Fuel for the Fire

Wood heat can't be beat, as far as I'm concerned.

I grew up on the farm and the wood stove was our only source of heat. My dad loved chopping wood and stoking the fire. We had more trouble being too hot than being too cold. The stove makes a natural place where we all still gravitate on a winter's day. My mom cooked chili and ham and beans on the stove, simmering all day to reach a delicious aroma. The wood stove warmed us inside and out!

My little wood stove - the candle adds a cozy scent.

When I first purchased my home, I was quite leary of the gas furnace. Those things are dangerous - they can explode! A serviceman assured me the late-model unit was one of the safest things on the market. The furnace does have its advantages - it fires up automatically on a cold morning and no chainsaw required.

But it produces only a surface kind of heat compared to the deep-in-your-bones heat of a wood stove. A couple years ago, I purchased my own "wood stove." Just an electric heater with a fake flame, but it warms up the room.

Recently, I snuggled up in front of the fire (with my best reading buddy) to read the fabulous book Lincoln's Battle With God. As I read - on my Kindle Fire, no less - about Lincoln sitting by the fireplace late at night after finishing his chores to read and pursue his studies, it seemed like a connection.

A warm fire is good for the mind and the soul - even if it is just an electric one.

 What have you been reading in front of the fire - figuratively or literally - this cold winter?

Keep warm!

Susan Mires