Month: May 2015

Providence Noir

Posted on by annierhodeisland

How exciting! Akashic Books has been doing a “noir” series of different cities for years, most known for Dennis Lehane’s Boston Noir, and the publisher tapped successful Rhode Island author Ann Hood to be editor of a Providence edition.

Moonie and I got to see a bunch of Providence Noir contributors read from the compilation tonight at Books on the Square, and it was a supurb event. Ann Hood, Thomas Cobb, Hester Kaplan, Robert Leuci, Taylor Polites, and Pablo Rodriguez all did a fabulous job providing the tone of each of their stories and referencing local sites and businesses, and I can’t wait to read their stories in full.

Ann Hood describing how she became editor of the project and wrote her first-ever noir story

Ann Hood describing how she became editor of the project and wrote her first-ever noir story


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Neighbor Days Thayer Street Block Party

Posted on by annierhodeisland

Moonie had a blast at the first-ever Neighbor Days Thayer Street Block Party. If you’re not familiar with Providence, Thayer Street is a hip street that runs near a lot of Brown University property and features a mix of stores and restaurants. Today it was closed to traffic for a beer garden, live music, and all kinds of vendors for a Rock & Roll Yard Sale.

Here’s Moonie showing off his high view of the block party.

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Here’s what his head was hiding.

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After enjoying several live bands and watching a “living statue,” Moonie was on a hunt for good tunes.

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Moonie & Peter & Yuki

Posted on by annierhodeisland

Today Moonie got to meet not only Peter Landry, talented bassist for The ‘Mericans, but also his dog Yuki. Moonie loooooooves dogs.

First he had to climb on Peter’s shoulder to check out what he was drinking (beer is not for Moonies).

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Then our friend Mark placed him on Yuki. Yuki is so big and his fur is so long, he didn’t even know Moonie was on there.

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Lilacs

Posted on by annierhodeisland

Our lilac bush only blooms from mid-to-late May. For the other 50 weeks a year it’s basically a big scraggly green thing that blocks the view of anyone pulling out of the driveway.

If anyone’s looking for Moonie in the next dozen days, I’m pretty sure he can be found just like this, pressing his face into said lilacs.

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He says they smell delicious.

Commencement

Posted on by annierhodeisland

Last night Moonie and I attended the commencement exercises for the Community College of Rhode Island, which is wrapping up its 50th anniversary celebration. The annual commencement ceremony is basically a holiday, with joyful anticipation building throughout the day, people looking for help with affixing hoods to their gowns, and bagpipe players practicing in the hallway, so Moonie was all but trembling with excitement even before the procession.

Moonie was particularly enthralled with the shiny bunches of balloons, all ready for the celebration. “Balloons!” he squealed when he noticed the display.
“Those are for the graduates,” I whispered.
“Balloons,” he whispered back sadly.

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Folk Song Sing-Along

Posted on by annierhodeisland

Remember that “Don’t Stop the Music” initiative I posted about the other day? Tonight they were having a folk song sing-along led by Chris Monti, so we stopped in the Providence Public Library to join that (although Moonie didn’t know many words and mostly just hummed along). It was a small but interesting group of people, and when it was ending, a nice lady from the library informed us that in a couple of weeks Chris will be back to host a free harmonica lesson.

Which Moonie is SO ready for.

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Moonie & Roger Williams

Posted on by annierhodeisland

Tonight Moonie and I stopped in at the Roger Williams National Memorial, where dedicated staff like Ranger John McNiff educate the public about “Rog” (as I affectionately call him) and other historical figures and events.

Tonight the RWNM was showing off the last of five original letters written by Rog that they’ve been displaying one at a time over the past few months. This letter was written in the 1600s and referenced the property of one man who’d died and mentioned another man whom Rog had taken in and was teaching to read. I’m grateful that people have worked hard to preserve these pieces of history. Rog was a real person, not just a figure in a book, and it’s fascinating to see him brought to life and to see splashes of ink from his quill pen when he got excited about things.

Of course, it was kind of hard to read all of this with Moonie’s fuzzy head in the way.

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Even when he moved, the words were difficult to read, and the Roger Williams National Memorial staff helpfully handed out transcripts of Rog’s letter. Moonie isn’t completely literate, but he likes to pick out words he knows, and he immediately started looking for words like “cookie” and “candy” and a new one he learned tonight, “cake.”

Suddenly he squealed, “That’s me!”
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Moonie’s Cake

Posted on by annierhodeisland

I had to grab some things at the grocery store, and at first Moonie was helpful, helping to pick out cleaning supplies.

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But then we turned the corner and he saw CAKES. I thought his little eyes were going to pop out of his head.

“Caaaaaakkkkkeeee….” he whispered reverently. I swear I heard angels singing (or maybe he was just humming to make it sound that way) as he climbed on the shelf and approached the baked goods, basking in their cakey glow.

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Moonie Meets the Kitty

Posted on by annierhodeisland

Several people have asked whether Moonie and my cat have met. Yes, they have, and this family-friendly blog is no place for discussing the gratuitous violence that resulted the first few times. The cat, whom the ex and I adopted in 2002 after she began her life as a feral creature on the streets of Brockton, MA, is territorial around other animals. Heck, I’ve been feeding her and cleaning up her poop for nearly 13 years and she barely tolerates me. She’s inherently nice but not at all cuddly, so a bright-haired little weirdo that wants hugs and more hugs is not going to be her ideal new housemate.

But today the introductions went a little better. There were three stages of Moonie meeting the kitty.

1. DENIAL

Moonie: “I love you, kitty.”

Kitty: (hiss)

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2. ANGER

Moonie: “I love you, kitty.”

Kitty: (tries to bat Moonie off the bed)

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3. ACCEPTANCE Read More

Moonie’s Mail: Whetherman’s “Seeds for Harvest”

Posted on by annierhodeisland

Boy, does Moonie love getting mail! Especially when it’s the latest album by Nicholas Williams, who records his soulfoul folk songs under the name Whetherman. We’ve been looking forward to his sixth album!

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I was particularly happy to see the CD as I’ve been looking for something to distract Moonie from one of Whetherman’s older albums. Don’t get me wrong, it’s great stuff, but Moonie calls records “whees” because he can climb onto the record player and ride them like a merry-go-round while shouting “Whee!”

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A compact disc should be a lot safer.