The Campfire - Page 22

Bill · 05-08-2009, 07:55 PM

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!

Believe51 · 05-08-2009, 08:02 PM

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 · 05-09-2009, 03:20 PM

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 · 05-18-2009, 02:31 PM

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 · 05-18-2009, 08:32 PM

Very nice !!

Believe51 · 05-18-2009, 08:50 PM

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

Bill · 05-19-2009, 06:47 AM

Thanks, Jackie! That was really nice.

StephN · 05-21-2009, 11:18 AM

Maybe you will move the campfire closer to the water as Elaine suggested by then. I am going to a warmer climate in north/central Italy and am optimistically packing light!

However I am sure I will think of the campfire while inside those old cold stone museums and churches! Been trying to study Italian and refresh my art history knowledge ...

Will try to bring back some sort of goody to share with you all. Meantime - Watch what BILL eats!

ElaineM · 05-21-2009, 04:38 PM

Have a fantastic trip Steph !! We will miss you.
I am sure you will have many adventures to share with everyone after you return. We will look forward to the goody you will bring back.
Yes. It would be nice to move the campfire close to the water. That way we can take a refreshing dip in the water whenever we want and still be able to come back and warm up or dry off by the fire.

ElaineM · 06-06-2009, 08:58 PM

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.

freyja · 06-08-2009, 10:16 PM

Hey Bill...

da da da DA da DAAA...CHARD!!!!

StephN · 06-11-2009, 07:10 AM

Hi everyone -
I am back on Terra Firma after a three-legged plane trip yesterday.

Hey Freyja - do you mean "chard" as in "chardonnay" or "chard" as in the green leafy vegie?? Guess I have wine more on my mind than veggies. They do not eat that many veggies in Italy. But, no problem finding wine!

WomanofSteel · 06-11-2009, 08:36 AM

Steph, welcome back, you will have to fill us in on all of your adventures and post pics!

juanita · 06-11-2009, 12:39 PM

this is the fire dilly wanted to have while she was here.

Believe51 · 06-12-2009, 03:05 PM

This one is for you Dilly!! Make sure you visit Grandma alot, I know she will miss seeing you so much now that you have moved out. Give her big hugs when you see her and I know she will feel better. Here Sweet Cheeks, I will share my giant orange comforter with you so you can enjoy the fire with Grandma, start with those hugs now.>>Love Auntie Marie

Believe51 · 06-13-2009, 04:45 PM

Lots of fears and negative energy to toss into the fire tonight. Be gone you awful feelings, burn baby burn.

I will be tending the fire as I research over the evening so worry about nothing. I took snackies too>>Believe51

harrie · 06-14-2009, 10:28 PM

Marie, I will help you but all that rubbish. Will toss in more logs over it AND will light some fireworks around to get rid of any residual negativity! Hows that??!!

Believe51 · 06-15-2009, 09:01 AM

That is awesome, in fact, I would like to make you lunch. Just you and me staring in the face of fear and eating like it no longer exists. Would you mind making a toast to Joy with me?? I have lattes here which is her favorite drink but I took some blueberry and grape juice just the same. Not everyone is up to the 'hard stuff' (lol)>>Believe51

harrie · 06-15-2009, 09:51 AM

Oh yes Marie....for Joy too....great idea!

Believe51 · 06-16-2009, 09:50 PM

Harrie, I am glad we got to burn up those fears and negative energy. They would have been a heavy load to carry around with us at the doctors today. Spring has us all busy with the crazy weather but I am headed to clean some bush and start gathering wood so it will be cured somewhat for winter. Gotta start now because I know Bill is busy with his chard and cannot help. Hope he can come up with some creative recipes and keeps our bellies full.>>Believe51