4 June 2010: If I Had A Million Dollars...

...I'd buy me a house...on the ocean...that looks like this!

27 December 2009 Photo(s): The Ocean House

All the snow melted in Westerly overnight so Bill and I took a ride down to the beach. It was a beautiful (but cold) day. We wandered around Watch Hill, Misquamicut and Weekapaug.

I was happy to see The Ocean House rebuild in the final stages. The Ocean House was one of my favorite places when I was growing up. I used to go there when it was closed in the winter and sit on the porch to think and reflect. The Ocean House was built in the mid 1800's and torn down a few years ago because it was in such disrepair. They rebuilt it so that the outside of it looks almost identical to the original. It is one place I would like to stay before I die! Every time I look at it, I see the people of the late 1800's and early 1900's enjoying their days by the ocean. You can see what the old one looked like here: http://www.pbase.com/mybigboy/image/55932290

18 July 2009 Photo(s): Lazy Days Of Summer

I am in RI this weekend visiting my family. Coming to the place that I grew up always feels comfortable. The summer brings back so many childhood memories...long days at Misquamicut Beach, the Flying Horses Carousel and sunsets in Watch Hill, and good times with family!

25 January 2009 Photo: Betting On The Ponies

As a child, my number one favorite thing to do was to go on the carousel. Growing up in RI and being at the beach everyday in the summer, I frequently went on the merry-go-round in Misquamicut. I had my favorite pony and had been known to wait (somewhat impatiently) if another child was on my horse.

The best treat was when I got to go down to the Flying Horses Carousel in Watch Hill. The Flying Horses Carousel only operates in the summer, is the oldest carousel of it's type in the U.S. and survived the 1938 hurricane which wiped out all the houses on Napatree Point, Watch Hill.

What makes this carousel unique is that it does not have a platform and the horses fly out at it goes round and round. Much to my dismay, only children are allowed to ride this carousel and during the ride they have the chance to grab for rings. If you get the brass ring, you get a free ride.

I brought my niece down there last summer for her first ride, I showed her my favorite horse and she wanted to ride that one too! No doubt there will be photos of the Watch Hill Carousel when the summer comes around and I am in RI visiting my family.

This photo is of the merry-go-round at the Carousel Mall in Syracuse, NY - not quite as spectacular as the carousels of my childhood memories, but I have ridden on this one too!