It's been a Winter Spare the Air day practically every day over the past few weeks... and definitely every day that I have Ryan home. Once it got super cold (the coldest it's been in this area for years, I hear), and optimal for a nice toasty fire, we were ironically not allowed to actually use the fireplace. As of today we've had 10 Spare the Air days in a row... it broke the consecutive-days record at 5 in a row last week.
This is incredibly frustrating for a lot of reasons that I shouldn't go into because I will rant for several paragraphs. The most important reason is that fire has always felt pretty spiritual to me, and it sets the tone for the winter holidays. Now that there's a fire goddess in my life, it IS spiritual. I just want a freaking fire in the fireplace while I am relaxing at home with my husband and enjoying the season.
And so, I must find creative alternatives.
I removed the bulb from my salt lamp and replaced it with a flickering one that mimics a candle. All the paper links I remove from the chain go into the fireplace, and the salt lamp is nestled amongst them. When you turn it on, the light glows and flickers warmly, and the curls of paper could possibly be branches. A space heater adds to the effect... as does a giant pile of make-believe.
Complete desperation.
There are also flickering fake candles about the house... but I definitely need more! My asthma can't really handle real candles 24/7, but the warm glow makes my spirit happy, so I'm thankful for the technology.
The paper chain is symbolic of the last of my ties to the university. Part of the plan is to burn it on the night of December 21st, which is my first day of "retirement" and also Yule Eve. Here's hoping the air quality is better by then!
No comments:
Post a Comment