A Providence kind of night

Beth and I drove up to Providence on Sunday night. We dropped off her daughter and her daughter’s friend at an all-ages show at The Living Room, and then went to meet up with Michele. It’s been a long time since I’ve hung out in Providence. We went out for appetizers at Ri Ra, an “upscale Irish” place that I remember going to in Dublin, so it must be a “chain”. There was an Irish band sitting around at a table, playing. Then we walked along the Providence River at sunset. We saw a tepid protest having something to do with socialism, we saw a man walking around wearing a headdress, we saw a traveling merry mariachi band, with bells on their boots. The statehouse caught the side of the sunset glow and just struck my heart with its beauty. I’ve always loved that building. Then the three of us went up to Federal Hill (you know, where the colors of the flag of Italy are painted down the middle of the street) and sat outside at an Italian restaurant, with a fountain nearby, and a Frank Sinatra impersonator (pretty damn good), and yummy food and wine. Then we walked through the soft summer night to Pastiche, a great dessert place, for coffee and dessert. We were basically waiting for Ceileidh’s show to get out, and there was much texting back and forth between mother and daughter, but still, it was great to get out and have time to spend with my old dear friends. We missed Meredith and Betsy! Beth and I then made our way back to the club, through the wandering throngs of post-concert mania … and picked up Ceileidh and her friend … and drove back down to the southern part of the state.

It was a lovely night. It was very nice to see my friends, and also very nice to reacquaint myself with the beauty that is Providence.