woodnotwood
Friday, January 20, 2006
Thoughts of Home
Today I walked the streets, cobble-stoned and cracked from years of horse-drawn carriages and heavy trucks. These were not the streets of my life today, but the streets of my memories. The austere facades and gothic edifices of New England as I remember them. I carry them with me now like mental snapshots in the photoalbum of my soul. These are the streets where I still live in my heart. Where my imagination took flight and time ceased to exist between the past and present.
Needless to say, this is the birthplace of my passion for the sea.
A passion that will be with me always.
THOMAS POINT SHOAL LIGHT
Location: Chesapeake Bay just north of the mouth of the South River, south of Annapolis, MD
Date Built: Original shore light – 1825, Re-built shore light – 1840, Current screw-pile – 1875
Type of Structure: Hexagonal screw-pile
Height: 43 feet above mean high water
Characteristics: Flashing white
Foghorn: Yes
Appropriation: $35,000
Range: 11 miles
Status: Standing and Active
Outside it is bitingly cold.
The wind is actually whistling through the loose moldings around the windows and making the curtains move and dance. I wrapped up in my blanket and layed around a bit, watching movies and enjoying my day off. Not much left to clean up around here. Some dishes need doing but they will wait. The fireplace is burning bright and I cannot help but let myself be drawn into the flickering red and yellow flames. It makes me home sick as always. The longing never seems to leave me these days.
In watching this fire I find myself longing once more for the warmth of our old fireplace. Woodburning fireplaces are a must to actually warm the room. Gas is nice, but I love the smell of a wood fire.
This is the time of year that my father and I enjoyed to spend time together. We both enjoyed dancing stupidly to Neil Diamond and Abba songs. One thing I learned from my dad was that different types of wood give off different smells when you burn them. I know that's obvious to an adult but not to a kid. I was totally enthralled as my father brought home different types of wood and burned them. We would stand outside in the dark backyard smelling the scent as the smoke rose from the chimney. Before long the entire neighborhood would take on the smell of our special wood for that night.
Ash and cedar are two of my favorite woods to burn for smell, but nothing can beat the fruit trees for giving the house a holiday smell. My father burned pear and apple during the holidays and I would smell it all the way from the path I took to and from school. That wood smell, along with the baking my mother always did during the holidays gave our house a special aroma, comparable only to the smell of my grandparent's house. Tonight I may head out to search out some nicer wood and throw some pumpkin bread in the oven.
That is as close as I can get to cobblestone and burning apple branches tonight.
It might be enough to stave off the homesickness for one more night.
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