Sunday 24 February 2013

a fireside chat


Lady by a Fireplace
George Goodwin Kilburne


1.
It snowed yesterday.
Grey sky. Snow flurries.
I am so over snow.
It should be Spring...
make it happen.

2.
On the bright side
a snow day is a sofa day.

3.
At the moment my mantlepiece
has some particularly lovely flowers,
a surprise delivery from MrM.
Lime green chrysanthemums,
smoky pink roses and
fabulous Stargazer lilies.

4.
Yesterday was the anniversary
of the first day we met
and we ate in our favourite restaurant.
Afterwards we had coffee by the fire
and chatted to the young cocktail waiter
who told us that my margarita
was the first one he had ever made.
I see more margaritas in his future.

5.
On a snow day I wish
that we had a real fire.
The rest of the year
I don't think about it
but on a snow day
a fern in a brass cache pot
doesn't quite cut it.

6.
Norwegian television has just shown
"Hel Ved" Strong Firewood
12 hours of flickering flames
with music and poetry.
Perhaps I should get it on DVD.

7.
Did I ever mention the year
when MasterM insisted on watching
the World Wood-Chopping Championships?
No? It must have slipped my mind.

8.
I miss lovely Eurolush
and her obsession with woodpiles.

9.
When we win big
with our Premium Bonds
I am going to demand
an Elizabethan manor house
with an enormous fireplace.

10.
We will also have a forest
to supply logs for the fire
and a woodcutter or two.

11.
If we had a real fire
we could toast crumpets
with our toasting forks.
Do we have toasting forks?
Of course!
Doesn't everyone?

12.
I have cast on another blanket
for the next Baby Geographer.
Can I knit it in 20 weeks?
It's a challenge.
More snow days required.

11 comments:

  1. Whenever I long for a log fire, I'm reminded by husband of the time the chimney caught fire when I was at home by myself. We've got a lovely toasting fork!

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  2. When you next feel the need fir a real fire, come up to us. You can help us stack the logs, chop the kindling and shovel out the ash. I am particularly good at swearing when it won't light, and setting fire to newspapers that I hold in front of the fireplace to increase the draw of air and to encourage a slow fire to catch. I have been know to send small children screaming from the room in terror at my antics.

    Unfortunately it means you also have to put up with the ancient inadequate heating in the rest of the house. On cold days, we *need* our fire or we'd freeze. That said, I do love it and can't contemplate a house without one!

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  3. I really enjoyed that chat.

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  4. 1. It was over 30 again today, I am over it
    2. At least I can stay inside in the air-con
    3. I bought myself a bunch of sunflowers, they are bright and cheery but won't last long in this heat
    4. On Friday night I drank gin and tonics with an old friend in a nice hotel bar such a lovely evening
    5. We have a real fire but rarely get to use it (see 1) and the room gets quite smokey when we do
    6. and I thought australians tv was bad
    7. I love wood chopping competitions and make sure to watch some every year at the melbourne show. Send MasterM over.
    8. I miss so many people, one of the downsides of emigrating
    9. I am hoping to win tats lotto for the same reason but I never remember to buy a ticket
    10. Woodcutters are useful for sorting out badies if all those fairytales are to be believed
    11. My grandpa had 2 lovely brass toasting forks I wonder what happened to them
    12. I am crocheting a blanket, my first crochet project, it may take a while

    I love your blog, thanks for the chat today

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  5. Thank you for this lovely blog, its my first time to email, but I enjoy your chats very much.
    I have a real fire, enclosed tho and I have no toasting fork, but I hope to change this in the near future.
    Have a lovely day

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  6. I like Margaritas too.

    Happy anniversary.

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  7. You may not have a fire like the Kilburne lady, but at least you have actual artwork on your walls :)

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  8. We have a log burner and my husband also made a toasting fork at school (many years earlier than Sue's no doubt!). The fork was only hung up alongside the stove a couple of weeks ago.

    I laughed re the woodchopping championship because we went to the National Hedge Laying championships one year. We know how to "live" ;O)

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  9. Liz in Missouri (USA)February 25, 2013

    We had a snow day here this past week, also. Snow days equal knitting and old movies at my house. Alas though - no fire.

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  10. We've had the fire on so many days my dad had to purchase wood twice already, we're having a very cold, damp, wet winter.

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  11. Spring? in February??
    you English folk got it so easy!

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Thank you! I love reading your comments and even though I don't always have time to reply I am really grateful to every one who joins in the conversation.