Experimenting with Fire

One of our friends threw a graduation party for their son. Jim built a huge bonfire out back and was ready to start after sundown. They live right by a lake so the kids went out knee-boarding from a jet-ski. Great fun.

Us old folks sat around the table telling old tales of what it was like when we were young. One of the adults in her 60s said that she had to milk a cow BEFORE she went to school. After school she had to pick vegetables out on the farm, then she had to clean the barn, and then help her grandmother sew a huge quilt hung from the house rafters. She worked until 9:00 p.m. and then went to bed. She started it all over again the next day. I couldn't top that one. No one could. We sat around in silent empathy.

Jim owns a tractor that he's overturned several times going up and down his hilly property. He towed a huge grill behind it and pulled up beside the bonfire.

When the sun went down and after dinner I started experimenting with long exposures of the bonfire.

By the time the fire got going, I couldn't get within 20 feet of the roaring furnace. I was afraid I'd melt the camera if I got any closer.

There's something mesmerizing about a fire. We all sat around and contemplated life while reflections of the flames danced in our eyes.

I saw some activity up by the house and found some desert. I finished off the cheese cake and washed it down with espresso.

...dave
'Where there is no wood, the fire goes out.' -Bible proverb