A relaxing day in Bristol — very nice. J went off early to a work meeting in Southeast Mass; Pres, Dusty and I started the day with a run on the local high school track. Dusty is speedy! Pres ran with me for the first (relatively slow) two miles, then joined Dusty for the last mile (or more, since they were running faster). When we went back to the cottage for our showers, Dusty and I hopped in the water. Very rocky, but nice water temperature for a quick swim.

Went to the Beehive for breakfast (cinnamon roll for Dusty, egg sandwich for Pres, red pepper/cherry tomato quiche for me) & enjoyed sitting out on the upper deck. Had a view of the water and the boats in the harbor.

After a search for a loaf of bread in Bristol (more complicated than it should’ve been), we returned to the cottage. Then we lounged. That was pleasant — I read (finished “Everything Matters” and went on to a pile of old New York Times Science sections); Dusty and Pres did mysterious things on their computers. We sat on the porch for a good long time, interrupted only by a random man throwing rocks on the beach.

When mid-afternoon rolled around, Dusty and I decided to drive to Newport to play in the waves. We went to Easton’s Beach, also known as First Beach, just down the hill from the end of the Cliff Walk. We enjoyed body surfing and jumping around in the water. We did not enjoy quite as much the tiny clumps of red seaweed that floated everywhere and embedded themselves all over our hair and bathing suits. J joined us on the beach, and we all hung out for a while before driving back to Bristol.

Stopped at the ice cream shop again (peppermint for me, of course; Dusty had a vanilla cabinet) on the way back to the cottage. Sat on the porch for another hour or so — this porch (I’m typing on it now, with only the sound of the gentle waves in the background) is such a great place to relax.

Went to a late dinner at Persimmon. Wow. This was amazing food, creatively crafted and artfully presented. We were all in awe of what we had to eat. My favorite was a slow-cooked native egg with charred scallion leaves, baby mushrooms, sliced speck and a light ham broth. Pres had a fabulous corn soup with beautiful potatoes (scooped with a tiny melon baller!), corn pudding, and black truffle vinaigrette. J ordered warm oysters in a seaweed salad with ginger oil, and the salad was incredible. She also had a succotash with corn that tasted almost like meat that had been grilled. Dusty loved his duck. Dessert was lovely, too: lychee sorbet palette cleaners all-round, then a quartet of yummies for Dusty (passion fruit sorbet, caramel ice cream, cherry ice cream, and coconut sorbet), berries in an elegant almond pastry-ish cream for J, and frozen lemon mousse for me. Yum yum yum!!! Can’t wait to go back — it was the perfect last-night dinner.

No photos today … lots of relaxing instead.