Monday, February 04, 2008


THE WISHES OF HEAVEN


When there's a slow steady snow falling in large flakes through the cold still air and a full day-and-night supply of prime dried firewood stacked next to the stove, which is glowing gold with a well-stocked flame of oak and cherry and there's no point in shoveling off the deck anyway until the snow stops, and besides you've just had a big lunch of hot three-bean soup with toasted baguette and that mystery you put the bookmark in the day before yesterday is right at the point that makes a mystery worth reading - plus it takes place in winter - you'd have to be some kind of insane to wash the dishes, let alone do laundry right now, and thus fly in the face of the almighty, for there is no opposing the vectors, the many powerful vectors that point like the finger of god to the celestial aspects of arranging a few cushions in front of the stove and fulfilling the wishes of heaven, is there.

8 comments:

Chancy said...

This photo of your stove warms me and your words are a gift.

Thanks

Joy Des Jardins said...

I love your stove Bob....what a perfect place for all things winter. Where's the cocoa?

Anonymous said...

Hello, this is Peko down in Kyoto.

I just happened upon your site.

I love this post, you are a real writer.

I wish I could write as beautifully as you.

I wish I lived on a mountainside as well.

Peko@KyotoFoodie

samcandide said...

I love this; oh yes, you nailed it.

But this is a stock photo, right? Because no actual human uses a woodstove in a total absence of ashdust, bark shards, and charcoal bits ...
--sam

Pam said...

Heh. I had the same question as sam. I've never seen a woodstove surrounded by total impeccability. Then again, there is that high standard of Japanese household cleanliness to consider...

Robert Brady said...

Actually, this is a picture of god's woodstove. I have the same kind of stove, a Dutchwest Federal (large), though in winter mine is naturally less pristine than it would be in heaven, plus I need a tree trunk section for chopping and a firebox jaggedly full of kindling beside mine, since I have to build my fires from scratch, with a hand ax usually laying around somewhere as I have to cut my own kindling, and leather gloves for mortal hands, that get in the way of decent photos. Also, my stove tool handles are all plain down-to-earth wrought iron. I have an off-season picture somewhere deep in my many foto files that I could have taken the precious time to dig out right at that moment, but no way I was arguing with the finger of god. I had the cocoa later.

Mary Lou said...

LOLOLOL My Wood stove area is NOTHING like that neat. And I have a Black and Decker hand vac right there to suck up all the "spills".

Robert Brady said...

Watch out for those embers, Mary Lou...