at the fire.

that's where we were.
i got myself a splitting axe.
it's like a lot like a regular axe,
but with a wider, heavier, more brutal mini-wedge forged off of either side of it.
it looks pretty vicious,
and it doled out some devastating damage to some too-big logs.
now they're just the right size.
i used up the kindling kicking up some combustion to light up the night.
i used to make arts and crafts an' that,
now i make firecraft an artform.
literal hotness,
figurative hottness.
just the cure for what ails you.
that's just one more good thing about improving the old bustedness;
scrap wood is never wasted in the woodsly goodness.
bits of bamboo floor, subfloor, trim, the old deck, all of it.
purged in the pyre as a sacrificial sacrement of epic northern barbarism.
we stayed out until the rain chased us away.
check out this preposterous R2-D2 rubbish-bin postbox bobotronic stove!!
i don't even know what to do with it,
or where to put it.
seriously.
i've got four woodstoves, now.
yeah, i know.
my secret hoarder mentality is hard at work here.
you'd think i grew up in the great depression.
anyway,
now i have this weirdie-box.
and it burns coal, too.
anthracite, b!tches.
i'm sure santa will bring me a whole batch of it this year,
so it's sure to be a warm new year's eve at least.
c'mon.
talk about a real honest-to-goodness proper english furnace.
if only i could wake up with a permanent cockney accent.
that'd be rad.

i think my hand looks smarter and more sophisticated with a pipe.

what?

yeah,

it's the season for reppin' rockwell and tolkein and detective holmes.

nothing goes better with woodsmoke than pipesmoke.

FACT.

the weather is wet and cold,

but we're warm and dry.

we've got wood, and tea, and toast, and work to do.

i've even got a fully-filled docket of doo-doo butter to dispense at the 'zappery,

and after that it'll be time to try and locate some wild things, perhaps.

this Folk Life ghost of a larger life, ya'll,

is absolutely the right size for this day.

spanning time,

one minute, one hour, one day.

every day;

never quiet, never soft.....