the fire pit.....

ok, so....last father's day i bought my husband a copper fire pit- the kind that is a copper bowl of sorts that is held up by a 4-legged castiron ring. The fire can be contained somewhat by a castiron mesh handled lid....the whole contraption looked really neat at the store.....but as these gifts go.....we were experiencing a drought and a no-burn rule came along soon after the gift was given...and so the gift has languished unassembled in the garage for all these months.....i did decide yesterday that i could figure out how to assemble something so simple.....and after i placed it on the terrace by the lilypond.....i had no choice but to drag out the chairs and table that occupy this space seasonally....and while i was in the mood i dragged out a few more chairs that allow a tired gardener to sit and contemplate the majesty of carefully cultivated nature....but i digress from the firepit.....i gathered together quite a pile of sticks and small logs...and not only built a respectable un-lit stack inside the pit, but a reasonable stack beside it for backup....and after dark i made my way out there armed with newspaper, matches, and a glass of wine.....i managed a lovely fire after only a single match, and sat back to enjoy the peaceful surroundings, the stars.....and waited for my family to join me.....but the youngest was distracted by network television....and my spouse was mowing my mother's yard on the riding mower that had headlights.....and so by the time i had gone through both the first stack and the backup sticks....and the fire had burned down to embers.....i opted to dip my empty wine glass in the pond, put out the remaining coals....and go back into the house.....only to find that the deck door was locked....so i ambled around front...to find that the front door was locked as well...seemed my spouse had walked in the kitchen after mowing and looked out toward the terrace ....after i had put out the fire, and had figured that if i wasn't there that i had gone to bed.....how funny......next time we will coordinate our fire for a non-mowing evening.....