Sunday, June 15, 2014

Kicking off the Summer!

www.waterfire.org

We're ready for summer and started it off by heading down to Providence RI for the waterfire. For those of you not familiar with this, cauldrons are lit along the Providence River for a night. Music is piped in and gondolas slide by silently. It is quite a mysterious and haunting experience.

We arrived before dusk and already people were strolling along the water or just sitting enjoying the late afternoon sunshine and warmth. The volunteers, who are all dressed in black and restock the cauldrons during the course of the evening, were at that time still in the process of setting up the wood in each one. A few of us spectators were voyeurs to a couple being serenaded under a bridge by their gondolier. Great acoustics and great voice!  We headed over to the Union Station Brewery for a sampling of their beer and a leisurely meal with trivia thanks to a Heinz ketchup bottle. Who knew!  The beer selection was small but interesting. Their brown IPA was confusing-- think stout-ish with a hoppy finish. The summer IPA was just right for this kick off to summer. Afterwards, we joined in with the strollers. I waxed fanciful about sparks from the flames until Adelaide told me to stop because I was being too poetic. Is there a compliment in there somewhere??  The rest of the night we soaked in the ambience--the courtyard filled with luminaries, the unnervingly still and sometimes scary looking street statues, and of course--the draw of the flames.

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