It’s supposed to stay cold today and we’re expecting freezing rain tonight, maybe ice-coated trees and powerlines overnight. What’s so toasty about that?

Well, this, that’s what:

Yeah, baby! Our own pet fire! We used to have a raised hearth, which #4 daughter called “the smokeys” because we forgot to open the damper once and everybody was complaining about how smokey it was. Then that same #4 daughter, in an attempt to make us stop watching Yojimbo and play with her, ran through the room, fell upon the edge of the raised hearth, and hurt her head. Long story short about THAT incident. So Charlie tore the raised hearth out.

Now we stand on the floor-level hearth and enjoy basking in the warmth. When our front sides get sufficiently toasty, we turn around and toast our other sides.

#4 daughter’s late cat, Al, used to curl up on the tiles whenever we had a fire; we put the screen up to make sure no sparks popped out onto his fur. Now we keep it there to make sure no sparks pop out onto OUR fur. That toasty, who wants to be? Miss Havisham ain’t anybody here’s name.

A WRITING PROMPT FOR YOU: What kind of fire does your main character enjoy?

MA