Fire at Night~

It’s the best of times and the worst of times…isn’t that the way it goes?  Since we’ve cut back on expenses at home, we’ve taken up pastimes like gardening and board games again.

What a transition to go from American Idol to Pictionary with three teens in the house!  It does my heart so much good just to see them laughing and conversing, rather than being bent over their cell phones and telling their brother or sister to ‘shut up’…or ‘just go away’!  This was too common when we both (parents) had jobs and the kids had all the toys and gizmos they thought they had to have.

I’ve gotten in the habit of keeping a fire in the fireplace most days since I sold the coffee shop.  It’s just so inviting…what a way to welcome the family in .  What an incentive to spend time together at home where jokes and board games and conversation are allowed to flow freely. 

It seems that next to the crackle and warmth of a fire minds come together and hearts find an uncommon bond…taking new comfort in hearth and home.  Not always so with the television on.   The kids enjoy taking part in planning our garden projects, playing board games and engaging in fireside chats–surprisingly, they don’t seem to really miss the television one bit.  In fact, so far, no one’s complaining!  That is amazing.

One of our projects right now is to refurbish the old sauna building next to the vegetable garden and build a fire pit beside it with benches where we can congregate with family and friends in the long summer evenings.  The fire pit and sauna will see just as much use in winter, as it’s customary (and very restorative) to sit outside on a cold, starlit night –even better if it’s snowing– after a hot steamy sauna.  I am motivated to get an early start so we’ll be using it this summer.  There’s a lot of digging involved as everything here seems to be buried under 18″ of grass and weeds.

But with everybody motivated I am confident that it’ll get done.  In fact, with so much to look forward to I think we may need a few more shovels!