Remember when ages were counted in halves?? That half-year was important. It put us in another whole age category, and we were so eager to get there. We couldn't wait to get there. We may even have added "and a half" before it was mathematically correct; it may have been only a third.
The older we get, of course, the less that "and-a-half" matters. Or the less we wish to announce it. I'll be 49 'til the very second I turn 50, thank you very much.
And I'm sure I'll feel the same as I ramp up to 60 ...
Anyway, revisiting the impressions of last time (if that's allowed), I wanted to fill in a few gaps, as there were more sights than I originally recalled. There always are. En route from Newport to Tiverton via boat on Saturday, Mr. Betty and I passed under all three bridges — that much is true. But did I mention that before we headed North we headed South? We thought, given relatively windless conditions, it'd be a fine day for going around the outside: beyond Brenton Point, past the reef, along Ocean Drive and the beaches, around Sachuest Point, up the Sakonnet.
And I'm sure I'll feel the same as I ramp up to 60 ...
Anyway, revisiting the impressions of last time (if that's allowed), I wanted to fill in a few gaps, as there were more sights than I originally recalled. There always are. En route from Newport to Tiverton via boat on Saturday, Mr. Betty and I passed under all three bridges — that much is true. But did I mention that before we headed North we headed South? We thought, given relatively windless conditions, it'd be a fine day for going around the outside: beyond Brenton Point, past the reef, along Ocean Drive and the beaches, around Sachuest Point, up the Sakonnet.
But just as we passed Castle Hill — with all its empty chairs that were full of summer visitors just yesterday, or so it seems — and the vessel started bobbing and bouncing like a hobby horse in significant swells, Mr. Betty said, "It's lumpier than I expected."
So we turned and went the other way: up the bay.
And did I mention the shiny, new, impressive & inexplicably long ramp at Ann Street Pier? The leaves? The feeling of putt-putting out the harbor for the last time 'til next season? The revelation that aircraft carriers are BIG? As are wind turbines and the only skyscraper on our horizon (at Carnegie Abbey) but unlike Mount Hope — not the bridge, but the mount, which is more of a bump? The bumpers, for that matter? The ongoing construction over the Sakonnet? What's the name of that new bridge again? Then there's the old stone bridge-that's-no-longer-a-bridge for which I couldn't remember the name (Old Stone Bridge?). How 'bout the fact that we very nearly didn't fit under the last little bridge into Nanaquaket Pond?
I didn't think so. I was too focused on getting there, wherever "there" is. And, I dare say, it's nowhere in particular. Or maybe it's just a different place for everyone.
One thing that isn't different (I don't think) is the impression, with so much lying behind us, that time flew ...
That is Mount Hope, isn't it?? Hoping to be ... bigger??
But smaller can be better (e.g. for flying under the radar) ...
