Technically, Labor Day itself is the last day of Labor Day weekend, but the Sunday before is the last "I don't have to go to work tomorrow" day for most people. It's basically a second Saturday.
Walking the dogs on Sunday afternoon, I was able to take part in the second Saturday of Labor Day weekend. It was a mostly-overcast day in the 70s, pretty much ideal for dog-walking. All the debris from Hurricane Irene had been cleared away, and everybody was out having a good time. Walking down Thames Street, we could hear the sound of the Newport Waterfront Irish Festival going on at the Newport Yachting Center. The festival was responsible for the bumper-to-bumper traffic that turned America's Cup Avenue into a parking lot (something that always gives me a schadenfreude lift when I'm on foot).
In front of the Newport Bay Club, the dogs and I ran into Ariel, a girl who hands out buy-one-get-one-free coupons for the Jewelry Boutique there. Ariel has fallen in love with the basenjis, and we always stop and say hello to her so she can hug and pet them. She hasn't quite managed to convince them to give her kisses, but she's working on it.
We don't usually walk all the way down to King Park, but today we did, and we found a Beatles cover band called Abbey Rhode giving a concert there. The dogs and I wandered through the crowd while listening to covers of "Honey Don't", "Nowhere Man", and "I'm Only Sleeping" among others.
Coming back down Thames Street, I was astonished to run into another basenji, a red-and-white boy named Sasha. Sadly, Sasha did not get along with other dogs, so Louis and Klea weren't able to say proper hellos to him.
The day's musical theme continued on the Long Wharf Mall, where we found a woman performing a solo violin with a recorded accompaniment. The music followed us all the way up Washington Square.
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