Fire

Time for a random musing…  Fire… it has turned into my TV.  It is one of the reasons I don’t mind paying for a campsite ( I don’t build fires when I’m stealth camping in a parking lot) ,  as long as there is a fire ring I’m great,  that’s really all I need from a campsite.  I pull out my foldable reclining chair (with footrest) and just watch the fire grow and turn into coals.  There is nothing like finishing out the day with a fire; its calming, soothing, warm,  and gives a great chance to have a glass of wine or beer or margarita and just reflect on the day. 

Some nights I cook over the fire too.  One of my new favorite meals (that I learned from a friendly couple at Mount Rainier)  Is to cut up potatoes, carrots, mushrooms, garlic, onions and bratwurst with a little olive oil, salt and I use herbs de Provence.  This is all put into a foil packet and placed on the grill over the fire.  Yum! 

The other thing I like to do over the coals is to occasionally roast marshmallows.  I have found these new giant ones, and have a roasting fork that rotates. When the coals get just right, I like the roast the marshmallow till it gets the perfect golden brown.  Then I pull the top caramelized “skin” off and eat it,  and then repeat 6 or 7 times until the whole marshmallow is gone.  Yum #2!

I mentioned the fire ring,  with all the smoke and wildfires I have seen, I think this is really important.  I don’t want to be the cause of any of these fires that cause so much devastation.  They also cause so much smoke and haze that is in so many of my pictures.  The smoke from the fires was so heavy that I didn’t even get to see Mount Hood,  when I was a the winery at the base of it… So please make sure your fires are always under control, and out at the end of the night.

One other thing that makes me smile at the end of the night is putting the fire out.  This is a time when I reflect on people we have lost in our lives.  It reminds me of my mother-in-law and how hard she laughed and enjoyed how we put out the fire at one of our family reunions in Kentucky.  We told my nephew that it was a right of manhood to put out the fire by peeing on it.  He could not believe we (and his mom)  would let him do this!  So... as a tribute to those we have loved and lost, this is how I make sure the fire is out each night,  hopefully it still makes their spirit smile!