“At the beach, life is different. Time doesn’t move hour to hour but mood to moment. We live by the currents, plan by the tides, and follow the sun.”
- Anonymous
Cliff Walk
Along the Way
As soon as we met, my two brothers and I went off together to the Cliff Walk; Ocean Drive; and through the narrow streets of Newport — all of which will be revisited in the next few days. If I ever had to leave California, the only place I would want to live is Newport, RI. It was here I spent the first seven years of my life and almost every summer after that until I was 18. Of all the places I lived as a child, Newport, Rhode Island will always feel like my ‘real home town’.
I took some pictures of the Atlantic Ocean so I can compare after the storm arrives tomorrow.
Calm Before the Storm
Friday – Sky a little less calm
Hurricane Earl has been lowered to a Tropical Storm – so the wind speed will be in half but the rain could be the same. This will be a good experience. We walked over to the Maritime Aloha Café for breakfast.
A Great Breakfast, Best Prices
1930s
After eating, we continued our walk to 98 Mill Street where I lived the first seven years of my life with my grandparents and our family. Only now am I realizing how big a house that was! It has since then become a Bed and Breakfast. What I most remember were the Air Raids the city had and the schools during the early 1940’s when we had to run home from school when the city sirens went off. Newport was a navy town and the drill was for the possibility of being bombed.
Home on Mill Street
Now a Bed & Breakfast
I was not going to write a blog for today, but I am so happy to be here, I wanted to share with you a few of the places we are walking to and that is what you do in this town: walk everywhere as the streets are narrow for parking and there are limited parking places. What attracts me to the city is the oldness – back to the 1600’s and the Victorian Style homes. A window washer could have a steady and wonderful business.
Once again: “Have a relaxing and safe weekend!” I know I will!
Storm Watch
There’s no other love like the love for a brother.
There’s no other love like the love from a brother.
- Astrid Alauda
Together
And I have two brothers – how lucky and wonderful is that! We will be spending time together in Newport, RI for the Labor Day weekend.
Beauty
For my sister, my time with her this week has been too personal and beautiful to write about — but, for us, we know and that is all that matters.
“We are sisters. We will always be sisters. Our differences may never go away, but neither, for me, will our song.”
- Elizabeth Fishel
Storm Coming
In Newport, we are expecting to have one very windy and wet day as Hurricane Earl passes by the East Coast. Newport, RI is where I started school but more importantly it is where my mother and father were born and raised in 1899 and 1901. Newport has many memories for each of us. I love the city although I have not returned there for some time. The history of Newport is my favorite section in this website: www.cityofnewport.com
Here are results from researching homelessness in Newport, RI. I am happy to see that Rhode Island ranks #4 with #1 being best for responding to the needs of homeless children.
I am a little biased on Rhode Island. Maybe this is why:
- State Nickname – Little Rhody
- State Motto – “Hope”
- State Song – Rhode Island, It’s for Me
Another City I love in Rhode Island is Tiverton, which holds great memories in my childhood spending time on a wonderful farm two weeks every year.
Have a wonderful Holiday Weekend Everyone! I am starting my celebration early but will be sure to continue my blog on Tuesday, September 7th! Hopefully, I will have some un-exciting news at that time in regard to Hurricane Earl. Be safe and enjoy every minute of your time together.
Sun Setting
by Agnes on September 1, 2010
in New York
“The state Senate, to its disgrace, has denied farm workers the basic labor
protections taken for granted by other New York workers. The harvest of shame lives on.”
- Friday, August 6, 2010 (Source)
Samuel Rudin Arc
The farm workers’ view:
Iona College
The Farmer’s point of view: “The bill would have required employers of farm laborers to give their workers at least 24 consecutive hours of rest each week and would have required farm owners to pay workers time-and-a-half after the first 10 hours of work in a day. The bill also would have made the provisions of the unemployment insurance law applicable to farm workers, according to the Senate’s website.”
Sen. Betty Little, R-Queensbury, called the bill onerous and damaging to farmers: “To add these rules and regulations – a day off and overtime pay – is just increasing the costs to the farmers,” she said. “Most of the farmers in this area treat their help very well. Good help is hard to come by, and once you have it, you work to keep it. These rules and regulations were really over the top.” – Source.
The farm workers’ and the farmers’ issues collide again – this time in the state of New York. On reading the headlines and reading both sides, I think of Cesar Chavez who dedicated his whole life for the rights of migrant workers. The above sites are interesting readings for Labor Day Weekend — or maybe before the weekend. The New York State debate touches upon agriculture issues still facing our country today.
Depicting Edmund Rice with Students
New York State is making news this summer along with the Farm Bill defeat. Another headline from the www.westchesterguardian.com on 8-26-10 said, “The Nations First Statewide Tea Party is Born In New York.” I am not participating in New York politics but am keeping an eye on its decisions and happenings.
Sports Field
As promised, my blog today has pictures of Iona College in its beautiful setting in Westchester County. Many of the students have arrived this week looking quite young or maybe it is that every year I get older. I am thinking these students are first year students.
Student Housing
Iona College Library
For me, I am continuing to spend my time taking long walks in between hospital visits in White Plains and talking with people. New Rochelle has grown up over the years and like most towns that have done so, much still remains the same. For one thing, the squirrels continue to eat just before sundown. When I take my walk at that time, I am bombarded with empty small acorns and the like being thrown down from the trees.
On My Walk
Beauty
“People change and forget to tell each other.”
- Lillian Hellman
Welcomed as a Guest
Iona College, New Rochelle
Right now I am staying in New Rochelle as a guest at an Irish Christian Brother’s residency on the grounds of Iona College. As I travel in the Northern New England States by bus and train, my car will be resting at Iona College. These websites will give a glimpse of the background – as we learn together. Actually all of these sites are extremely interesting. For me, I am truly grateful for the Brothers’ gracious hospitality.
“…. At a time when most of the Irish people were extremely poor and living under repressive laws, Edmund Rice became a wealthy and influential member of the city of Waterford…” Be sure to read the rest of the story. Tomorrow I plan to show more pictures of Iona College.
Iona’s Field from Afar
New Rochelle was my hometown from 1947 to 1953. It was my Mother’s and Father’s home many years after that time. The other day, I started taking pictures of “my home” when the owner came out to say hello. A wonderful person, LaVelle, who with his wife and two children, soon to be three children, welcomed us to come inside and look around from the attic to the basement. What fun!
Everything was very much the same although LaVelle, the owner, was making some changes in the attic to eventually make it a Master Bedroom. He is preserving the ‘tub’ which is now ancient. The walls and fixtures in the downstairs remained the same and all the other rooms were recognizable!
Home – Coligni Ave
In researching homelessness in New Rochelle, I saw a fair number of ‘soup kitchens’ and other food programs in addition to shelters:
New Rochelle Shelters
O.A.S.I.S.
New Rochelle, NY 10801
18 and older, referred by DSS
Maximum: 32 – men and women
Providence House
New Rochelle, NY 10801
For pregnant 18+ and children (boys & girls up to age 4)
Volunteers of America
New Rochelle, NY 10801
For adults in recovery from chemical dependence
Westhab Burling Lane Residence
New Rochelle, NY 10801
Permanent housing (9 units) and transitional housing (3 units) for males over 18 years of age
What was interesting to me was the lack of family homeless shelters which is good news if it means there are no families without a place to live.
Hospital
Today, I also visited White Plains, New York and White Plains Hospital Center.
Near Hospital
On my research, I discovered this unique site on a report on Westchester County’s Homeless. Anyone interested in this topic will find the report extremely informative. Be sure to read the section where they interviewed the homeless on how they spend their day plus other questions — especially the ‘incentive level to convince the hard core homeless to accept shelter care.’ This report was put together in 2007.
