Dancing flames rise into the night. The sting of smoke is smothered and sucked into that dark expanse. Stars peek out from a mist of lace that spreads across the bottomless ceiling. The snow-covered ground reflects the light of a million suns that have come and gone in liquid notes of coral and gold. Coal black ashes rimmed in bright ruby stir to rise and die a hissing death on frozen planes.
A gust of wind feeds a bloom of incandescence that sends our shadows swimming across the ground to drown in white crested drifts as the blaze fades. Bowering pines grumble under the weight of cold and creak and strain as needle-clad arms seek light and warmth.
The sweet smell of burning wood rises and spreads through the fields and down to the road. Wherever it travels it takes a key to countless memories that wait only on serendipity and happenstance to open hearts and minds closed by distance and time.
The Milos-Ivanski Studio 
hmmm, has GaKatsoup\’s son been visiting your place too? That firebug sure does get around.
LikeLike
I love the smell of a hardwood fire. Brings back some very fond memories! My parents heat with wood still! Snow is melting, rain is falling! Hopefully my back will get better before i have to shovell again!See ya, Poopdeck
LikeLike
My basement smells like a hardwood fire all the time . I grew up in a house with a fireplace, woodstove and wood furnace\\ boiler. @ Poopdeck : Shovel + Poopdeck =
LikeLike
I miss it…I livei the wrong place for the smell of hardwood burning. The only time we smell it here in the sub tropical rainforest is when someone\’s house is on fire….thanks for the memories anyway
LikeLike
Your writing is so beautiful, LD – adn I loved the comment "sink into the earth and blow away into the wind" – although I am paraphrasing it right now — lovely lovely thought.
LikeLike
i want a fireplace so badly, i\’m considering building one in the middle of the floor. or just making one out of a metal trashcan.
LikeLike
@Brenda (j.d.j)No Jon has not been by (I compost my leaves anyway).Unlike Gakatsoup I don\’t need a permit to burn so it\’s a Firestarter field day around here on any given hour. We\’re pyromania central! ;P@PappyMy mom used to heat with wood as well. I still have splinters from spending the summer piling up cords of wood in the shed. (boo hoo ;D)@ToadWell your basement could certainly smell worse than that. You could probably make a boatload of cash by converting all your shavings into seasonally scented potpourri. =)@CherylI do love the smell as well (couldn\’t you tell?). You live in such a beautiful place but it is sad that you had to leave some good memories behind.@Kathryn I knew you\’d understand what I meant! =)@AmyI know exactly what you mean. Nothing beats a "real" fire in a real fire place. It\’s a better show than any network any night.
LikeLike
I can almost hear the birch logs cackle…(I had a fire this weekend, eventhough it wasn\’t that cold, just so my son and I could roast marshmallows and make s\’mores).
LikeLike
@ToadWell your basement could certainly smell worse than that. You could probably make a boatload of cash by converting all your shavings into seasonally scented potpourri. =)hmmm.. $$$ = Christmas toys for my kids or perhaps a new plaything for Toad … hmm. I usually burn them and it is not a sin to burn wood , I burn all my explosions .
LikeLike
I would like to open a law firm and call it "Serendipity and Happenstance." I\’d make a mint, wouldn\’t I?Lovely. Again.Thanks.
LikeLike
Hi! I just posted my newest blog. It is sort of a guessing game. Drop by and see if you can pick out the truths!
LikeLike
@IndigololYou can make s\’mores in the microwave…. but I personally think they always taste better with the char that only comes from being burnt over an open fire.@ToadWell at least none of it is going to waste…new toy for Toad eh??? I think the Reaner needs a new garlic press. ;)@KayYou\’d be a millionaire. =)@PappyI\’ll be right over.
LikeLike