Saturday 30 November 2013

A snugly night in.....

We had one of those lovely evenings last night that you dream of when you think of Winter. All in by 4pm, curtains closed, woolly slippers on, snugly layers wrapping us up....we lit the fire, actually Small Boy lit the fire. He may be only six, but he's learnt a lot and as the man of the house takes good care of us girlie's (well, when he's not beating us or yelling abuse our way!!). So we all sat there cosied up in the sitting room and we were busy....busy little bunnies working away on our own projects yet at the same time chatting away about lovely things. The Little Lady sat sewing at the machine, taking it in turns with Miss P, they were creating dolly quilts one minute then little drawer string bags the next, I had my own sewing project on hand, (quite busy now :-)) and Small Boy created a whole army of vehicles with his Lego. Nobody was fighting or bickering and the whole room was filled with a gentle loving hum.........I smiled to myself secretly, 'this is what's life is all about'. Sitting with those whom you love most in the world sharing stories in a cosy warm atmosphere.
I didn't have much of a will to leave such homegrown loveliness to make the dinner, nor to take the Little Lady to Brownies, nor to go out and dance....so we decided that we'd do none of those things. I did of course feed the little darlings.....a simple baked potato is perfect for those occasions when no effort is required and I can virtually guarantee that the Small's won't turn there noses up and echo in unison 'Yuck!!! We're not eating that'!! All round winner really and the smell of baking potatoes as it wafts into the room is arrrr, mmmmmmm....simply divine :-)


Small Boy felt a little peckish whilst waiting and proceeded to roast us all some chestnuts on the shovel. The fireside shovel works quite well as a mini hot plate. You just give the little darlings a little prick with the knife, pop them on the shovel and rest them on a glowing area of hot embers. They take about 6 or 7 minutes to cook (with a quick turn in the middle). Best to leave them to cool for a few minutes before attempting to peel them as they do retain their heat and 'ouchy oooh', burnt fingers is no laughing matter! As with most things these days Small Boy hatched out a plan and  had on-hand a cup of cold water to cool the chestnuts after cooking to enable peeling to take place almost immediately. (I'm really relying on this chap to support me in old age although fear that the vast majority of his plans involve hunting poor innocent animals - no bunny hunting mentioned last night though :-)).



All of my adult life I have been lucky enough to live in houses with open fires or wood burning stoves. So many happy times are spent by the hearth playing games, snuggling up and chatting and simply being there watching the flickering flames licking round the logs.
The fire is such an important part of us human folk, think of it as the soul of our being. I was reading a section of a book recently that I have been reading for several years. It's one of many that form a pile next to my bed. I like to tuck into the pages from the comfort of the underside of my duvet and absorb myself in its contents. One night recently I was reading a chapter of 'Women who run with the wolves'. I had read most of the chapter without realising it and without taking in any of the contents, when suddenly the words '40 year old woman' jumped from the text at me, at which point I began to pay attention. It was talking about me. Do you ever get that when something is on your mind and you happen upon something that suddenly snaps you into existence and brings you to attention? Well on this occasion the reference seemed to apply to me. It was a stark wake up call that told me that I, as a sweet, caring, giving, loving person was giving all to everyone else and they as a result are zapping me and stopping me from getting to the fire.......now that revelation had me pondering for hours, in fact it's been a couple of weeks now. It's tough to change when you are the sort of person who always puts the needs of others first, but sometimes it is important to take note of your own needs and make quite certain that they are being met, after all, a good fire needs stoking sometimes and it's not always those that are closest to it that notice that it's dying down.

*Note to self noted ;-)

Small Boy testing the melting point of chocolate (out of date chocolate may I add, destined for mouse bait...although clearly not this time!)


Walking the wolf (the genetic make up of a dog is 99% the same as a wolf....check out the shadow!!)


 
Have a lovely weekend xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

2 comments:

  1. Oh Bless! What a lovely post! I am not usually a winter person but your post made me smile and wish the fire was crackling and sipping hot chocolate! Thanks for sharing!

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  2. A lovely post and that wolf shadow picture is brilliant!

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