chiminea

It’s in the Air

Posted by Barbara Techel
It's in the Air.
photo credit: Mary Kohls Blanke

How does nature do it? This subtle shift that begins to take place with the changing of seasons.

The light dances early in the morning in my Zen writing cottage with a different rhythm than earlier this summer. It almost looks as if it is a soft ripple of a wave cascading over my hardwood floor. I want to swim in its magic!

This photo above I saw on Facebook this morning, by one of my favorite local photographers Mary, and it made me catch my breath. Another indication that we are moving ever-so-gently toward autumn.

Fall…my most favorite time of the year! I truly wish there was a place on earth that was fall all year-long. Ah, but as I write this, it would likely take away the magic and the anticipation -two things I’m not willing to sacrifice.

Autumnal season…It conjures up in me the most delightful feeling – one I find hard to express in words – because fall is all about emotion for me.

I find myself wanting to listen to piano music. I want to declutter and organize and am thrilled to say my walk-in closet, plus jewelry and make-up has been freed of its staleness and the letting go of what no longer sparked joy. Many clothes and shoes I have tired of are headed to St. Vincent De Paul this week…to be loved by another. I wish them well.

I want to immerse myself in nature more with walks. My heart melts into a welcome slowing down around our chiminea as the geese have returned and begun their nightly honking and fly-overs.

This summer has been much about letting go for me and a time of embracing new possibilities. Opening and expanding which isn’t always easy work, but serving as a beautiful response in how I feel about my life.

And just like nature, we must allow our lives to flow without trying to control it, knowing that each season brings with it just what we need.

It’s in the air…and I welcome it all.

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When the Bottom Falls Out. Big Mouth to the Rescue.

Posted by Barbara Techel

When the Bottom Falls Out. Big Mouth to the Rescue.

When the snow on the deck melted a few weeks ago John and I were sad to realize our chiminea had, well, for a lack of better words — it’s bottom had fallen out.

We knew it was coming as it was beginning to show wear, cracks, and chunks flaking off the last two years. We are actually surprised it made it this long. But we looked for two years to find a replacement and couldn’t find one. To think of not having one someday was more than losing the chiminea.

If that chiminea could talk, oh the stories it could have told! Many hours around that fire we spent, hanging out on the deck each year.

Which almost didn’t come to be!  I remember when my mom donated the chiminea to us and John didn’t think we needed it. And how it sat in the garage for two years. Until one year John had this brilliant idea!  “Wouldn’t it be grand to put on the deck and enjoy,” he said?

I held my tongue which wasn’t easy. But I didn’t want to jinx what I knew what would be a good thing and was relieved he had finally come to his senses.

The flames of the fire in that clay pot helped us speak our truth, provided laughter when needed, and opened channels of great discussion.

Seeing the bottom laying in a heap on the deck meant no more fire. But I began with earnest to find one as close to what we had as possible.

And I was so happy to have finally found one!  It’s coming from North Carolina by freight and we can hardly wait to welcome it to our deck….just in time with longer days and spring around the corner.

But it will first have to take a solemn oath that whatever happens around the chiminea stays around the chiminea!

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