10/30/08

sparks

Bonfire season! The only thing better than smelling wood smoke on my clothes is smelling it on someone's skin. Fire consumes and reduces what feeds it, but when we feed on the flames our souls grow and swell.

Remember that fall that Tyggyr rented a room at Charles Mansion, and we congregated in the backyard to build fires and play baseball with beer bottles and flaming toilet paper rolls? And Jon threw a used up can of spray paint in the fire - twenty minutes later, we'd forgotten it was waiting there and it finally blew up with a bang and we all yelled and jumped back, but no one got hurt.

Remember when Shane built a rickety cardboard shack in back of Deb's work, a straggling affair of boxes with towers and crawlspaces? And we shot it full of bb holes, mostly while he danced around trying to keep it upright, and then lit it up and let the sparks singe the leaves above us.

Remember that New Years Day when my neighbors and I all drifted, hangovers in full effect, out to the little fire circle we hide downtown? And we all brought out what little food and booze leftover from the nights' party and shared it around while the fire crackled and Rob made a bellows out of a pizza box and a garbage bag. And someone dragged in a Christmas tree off the side of the street, and we stood it upright in the middle of the flames and created a 15 foot column of fire for just long enough to blow our minds.

Tomorrow night, I've got high hopes for a conflagration and a crowd of friends. Happy Halloween, everybody. Happy cold weather. Happy bonfire season.

12 comments:

Ms. Moon said...

Oh. That was pure loveliness. I hope tomorrow night is too.

honeyluna said...

Nice blog writing. Oh, and I do love the smell of fire on my clothes the next day after a fire. It's like a sweet reminder of all the nice memories of dancing flames and whatever else the night brought with it.

Hope you had a great bonfire night last night. I think we need to have one at the Lloyd house. What say you, Mama?

Verdant Earl said...

Weird...it's November 1st and it's in the mid 60's up here in NY. We are making bbq and actually sweating outside today. Weird.

Ms. Moon said...

I imagine we'll be having a fire soon enough, Ms. HL. I need to go collect some more fallen limbs, which there are always plenty of, as you know.

May said...

Remember when we blew up the soda can in the fire? And the time S was all "Hey guys! Look how I can make fireballs with the aerosol bug spray!" And the time that coal burned all the way through your flipflop to your foot?
But fires at the Fives... Best times.

That Hank said...

Jess: we should have had one last night!

BE: See, that's chilly for us, during the day.

May: Of course I remember all that. Because it was awesome.

honeyluna said...

Man, we should have had us a bonfire, but last night was pretty damn awesome anyway. I also like it to be a little more cold for a bonfire, because to be around one is really freaking hot.

That Hank said...

No lie about that. I doubt I'll have any Fives fires this year - my new neighbor has a brand new baby and they probably don't want a bunch of noise and light outside their window.

May said...

I want to pet the baby.

That Hank said...

If you hang out at my place, I'll bet you get the chance.

Anonymous said...

I remember the time that aerosol can blew up! I brought Jason to that party when we first started dating, he still tells people about the delayed explosion. Fire is so fun.

That Hank said...

I forgot y'all were there!