wintry chill, and wood heat ramble!!!

 

I spent a while longer than usual this morning  kindling the fire, and contemplating the days to come. 

 A rather old picture taken of the first fire in our "new to Us" Jotul wood stove, 40-41 years ago.  It has appeared in a few posts in this blog over the years also.  I was once told there was the image of a"fire drake"  {1} caught  in the flames.  Perhaps  that is why I love this photo, or perhaps it is just  that it looks like warm feels.  My Hubby was wrapped up in wool blankets and sound asleep on the sofa, and I had drifted off into some pleasant dream of vivid sunsets, only to wake up and find myself in my favorite chair with a book still on my lap.  It did seem a bit chilly so, after a glass of icy cold water, right from the filtering reservoir  in the fridge, I strolled down the steps to rekindle the fire.  

The fire was little more than a pile of embers, and I set about coaxing it back into flame.  The cellar, was warm and as strange as it may seem, has always had a cozy, or homey feel.  In the center is a rectangular structure also made of rubble stone that I am told was once the base for a hearth.  This part of the house burned in the 1880's.  Local lore recalls has it that it was a boarding house, which is true.  Also that the woman who ran it died in the fire.   The story goes she is still here guarding her home, perhaps she is.  On days like this one  when I rekindle {2} the fire I think , more like wonder about her.   In fact I wonder about all sorts of things here surrounded by history and the warmth of the fire.   Sitting on a homemade bench, with my thoughts and boundless curiosity.  I wonder about what was uppermost in the minds of the women who have lived in this house and kindled  the fires in the variety of heaths and stoves that were used to heat this home.  Did they also sit and wait until the fire was  burning bright and strong?  Did  they get up and do other  work, like sweeping or checking on dinner? Perhaps they read,  or mended socks, even daydreamed , wrote letters, postcards??  I will never know.

I would like to think they sat and enjoyed the warmth, sometime held their  youngest children, told them stories, sang to them to sleep.   Spent  some peaceful time with their thoughts and dreams.  Again I will never know.  One thing I feel sure of thought is that it gave them a chance to pause and rest, While waiting for the fire to be going strong enough to stay alight. 

Rekindling the fire,the ability to build a fire using tinder and  embers is a challenge. Historically it's a necessary skill.  A skill that could mean the difference between life and death. and it is a very good time for random thinking and time traveling , flights of imagination, and a dash of solitude. 

Winter's beautiful white blanket of snow wraps me in it's coldness and stillness.    Seems to me that winter has made it's self at home much faster this year than it did  in past years, fitting as it is arriving late.  Today is the first snow!!! barely an inch deep, but I couldn't resist walking in it barefoot.  Why do I do that?  I don't know!   Felt pretty good it did,

Quietly for now,waiting for the earth to wake up, reading seed catalogs, cleaning and sorting and getting things ready to donate, recycle or trash, just seems like a good thing to do.  A time of transition begins here.   Not unlike kindling a fire, winter requires patience.

 

 

Re means "again," and kindle means "start a fire," probably from the Old Norse kynda, "to light a fire." Rekindle has been used in the figurative sense from around 1300. Definitions of rekindle. verb

1. In Germanic mythology, a fire drake is a dragon that breathes fire and has a reptilian body and sometimes wings. The word "firedrake" comes from the Old English fȳrdraca, which is a combination of fȳr (fire) and draca (dragon).  ~~~~Google

 

2. Rekindle  "again," and kindle means "start a fire," probably from the Old Norse kynda, "to light a fire." Rekindle has been used in the figurative sense from around 1300. Definitions of rekindle. verb