I know, I know... I should have been alert and taken some photos, but I was too taken up with the job at hand last week, as my neighbor and all-around building-and-loan-pal Steve and a gathering of friends made a bonfire of Christmas trees, set off fireworks and drank booze to wave goodbye to the old year and welcome the new.
Fire + Explosives + Liquor. I try to set a good example.
It was just the kind of thing neighbors here in teh U.S. ought to do much more often through the year. It was cold as brass lingerie, but around the fire it was quite pleasant, and we all stayed out there talking and joking for hours, and I only saw one tech junkie who could not manage to keep away from his cell phone. He did carry a dandy silver flask, though, which improved my estimation of his overall character. I've been hunting around for a silver flask at flea markets and antique shops, but it has to be the right one, and I haven't found it yet.
I had it on my Christmas list, but buying a flask is almost too much responsibility for anyone but the individual him/herself. Very personal. And, as comic Jim Gaffigan says, giving a flask as a gift is like saying, "Yeah, you look like a drunk on the go."
It was a marvelous time, and one of those little events that ties together all the strands of life, spiritual, physical, emotional. A fully human experience.
Anyway, since I didn't get any photos... it was kinda like this;
... only sans the constant terror of gate-crashing Nazgul.
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