we could see her, but we would not be an overnight guest burden to her or stay too long to leave her tired. Dana and The Jeneral were wonderful in moving their plans to accomodate our needs, and we are very grateful for how easy they were around that.
We started about 9 on Saturday and had a fine drive mostly along the bluehighways. It had not yet started raining (it would) and it was fine to see the farms and see spring inching its way into gardens and fields.
The road was easy until we got to Providence itself, and then we were in a maze of streets.
Our goal was to find The Foundry, which is a converted old factory where Dana lives.
Between The Foundry and a good part of Providence is a major highway, so you can actually be where you can see the building and could walk to it in five minutes were it not for the highway. Finding a way under the highway is more of a challenge. Then once you get across the raging river of cars, there is what The Jeneral calls a labyrinth of streets unlike the grid that defines most central cities.
We had the GPS, but the turns were so quick that it was difficult for it to adjust to the next turn before we had passed it, So round and round we went and always the capitol was right there somewhere in our vision, so it was an amazing way to be traveling.
I could never get a really good shot of the capital building, but these images will suffice
https://www.google.com/search?q=providence+capitol+building&hl=en&rlz=1T4ADFA_enUS467US467&prmd=imvns&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=7WSVT9O4L6rG6AGBi6WRBA&ved=0CD0QsAQ&biw=1067&bih=411&sei=82SVT83gIIqu6AHtzcyVBA
Of course, during this maze travel, I had to do what? Can you guess? Yep!
But finally we arrived and Dana came down to meet us and show me exactly how I might......
and then the delight of being there was on.
http://foundryri.com/
The building itself is amazing. They used the old theme of the factory, even to putting up huge blowups from black and white photos taken of people working there. It seems it was a busy place
http://www.foundryri.com/history.html
There was some romance around factories even up until my youth, but the green revolution sent that kind of delight in another direction. Now the pieces of these buildings support work that does not pollute the air or exploit the working class. Well paid young people live there and enjoy the factory decor as antiques. Dana's company is there because of local government. Providence lurred Kurt Schilling away from Boston with a hugh low interest loan that does not have to be paid if the company fails.
http://blogs.wpri.com/2011/04/29/38-studios-gets-another-17-2m-from-ri-backed-loan/
So much for the myth of free market capitalism.
However, this sort of government policy (never by the way called by Republicans as "leaning" toward Socialism) has worked to revitalize a struggling Providence and give it a new and vibrant feel.
Dana's building still looks much like the factory it once was.
Most wonderful was a huge lobby fireplace, created with bits of steel beams and a koi pond with fountains and waterfalls, again created using old parts of the factory. One old elevator carriage was converted into storage in the lobby. Everywhere we looked were old beams, old brick, old stone work, and the ceiling was a collage of old machines and beams and piping mixed with the current heating ducts. All of it was tasteful, artistic and quite wonderful.
Of course, in contrast to the 19th Century, now the place looks very different, at least in Dana's room
In the bedroom, a digital clock projects the time on the ceiling, so when you wake up and wonder, you can be lying on your back and check.
And these magical little white remotes controlled the lighting. No clap on clap off. Just a button.
Here I am on the stairs going up to the loft.
And here is Dana's decorative shirts, all worn for sport and hung for entertainment.
Dana and The Jeneral took us for a walk
and that entire part of town carries the theme of factory reworked as artful architecture and in the mix are rivers and trains and odd walkways.
We walked under this particular section of highway bridge. Stained pine 2x4's had been installed as a sort of ceiling which would catch any crumbling cement from the underside of the bridge. At first, I thought perhaps I did not want to drive over a crumbling bridge, but the steel is the souce of the strength.
We would come out of the look of factory and old steel and see this in the distance.
Quite a contrast.
Elizabeth liked the exterior design on this downtown building
Even a parking garage might present an artistic face
Some building may have had even more color inside, but we skipped interiors, and that was probably a good thing.
Nothing seemed empty or deserted. The colleges like Brown keep the palce vibrant with youthful faces. So it was all a delight.
In the downtown I was drawn to a display of children's art, painted squares of tile. There were perhaps a half dozen of these, all hoping for peace, love and a good life.
Children always seem to know what is fundamentally important. Jesus reflected that insight when he promised a little child would lead us. Somehow folks seem to have gotten away from that values, but this art was reflects where they might take us were we to listen.
Of course, eating and drinking is what we do best, so we started at Trinity House Brewpub
where we had a quick lunch outside. I had a sole fish fry with small french fries which were ordered "as crispy as they can possibly be" and came.........wel.............short of crispy (don't they all, everywhere, in spite of waiter assurances) but still very tasty with malt vinegar. A tasty mixed green salad was included and no boring roll to throw away. There we caught up on the news, added in a bit of banter, and delighted in finding out more about The Jeneral.
In the afternoon we went to the mall because we all needed to do some shopping.
For supper we went to a Japanese restaurant primarily because of all the tasty possibilities, it had parking.
It turned out to be a great pick.
I have had Japanese cooked in front of me before, but not any this good. We each had a different one dish: steak, chicken, salmon, and scallops and did a bit of sharing. With the meal came a couple shrimp as well. All the food was fine and the entertainment as they cooked fun as well. I did not get my mouth squirted with tequilla. But Elizabeth and I split a shooter glass of it hot.
The Jeneral told us more about her art. She personally likes to draw people more than settings and props. She draws them on her own time and likes the sense of shapes not so defined in straight lines. Elizabeth talked about loving that as well, and I mentioned Craig Schaffer and talked about the theme in much of his art as an unfolding of shape.
http://elemenop123.blogspot.com/2012/01/craig-schaffer.html
In the evening we visited Waterfire. This is a time when on the rivers that flow through Providence, the town places campfires. There are a hundred fire grates mounted above the water. These fires reflect into the water, and draw in people to sit and enjoy the evening gazing at fire on water and listening to the carefully compiled music mixes. Folks who live in the center of Providence are unlikely to often encounter campfires, so to be able to watch them so conveniently is a fine community event.
And the fact they all appear to be floating on top of the water just adds to the delight.
This particular event celebrated a conference of African American women in Alpha Kappa Alpha and while we walked the town, there were dozens of these women dressed in either pink or light green which must be the colors of AKA
http://www.aka1908.com/
Saturday, April 21, 2012:
Mayor Angel Taveras and the City of Providence welcome Alpha Kappa Alpha, the oldest Greek-lettered organization established by African-American college-educated women, to Providence for their 81st Regional North Atlantic Conference.
WaterFire is pleased to present this basin lighting for the 2,500+ AKA sorority sisters and the community.
Waterfire itself is a piece of art, created by Barnaby Evans, in 1994. It is suppoted by donations and volunteer work.
Elizabeth and I had seen waterfire once before but only the dusk version. And I am not sure we walked down to see the basin fires, which are more dramatic than those in a simple line. In the dark of night the fires were much more impressive, surrounded by the big building lights, including the ever present capitol with colored lights on the dome. And those who replenished the split logs came dressed all in black, in black boats with black motors, so they blended.
These were long boats and ten people would stand on one gunnel and position one split piece of firewood as the boat inched by. It was very much like a ritual. They could have been receiving the body of Christ. And the drivers were amazingly deft. It is not easy to position the boat perfectly so this can happen. I'd have certainly knocked into a couple of the campfires. Where we watched there was a circle of about a dozen campfires in a spot in the river that widened into a section that was the size of a small pond.
Music played. It was a mix of non abrasive opera, classical guitar, a couple kinds of Latino music (perhaps one was a bolero) some piece that seemed to be sung in no language, music geared to reflect the peaceful water, campfire, evening. A good deal of thought goes into this music. Very nice.
People can also get gondola rides or rides in a small boat run with an electric motor.
Rich and Liz met us and we bumped into a dog that The Jeneral has watched (and is fond of) being walked by his owner. It was community.
We were ready for bed. Dana gave me a tutorial on using the TV with added homework on the intricacies of remotes because I thought I'd be up in the night. Then Elizabeth and I went to our bed up in the loft.
I was up in the night. But Elizabeth had been too hot and crowded and gone down to sleep on this wonderfully soft and scrumptious couch.
So there I was, educated in television remoteism, but so caught up in the theme that I was now positioned so remote from the television that I could not use it. Ironic.
My book also was downstairs where Elizabeth was sleeping.
I did however, have a great time entertaining myself by watching the digital time readout on the wall turn quietly from one number to another. Some might have fallen asleep with that counting of seconds, but I was too intrqued and I wanted to see the entire show.
Dana has a wonderful TV, a huge screen with the best resolution I have seen. In the afternoon he played for us one of the games from 38 called Kingdom of Amalur. He had not worked on that game, and I thought The Jeneral had done some of the artwork, but I was mistaken about that. Still it is the sort of work The Jeneral does at 38.
It was interesting to see how it works. Lots of deft moves to blow up adversaries and then moving on to other settings.
We also saw a documentary based on the 2001 World Series when the Diamondbacks beat the Yankees. I actually had a bet on the Diamonbacks in that series. I never made the school bet which was an even bet with some of the faculty taking one side and some another. Jerry came to me and asked if I would take the Diamondbacks because they did not have enough. The winners bought the losers drinks and dinner at a steakhouse. I was hesitant, but I agreed in a spirit of faculty. I certainly did not expect to win, but it was great fun to have those Yankees paying for one time.
Here is this documentary we could see Kurt Schilling, Dana's boss at 38, pitching. So that was fun as well.
In the morning I was up at five, and I puttered and read and wrote some of this and then watched a great Cagney movie called Strawberry Blond. Cagney did not play the dark toughguy. he was a bit of a rowdy but this was a lighter movie. It was set at the turn of the century and did comment on the culture quite a bit. I loved it. Olivia de havilland, Rita Hayworth, Jack Carson. Great stuff!
In one scene spaghetti is introduced as an upscale, new dish, created by a gourmet chef. No one can eat it without dropping it on their laps.
Then we had our second breakfast at this funky little cafe
and we were off to see Alice.
It was a fine visit at their beautiful house in Connecticutt. She woke up from a nap and I think we tired her enough for another before we left. We talked about travel and kids and politics, and all sorts of interesting topics. She and Harvey are great in conversation. And then we could see her tire and we said out good-byes with plans to meet again.
Driving home was not lovely. It was dominated by a pounding rain.
However, we stopped in Lee at the Salmon Run restaurant and had a great meal. I had stuffed salmon in a mornay sauce, a white sauce. The stuffing had some crab. Elizabeth had a pasta with little sweet clams. It was a good break in the driving and I took us home from there, but it was very dark and very rainy and uncomfortable for both of us. We were happy to be home again.
On the way home I had my first Green Peace iced tea in a long while. This is a brand I got to like in Florida that gives me on the road what I want, a green tea drink without a huge number of calories (50 as opposed to 200 in a soda half the size) as well as ingredients that we can read. There is none of this around here, but in Connecticut at a little convenience store I found some.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peace_Iced_Tea
And then we were home. And we still are.
I am very late with recording our fine roadtrip. Here goes.
We wanted to visit Dana and visit his girlfriend Jen as well and see our friend Alice who is struggling against the cancer that has given her years of battle and is battling very hard again now after some years of respite.
Jen will hereafter be known as The Jeneral. It is her knickname at work and we coopted it to not confuse her with any other Jens. However, I would hate if you pictured from that pen name a rather regimented and stern woman with military leanings. Jeneral is a gentle artist, working on the textures (which means color as well) of the settings in the video game at 38 where Dana works on programing. In fact, she was the first artist hired to design for the game and her work was so impressive that she quicly moved up the ladder from Assistant to being in charge of a group of artists in what I'll call the "texture" department where she trains and teaches and monitors output of the rest of those working to provide the setting and the equipment with "texture."
At first I thought this meant that she crunched numbers on a computer, but she actually draws on the screen, using it like a modern paper.
We had a dozen plans of how to arrange the weekend and moved them about to help Alice so that we could see her, but we would not be an overnight guest burden to her or stay too long to leave her tired. Dana and The Jeneral were wonderful in moving their plans to accomodate our needs, and we are very grateful for how easy they were around that.
We started about 9 on Saturday and had a fine drive mostly along the bluehighways. It had not yet started raining (it would) and it was fine to see the farms and see spring inching its way into gardens and fields.
The road was easy until we got to Providence itself, and then we were in a maze of streets.
Our goal was to find The Foundry, which is a converted old factory where Dana lives.
Between The Foundry and a good part of Providence is a major highway, so you can actually be where you can see the building and could walk to it in five minutes were it not for the highway. Finding a way under the highway is more of a challenge. Then once you get across the raging river of cars, there is what The Jeneral calls a labyrinth of streets unlike the grid that defines most central cities.
We had the GPS, but the turns were so quick that it was difficult for it to adjust to the next turn before we had passed it, So round and round we went and always the capitol was right there somewhere in our vision, so it was an amazing way to be traveling.
I could never get a really good shot of the capital building, but these images will suffice
https://www.google.com/search?q=providence+capitol+building&hl=en&rlz=1T4ADFA_enUS467US467&prmd=imvns&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=7WSVT9O4L6rG6AGBi6WRBA&ved=0CD0QsAQ&biw=1067&bih=411&sei=82SVT83gIIqu6AHtzcyVBA
Of course, during this maze travel, I had to do what? Can you guess? Yep!
But finally we arrived and Dana came down to meet us and show me exactly how I might......
and then the delight of being there was on.
http://foundryri.com/
The building itself is amazing. They used the old theme of the factory, even to putting up huge blowups from black and white photos taken of people working there. It seems it was a busy place
http://www.foundryri.com/history.html
There was some romance around factories even up until my youth, but the green revolution sent that kind of delight in another direction. Now the pieces of these buildings support work that does not pollute the air or exploit the working class. Well paid young people live there and enjoy the factory decor as antiques. Dana's company is there because of local government. Providence lurred Kurt Schilling away from Boston with a hugh low interest loan that does not have to be paid if the company fails.
http://blogs.wpri.com/2011/04/29/38-studios-gets-another-17-2m-from-ri-backed-loan/
So much for the myth of free market capitalism.
However, this sort of government policy (never by the way called by Republicans as "leaning" toward Socialism) has worked to revitalize a struggling Providence and give it a new and vibrant feel.
Dana's building still looks much like the factory it once was.
Most wonderful was a huge lobby fireplace, created with bits of steel beams and a koi pond with fountains and waterfalls, again created using old parts of the factory. One old elevator carriage was converted into storage in the lobby. Everywhere we looked were old beams, old brick, old stone work, and the ceiling was a collage of old machines and beams and piping mixed with the current heating ducts. All of it was tasteful, artistic and quite wonderful.
Of course, in contrast to the 19th Century, now the place looks very different, at least in Dana's room
In the bedroom, a digital clock projects the time on the ceiling, so when you wake up and wonder, you can be lying on your back and check.
And these magical little white remotes controlled the lighting. No clap on clap off. Just a button.
Here I am on the stairs going up to the loft.
And here is Dana's decorative shirts, all worn for sport and hung for entertainment.
Dana and The Jeneral took us for a walk
and that entire part of town carries the theme of factory reworked as artful architecture and in the mix are rivers and trains and odd walkways.
We walked under this particular section of highway bridge. Stained pine 2x4's had been installed as a sort of ceiling which would catch any crumbling cement from the underside of the bridge. At first, I thought perhaps I did not want to drive over a crumbling bridge, but the steel is the souce of the strength.
We would come out of the look of factory and old steel and see this in the distance.
Quite a contrast.
Elizabeth liked the exterior design on this downtown building
Even a parking garage might present an artistic face
Some building may have had even more color inside, but we skipped interiors, and that was probably a good thing.
Nothing seemed empty or deserted. The colleges like Brown keep the palce vibrant with youthful faces. So it was all a delight.
In the downtown I was drawn to a display of children's art, painted squares of tile. There were perhaps a half dozen of these, all hoping for peace, love and a good life.
Children always seem to know what is fundamentally important. Jesus reflected that insight when he promised a little child would lead us. Somehow folks seem to have gotten away from that values, but this art was reflects where they might take us were we to listen.
Of course, eating and drinking is what we do best, so we started at Trinity House Brewpub
where we had a quick lunch outside. I had a sole fish fry with small french fries which were ordered "as crispy as they can possibly be" and came.........wel.............short of crispy (don't they all, everywhere, in spite of waiter assurances) but still very tasty with malt vinegar. A tasty mixed green salad was included and no boring roll to throw away. There we caught up on the news, added in a bit of banter, and delighted in finding out more about The Jeneral.
In the afternoon we went to the mall because we all needed to do some shopping.
For supper we went to a Japanese restaurant primarily because of all the tasty possibilities, it had parking.
It turned out to be a great pick.
I have had Japanese cooked in front of me before, but not any this good. We each had a different one dish: steak, chicken, salmon, and scallops and did a bit of sharing. With the meal came a couple shrimp as well. All the food was fine and the entertainment as they cooked fun as well. I did not get my mouth squirted with tequilla. But Elizabeth and I split a shooter glass of it hot.
The Jeneral told us more about her art. She personally likes to draw people more than settings and props. She draws them on her own time and likes the sense of shapes not so defined in straight lines. Elizabeth talked about loving that as well, and I mentioned Craig Schaffer and talked about the theme in much of his art as an unfolding of shape.
http://elemenop123.blogspot.com/2012/01/craig-schaffer.html
In the evening we visited Waterfire. This is a time when on the rivers that flow through Providence, the town places campfires. There are a hundred fire grates mounted above the water. These fires reflect into the water, and draw in people to sit and enjoy the evening gazing at fire on water and listening to the carefully compiled music mixes. Folks who live in the center of Providence are unlikely to often encounter campfires, so to be able to watch them so conveniently is a fine community event.
And the fact they all appear to be floating on top of the water just adds to the delight.
This particular event celebrated a conference of African American women in Alpha Kappa Alpha and while we walked the town, there were dozens of these women dressed in either pink or light green which must be the colors of AKA
http://www.aka1908.com/
Saturday, April 21, 2012:
Mayor Angel Taveras and the City of Providence welcome Alpha Kappa Alpha, the oldest Greek-lettered organization established by African-American college-educated women, to Providence for their 81st Regional North Atlantic Conference.
WaterFire is pleased to present this basin lighting for the 2,500+ AKA sorority sisters and the community.
Waterfire itself is a piece of art, created by Barnaby Evans, in 1994. It is suppoted by donations and volunteer work.
Elizabeth and I had seen waterfire once before but only the dusk version. And I am not sure we walked down to see the basin fires, which are more dramatic than those in a simple line. In the dark of night the fires were much more impressive, surrounded by the big building lights, including the ever present capitol with colored lights on the dome. And those who replenished the split logs came dressed all in black, in black boats with black motors, so they blended.
These were long boats and ten people would stand on one gunnel and position one split piece of firewood as the boat inched by. It was very much like a ritual. They could have been receiving the body of Christ. And the drivers were amazingly deft. It is not easy to position the boat perfectly so this can happen. I'd have certainly knocked into a couple of the campfires. Where we watched there was a circle of about a dozen campfires in a spot in the river that widened into a section that was the size of a small pond.
Music played. It was a mix of non abrasive opera, classical guitar, a couple kinds of Latino music (perhaps one was a bolero) some piece that seemed to be sung in no language, music geared to reflect the peaceful water, campfire, evening. A good deal of thought goes into this music. Very nice.
People can also get gondola rides or rides in a small boat run with an electric motor.
Rich and Liz met us and we bumped into a dog that The Jeneral has watched (and is fond of) being walked by his owner. It was community.
We were ready for bed. Dana gave me a tutorial on using the TV with added homework on the intricacies of remotes because I thought I'd be up in the night. Then Elizabeth and I went to our bed up in the loft.
I was up in the night. But Elizabeth had been too hot and crowded and gone down to sleep on this wonderfully soft and scrumptious couch.
So there I was, educated in television remoteism, but so caught up in the theme that I was now positioned so remote from the television that I could not use it. Ironic.
My book also was downstairs where Elizabeth was sleeping.
I did however, have a great time entertaining myself by watching the digital time readout on the wall turn quietly from one number to another. Some might have fallen asleep with that counting of seconds, but I was too intrqued and I wanted to see the entire show.
Dana has a wonderful TV, a huge screen with the best resolution I have seen. In the afternoon he played for us one of the games from 38 called Kingdom of Amalur. He had not worked on that game, and I thought The Jeneral had done some of the artwork, but I was mistaken about that. Still it is the sort of work The Jeneral does at 38.
It was interesting to see how it works. Lots of deft moves to blow up adversaries and then moving on to other settings.
We also saw a documentary based on the 2001 World Series when the Diamondbacks beat the Yankees. I actually had a bet on the Diamonbacks in that series. I never made the school bet which was an even bet with some of the faculty taking one side and some another. Jerry came to me and asked if I would take the Diamondbacks because they did not have enough. The winners bought the losers drinks and dinner at a steakhouse. I was hesitant, but I agreed in a spirit of faculty. I certainly did not expect to win, but it was great fun to have those Yankees paying for one time.
Here is this documentary we could see Kurt Schilling, Dana's boss at 38, pitching. So that was fun as well.
In the morning I was up at five, and I puttered and read and wrote some of this and then watched a great Cagney movie called Strawberry Blond. Cagney did not play the dark toughguy. he was a bit of a rowdy but this was a lighter movie. It was set at the turn of the century and did comment on the culture quite a bit. I loved it. Olivia de havilland, Rita Hayworth, Jack Carson. Great stuff!
In one scene spaghetti is introduced as an upscale, new dish, created by a gourmet chef. No one can eat it without dropping it on their laps.
Then we had our second breakfast at this funky little cafe
and we were off to see Alice.
It was a fine visit at their beautiful house in Connecticutt. She woke up from a nap and I think we tired her enough for another before we left. We talked about travel and kids and politics, and all sorts of interesting topics. She and Harvey are great in conversation. And then we could see her tire and we said out good-byes with plans to meet again.
Driving home was not lovely. It was dominated by a pounding rain.
However, we stopped in Lee at the Salmon Run restaurant and had a great meal. I had stuffed salmon in a mornay sauce, a white sauce. The stuffing had some crab. Elizabeth had a pasta with little sweet clams. It was a good break in the driving and I took us home from there, but it was very dark and very rainy and uncomfortable for both of us. We were happy to be home again.
On the way home I had my first Green Peace iced tea in a long while. This is a brand I got to like in Florida that gives me on the road what I want, a green tea drink without a huge number of calories (50 as opposed to 200 in a soda half the size) as well as ingredients that we can read. There is none of this around here, but in Connecticut at a little convenience store I found some.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peace_Iced_Tea
And then we were home. And we still are.
4 comments:
Also very nice touches to your blog, I like its new appearance.
I just fell into the new look. The last time I changed templates, it took out all my link favorites on the right. This time it gave me the new look, darker and easier to read and with a wider space for the writing, in just a minute. I was so surprised. I'm glad to have dumped that dull light look for this one.
Elizabeth, thanks. We did have a nice couple days and they will be fine to remember. That was a sweet comment. And thanks too for the help on getting the blog looking more spiffy.