...and there goes the Christmas tree, which we left up a little longer than usual this year. I'd normally make some remarks about a long, cold and joyless winter ahead; but lately it's been more like March than January. Daffodils are up, and the frogs are singing by night. I feel like I ought to be able to jump on the motorcycle and take off for wherever with tent and Bowie knife, as the blood suggests in the springtime.
We often used to burn our Christmas tree in the backyard (now we throw it into the pond), and the speed with which it went "whoosh" made me forever incapable of leaving the house even for a moment with the Christmas lights still on the tree, especially if I was leaving the dogs in the house.
ReplyDeleteI managed, through superhuman self-discipline and help from my taller half, to get my tree down and out the door and the ornaments all back in their boxes, into the special closet behind the bookcase, and the bookcase reassembled in front of it, all in less than 24 hours. (No need to hold your applause.)
I have the same impulse regarding the tree. I usually burn it atop the beds I intend to plant the next spring, as a sort of fertility ritual. Watching it race skyward in a plume of oily smoke always makes me think of how narrowly we've missed a disaster in keeping it up so long inside.
ReplyDeleteWhen we lived in Las Cruces, we bought live trees and then replanted them outside after the season.
ReplyDeleteWe had much the same annual ritual, though in the fall, with tumbleweeds. Those things burn hot and fast. I always stood by with a garden hose and sprayed the air above the fire to suppress the sparks.
Eric Hines
Ours is still up. Well after Epiphany every year.
ReplyDeleteOld dry Christmas tree's are at their best placed in standing position in a bed of deep coals, so the entire tree ignites simultaneously.
ReplyDelete- about your longings for the bike- is this not the time of year to be dreaming of the longboats and a glorious rush over the North Sea to invade warmer climes? Sewn oak planks, pattern welded steel and a lodestone!
I believe it was Hagar the Horrible who said: "When the cold wind blows from the North, the true Viking hears the call of adventure."
ReplyDelete"And where is adventure calling us?" asked Lucky Eddie.
Hagar shouted: "South! To sunny Italy!"