When the first snow fall of 2012 arrived over the weekend, we seemed to so naturally seek out the varied ways of creating comfort and the feeling of warmth. With it being a weekend ~ the first thing that came to mind was starting the day on the couch, with a warm blanket and a cup of coffee, to take in the splendour of everything in our view that was covered in it’s own blanket of white.
Baking and cooking comfort food also comes to the fore front of my mind on days like these – ummm, ribs ended up simmering in the oven all afternoon, sending wafts of garlicky aromas over to us on the couch ~ as the morning coziness extended into the afternoon, in between getting some work around the house accomplished!
I was raised to think that preparation for these cold days of our winter season actually should start the year before, when we add to our woodpiles…. The splitting and stacking of firewood is a joyful experience to me, primal preparedness I suppose, but it fills me with feelings of well being and satisfaction. Like all is right with the world when we have a ready supply of wood for winter. It is rather silly in a sense because we don’t rely on wood for heat, we have a heat pump and our hydro is very reliable here on Vancouver Island.
Added to all of this is my love of seeing anybody else’s wood piles too! My collection of wood pile photos continues to grow, let me show you a few that I have taken …..
As you can see, wood piles are as varied as the people who pile them – there is no absolute right way and as you will see in the next shot, some people have more time and imagination than others! This shot was taken by someone else (I would have loved to have actually seen this one) ~ it is on Hornby Island where art is found in many mediums!
I love the next one as well ~ a completely different level of wood pile design….
Now how comforting would that be to someone who loves wood piles!?
You are right, Linda. Carefully stacked wood always looks and smells so nice. And when we go to set our bonfire in the spring, we are so glad that we bought and stacked the wood the spring before. It’s wonderful to get back to Qualicum Beach and find dry wood under our deck. I do miss the smell of burning wood like we get back home. The wood down here gives a totally different smell that’s not nearly as nice.
I hear it’s going to snow for a bit back home so enjoy curling up in front of the fire.
You are right on the smell of firewood being so nice too – there is just something wonderful about it. We did receive more snow, about 10 inches here I would say and we are curled up in front of the fire! I brought in a few more pieces of firewood from the wood shed and it felt so good doing that – the simple pleasures!