Fred and I went to East Side Restaurant in Newport for dinner tonight.  Fred thought after I'd suffered through the weekend handicapped by the stopped-up sink, I deserved a night out.  We enjoy the East Side although most times we've been there it's been very crowded.  Tonight it wasn't too bad, but still pretty busy.  
The top picture is of the lake from the parking lot.  There was no activity on the water, and the town seemed pretty quiet - probably because it was Tuesday night and it was raining.  We were able to be on the porch overlooking the water, (next picture) which is very nice.  It's very pleasant there, and the food is good - we especially enjoy the salad bar.  Fred says it's like having two meals instead of just one.  He had lots of salad and then chicken and biscuits, which is a favorite there. 

It rained hard all the way up.  I was driving - somehow that seems to be the norm when we go there - driving up in the rain.  By the time we left the restaurant, the rain had stopped, but the sky was not clear and there was a lot of patchy fog. We took the pictures below on the way up, in the rain - the farm on the right was on Route 14, north of East Hardwick.  The one below was taken just before we got into Glover, I think.  The tree was beautiful, even in the rain.


They are working on the long bridge in Newport, but we didn't go that way, so didn't get any pictures.  I'm not sure what the detour would be to get into the city with the bridge out, but there were lots of signs as we came down the hill from the interstate.

 Newport seems to have a lot going on.  We took the road that goes out towards Derby Line when we left Newport.  That was so we could get a frozen yogurt and coffee at McDonalds for the drive home.  

We're getting more rain tomorrow, and then a promise of colder weather.  It has stayed in the 60 degree range today and even tonight is still about 56.  If things get dried out a bit this weekend, I hope to get some of my garden planted.  It's early, but I think it will be ok to put in some of the cold season things.  I hope we don't get a hard cold snap.  The fruit trees are just blossoming, and a freeze would be deadly for them.  

I'm waiting to see if my three small ornamentals will bloom.  So far I haven't seen a single bud on them - ever.  They are getting to be good sized trees - 5-6 ft. tall, and I would think they'd blossom.  Perhaps I've done something wrong.  I'll try to find out.  The two old ornamentals - and I mean nearly 50 years old because they were planted here by my parents in the early 60's - are loaded with blossoms each year.  One is light pink and one is a deep pink - they are lovely when in bloom.  The crab apple is already pretty much in full bloom, so may be losing petals by the time the others are fully out.  Sometimes all four apple trees are in bloom at the same time, and the scent is out of this world.  I have high hopes.  This rain and some sunshine later should do the trick.  Then we keep our fingers crossed we don't get a hard frost to spoil everything.