Last week we spent the day on a friend's property working on his woodpile. Woodpile of fallen trees. Or six. Lots of elbow grease, two hydraulic splitters, many bad jokes, a big pot of chili and a skillet of cornbread when we were done.
As far as I know, there's a universal love for fires in our lives. The candle, campfire, woodstove, fireplace. Our home has a big old fireplace with a cast iron arm that swings out over the fire (meant primarily for coal fires) called a "fireplace crane" from which you can hang a casserole pot to cook. Pretty cool and I'm looking to try it. At work we have a wood stove that does an amazying job heating the house. And then my mom, at 88, living in her little condo even purchased an electric heater that looks like a woodstove. No matter where you go, folks long for the element most missing from our lives: fire. We are blessed with plenty of the other three: air, earth, water. This holiday season I am thinking, when there is a fire buring in the home it's like the heart. It holds the passion and inspires the emotion.
Hard work and busy hands infuse our daily lives with so much more than a bundle or a bunch or a bag obtained by merely opening one's pocketbook. The wood, the produce, the food, the sweater or socks secretly vibrate with all that life should be when it is recieved from loving hands.
Wishing you all that we all really need: love, warmth and a full belly. May we all count our blessings!
Hestia could be your alternative name http://www.theoi.com/Ouranios/Hestia.html
...why did that not occur to me earlier?
Thanks for always bringing warmth to the space.
Posted by: naomi dagen bloom | December 02, 2011 at 10:18 PM
Naomi, I'll have to study her a bit! xo
Posted by: marianne | December 04, 2011 at 09:17 PM
LOVE a warm fire and we use our wood stove daily. It is one of the best things about winters in the mountains. That and my ever improving soup skills.
Posted by: Vickie | December 26, 2011 at 08:43 PM