Newport, Rhode Island

It's the coldest day of the winter thus far, and I'm barricaded in my apartment with a stack of magazines and Netflix. Christmas is two weeks away, but as usual I find myself craving the sea and the sand and the smell of steak over Kingsford coals.


It's days like this that I most miss Newport, R.I., this past summer's home away from home.

I visited three times this past summer, once each month, and on every trip I fell a little more in love.

My dashing host took me exploring on a rocky coast in neighboring Jamestown. The canary sandals, so cute en route, looked so ridiculous while climbing the cliff wall. (On my tootsies is OPI's "Cajun Shrimp".)

This pinwheel woody was a sweet bit of kitsch on an otherwise austere Coggeshall Avenue. Its wheels turn when the wind blows.

For Fourth of July weekend my dear friend Melinda joined me for my last-minute Rhody rendezvous. On Independence Day Eve we got gussied up fancy for a night on the wharf.

I wore one of my all-time favorite dresses, a "little" Lilly shift by the doyenne of classic Wasp couture, Lilly Pulitzer. It's a girl's size 16, perfect for grown-up ladies with lanky frames (if they are very careful to not bend over at inopportune moments). Pulitzer discontinued this size a couple years ago but you can still find sixteens on eBay.

We drank Dark 'n Stormies at the Mooring while picking out our dream boats. Newporters are all about the D 'n S so next time you find yourself on Thames Street, be sure you mix it the right way:

1. Gosling's Black Seal rum

2. Barritts ginger beer

3. Ice

And nothing else. Learn more about this venerable summer brew born in Bermuda and beloved by sailors the world over here.


P.S. On my fingernails is the oh-so-fresh-with-a-tan "Just Groovy" by OPI.

On the morning of the Fourth we walked off all that rum on the Cliff Walk and Newport's famed Bellevue Avenue. I wore a Liberty print, of course.

Of all the homes on Narragansett Bay, this white manse is my favorite. You can see it on the hill overlooking Bailey's Beach. Who wants to move in with me? 

Clever (and prescient) license plates always grab my attention. I saw this stroke of genius on Ocean Drive.

We took that plate's advice at our afternoon BBQ. No cook-out is completely without Corona and Cape Cod chips.

And bocce ball, which I was not allowed to play after nearly decapitating several party guests with my rogue Frisbee tosses.

In Newport, as I frequently say, "semper erit aestas." It will always be summer. Even now, in my chilly Midtown apartment, on the first freezing night of the winter.

As a writer and a romantic I am often prone to melodramatic overtures, but I speak very plainly and honestly when I say that Newport is my favorite place on earth. I will live there some day.