Shennen Bersani's Weblog

WaterFire - Breathtaking in its beauty

Last night Ryan and Lauren invited me and the girls down to spend the night and attend Providence's WaterFire.

I can only describe WaterFire with one word. Breathtaking.

The rain had stopped by noon and the weather couldn't have been better. We parked off of Hope St. and walked to downtown. Just outside of Brown are these fabulous streets and shops - totally reminiscent of Oak Bluffs, Marthas Vineyard on a warm summer night, hundreds of students from Brown and RISD lined the streets, smoking weed, drinking, just generally partying. We continued down College Hill to where thousands of adults were crowded about, music playing everywhere, venders selling food of all descriptions. Then there was the river and the fires. At every other turn there were street artists of all stripes, dancing, playing music, strutting their stuff. The sights, the sounds, the smells; WaterFire is an incredible feast for the senses! This is a Must See experience.

None of these photos have been retouched, their elegance and color comes raw from my camera. Click on the pics to enlarge them.

New 'do

The girls went back to school today, last night Kerrin donated her hair to Locks of Love. Her second donation in two years, she once again had a wonderful experience at the La Novita Salon in Randolph MA.

The last of the moves

The past few weeks I helped Ryan move, helped Karlene move into a temporary sublet of a sublet, and finally, yesterday I helped Karlene relocate to her new residence.

The last of the moves, it proved to be the most challenging in terms of parking and physical labor.

This street clearly was built during Paul Revere's lifetime, or earlier, when roads only had to be wide enough for horse passage. The alleys are still original cobblestone. The entire day was a backup of congestion and traffic jams. The locals sat outside on lawn chairs, drinking beers, watching the entertainment.

Karlene's room doesn't have a closet, so she found this Ikea wardrobe for sale on craig's list.

A delightful gal living in the South End was herself moving this weekend and the wardrobe wouldn't fit into her new place. She lived in the attic of this brownstone, four severe flights up.....

Karlene, my Mountaineer, and I went to pick it up - disassembled in two boxes, it was the worst, most heaviest thing I have ever moved! Pat, Karlene's boyfriend, had gone off to return the U Haul van - thank goodness he was back at the house when we returned! Surprisingly, Karlene still had strength to go on...

almost done...

done!

...as all four of my children get back into the groove of fall - it is time for me to meet my deadlines on a couple trade books and numerous educational illustrations.

I have three new books being released in 2008 -

Ocean Odyssey, A Zig Zag pop-up book
The Feeding Tree
My Sister, Alicia May

I'll update on these as the time draws near.