The Campfire

[WomanofSteel]

Why thank you Marie, you are too kind. Oh the breeze feels lovely. I think i feel myself relaxing already. Ahhhhhhhhh!

[Believe51]

Me too, but I think I should wait to sleep while I am not near flames! I think the birds that are chirping are not helping to keep me out of a trance. Haha>>Believe51

[Believe51]

I have cleaned up the campsite and replenished our stock. Fire has been burning long and hard. I threw my almond shells in the flames and they burned such a pretty color. I also threw all of my stress and fears to burn away.

I lay here unable to sleep so I meditate looking up at the clear night sky. I think how spectacular my relationships are, how beautiful nature is and yearn for gathering my own time to be able to experience more. I try not to think of why this is all happening to Ed and I, the reason does not matter. This is happening and we have accepted it without its reason for this is our life now. However, it is perfect Zen times like this that I get a little sad and right before I start to get overwhelmed and cry, I thank God for this moment and beg him for more.

I throw this message into the fire. Burn baby, burn. I throw the same message from you into it too. I pray for us all and whisper goodnight in all of your ears. As my son used to say to me as I tucked him in each night, "See you in the morning when the sun comes up." This phrase has since then become a special thought I whisper nightly and tonight it is to you all.>>Believe51

[ElaineM]

Thanks for cleaning up Marie. It is so beautiful and peaceful here, so we want to keep it that way.
We should take turns cleaning up and making sure the fire is going for everyone who needs it.
Here is a big thermos of pina colada smoothie for everyone.

[WomanofSteel]

I think it is time to have some virgin pina coladas and some shrimp kebobs roasted over our lovely fire. I think the Olive Garden near me makes the best coladas. I will have to find out their secret. Then, I will lie down in that lovely orange hammock that Marie offered me and listen to my 24 cd Stephen King book.

[Believe51]

My secret is in the coconut milk. Oh....and those Stephen King cd's, ah....would you share them with me. I mean, I do not want to bring anything up but after all, I kept the hammock warm for return from chemo #1. Hey, leverage is leverage....(laughing like a fool right now)>>Believe51

[StephN]

OK - who is tossing the pistacio nut shells around??

Marie had this place all tidied up. This is not a baseball dugout!

Shells go in the fire, please.

I know the nuts are good with the Pina Coladas.

[Believe51]

Thanks Steph, I know I am a neat freak and I did not want to say anything. I think Brenda put them there so she could hear anything sneaking up on us. She tends to protect us like that. Bill has been awefully quiet, leads me to believe he is helping you to clean.

I am listening to the quiet. Normal people are sleeping right now. I am taking the third shift here tonight just to enjoy that peace and quiet.

I am amazed at how much comfort we find here. I will be making breakfast in the morning and you are not going to believe the fresh fruit I found. Rather sweet for this time of year.>>Believe51

[WomanofSteel]

MMMMMMMMMM fresh fruit sounds yummy. Of course I will share my cds with you Marie. I am rereading (listening) to the Talisman. After that I have Black House and a Patricia Cornwell book. I am also watching season 1 of the Pretender. My I have a lot going on here!

[freyja]

Hey, just found an amazing swimming hole in the river nearby, anyone up for a dip...skinny or otherwise?

[Believe51]

With such a beautiful place we reside I would not doubt that it had hot and cold water springs. Would that not be the best? When I lived in the Pocono Mountains we lived right near a crystal clear private lake with hot and cold water springs. I remember walking there and picking fresh berries for our adventure. On the way home I would pick up my mail and gather herbs for my dinner that grew on my property. If we think about it we could plant those same berries and herbs for our campsite. Oh the possibilities.......>>Believe51

[ElaineM]

Your home in the Poconos sounds wonderful. I wonder if there are any wild berries around here?
Maybe I can bring some of my herbs from my garden for you guys after they grow a little more.

[Believe51]

Oh Elaine, I could see every star in the sky at night. Our property was huge and the walk to the mailbox was a daily workout. My daily ritual was the mail, gathering berries, wild fruit and herbs on the way home. I had my own catering business so I got spoiled at home. Closest people were a mile away, ah yeah! Every day it was a new and healthy meal and the fun of it all makes me homesick. The ocean is my home and I had to come back but I do miss the mountains, I love the cold. (Shhh, people will take my temperature if this gets out!)If I close my eyes I can smell the trees, the moisture in the air, the snap that it held. Wait, I am in the woods, therefore explaining my senses!! (lol) Better get to the hammock, looks like I need some slumber. Tomorrow is treatment and afterwards when Ed is relaxing I will come to our site and get the soil ready. Maybe Bill has some spare fish we can plant in the ground to help them on their way. Ohhhhh Bill....>>Believe51

[Bill]

Marie, sorry I've been quiet lately. I accidentally gave myself food poisoning on Easter Sunday and then wound up with a series of illnesses since then. I've been thinking of y'all alot, but this past week I've been struggling with pneumonia, but I'm getting better day by day. My wrestling coach (an amazing Samoan and an awesome fisherman) would place a fish-head in the ground wherever he planted something. He always had the best garden. I am gearing up to fish the Sound soon. I will bring plenty of fish to our campfire!

[ElaineM]

I dropped by to relax in my brand new hamock with a nice glass of iced green tea. Humm. It seems nobody has been tending the campfire. I cleaned it up a bit before I started relaxing, but I think it needs a big spring cleaning before we begin having summer picnics around here.

[Believe51]

Hey thanks Pal, we would appreciate a nice garden with fresh organic foods. Sorry you have been under the weather lately. Sounds like you got your hands full so no rush with the fish. Thinking about you, Bill and hoping for a speedy recovery. I have given up my hammock for you tonight, please take a load off and relax. Lots of Love.>>Believe51

[ElaineM]

Sorry to hear you were "under the weather" Bill. I hope you are feeling much better and ready to challenge the world again.
I think I remember one of my grandfathers planting fish heads in his garden. He was a part time fisherman, a part time farmer and a part time something else, so I guess he found a useful way to multi task way back then. The fisheads enrich the soil.
How about making a smaller second garden next to our camp. Then we would have food right next to the campfire and not far from your lake (water source).
Maybe you would even give us a lesson or two in practical gardening to get us started if you get to eat some of the results. Smile. There might have to be rules about quiet times or areas for sleeping, praying, meditating and other quiet activities.

[Jackie07]

Life rekindled

by Fred Afflerbach | Business Writer
Published: May 18, 2009

Telegram staff writer Fred Afflerbach spent a recent week on vacation mesmerized by a campfire. Fred Afflerbach/Telegram

At a routine checkup following a weekend camping trip, our family doctor must have wondered how, at about age 7, I had singed my eyelashes. The campfire, I explained, got too close.

Four decades later, transfixed by orange coals and yellow, flaming tongues, I cross my legs on a stump, and put pencil to paper.

In a world where immediacy threatens our tranquility, a campfire provides an opportunity to pause and reflect. It soothes the nerves better than any sedative packaged in a pill, fermented and bottled, or rolled in paper for inhalation.

A campfire is relaxing because it stirs all five senses.

Like a breakfast cereal, dry oak branches snap, crackle and sometimes pop. And with a steady south breeze fanning the flames, a campfire sounds like a flag fluttering in the wind, or sheets flapping on a clothesline.

A campfire is a visual treat. Comparable to watching clouds on a breezy day, logs morph into arches, bridges, fire-breathing dragons or serpents. At my boyhood campfires, my brothers and I gazed into pockets where coals throbbed like they were breathing. We called them boiler rooms.

Campfires warm more than just the heart. On cold nights, I’ve stood before a campfire and rotated my body like a rotisserie chicken. Campfires heat only one side at a time.

Although you can’t directly taste a campfire, grilling pork chops, sausage or hamburgers over campfire coals brings out flavor no stove can equal. My father, Charley, and Uncle Raymond masterfully shoveled campfire coals under an adjacent grill suspended by cinder blocks. The trick - extract the embers without having to rebuild the campfire. At night, they nestled orange-red coals around a cast iron pot simmering with beef stew.

You can smell campfire smoke wafting across a pasture, fence, road. Take a slow breath - aromatherapy. Here in Central Texas, mesquite emits both a sweet, yet pungent odor and a live oak campfire smells like a scene from a Western novel.

I’ve learned to appreciate a modest campfire. Here’s a maxim from a fellow campfire lover: The white man builds a big campfire and stands back. The red man makes a small campfire and gets close.

Sitting by a campfire, I’ve enjoyed friendly discussion about politics, religion and family history, but never heard harsh words. Like Knights of the Round Table, all voices are equal around a campfire.

Ninety-nine years ago, a Vermont couple founded the first nonsectarian girls organization in the United States. They called it Campfire Girls because “campfires were the origin of communities.”

That communal spirit is evident today in the Southwest. For back porch fire gazing, we’ve adopted large, outdoor clay pots with a wide mouth and open top, called chimeneas.

President Franklin Roosevelt took the campfire spirit indoors. Aiming to inspire Americans during the Great Depression, his radio broadcasts were dubbed fireside chats.

With a long drought here in Central Texas, county officials have implemented burn bans that have doused my campfire plans for almost a year. Finally, spring showers turned the land green.

So, here in Mills County, I drop another log on a low campfire and recall why I purchased this small ranch, top-dressed with prickly pear cactus and a limestone outcropping. I’m not a hunter, rancher, nor farmer. For me, it’s all about the campfire.

Campfire tranquility glows inside us all. We just need an occasional spark to rekindle the flames. Singed eyelashes are optional.


Editor’s note: Before lighting a campfire, check with your county officials about a burn ban.

[ElaineM]

Very nice !!

[Believe51]

Yeah, I liked it too, thanks. Where's Flori?? I want some marshmallows now.>>Believe51