Playing with Fire

By S.Californian standards our current weather is just glacial.  We  have been putting on the heaters and piling on the blankets and dragging out the sweaters.  (On Xmas Eve I finally got to wear my find of a Norwegian sweater to church for the evening Xmas service...)

And - ugh -  I have the start of a cold, which I am trying to squelch - Gargling with hot salt water for a scratch throat.  So that precludes going up into the snow TODAY.

I have been enjoying taking out our stock of candles.  Hubby unearthed a silver candelabra I had picked up as a potential prop at a yard sale - and it was perfect on the Xmas table for the hand-dipped red tapers I had found at the thrift shop.  They do burn nicely and I started them early to burn off the slight drooping on top, which had made them bargains to begin with. Then, of course, no one could tell.  And the candelabra looked so fancy with the great heirloom china plates and my Grandmother's silverplate (which somehow came out of the silver bags relatively free from tarnish - which I don't get, as the last time I looked at them, I recall they were on the black side - ??).

I have been grouping candles around the house - first for mini-"altars" to remind me to send good thoughts to an ill friend across the country...but they do generate heat, too.

As I have said before, I am fascinated by those candle heaters - and I have just rigged up an aluminum pie plate via a ceramic angel's wings against a brass lamp over a grouping of pillar candles - and it is heating up.  And I put another tin behind a candle I have in a wrought iron holder - which is also radiating a bit of heat. (I am being very careful - none of these items is hot enough to be dangerous, I don't think - but I am watching them!) And all of the pillar candles are on glass plates which also catch the wax. And since matches seem to be in short supply - I am relighting the candles with old toothpicks!

Actually, I just turned off the heater!

What is it about playing with fire?  a primitive instinct - just make sure if there are kiddies about that they don't get into it!  We are all adults here, and no pets - so no problem.

It is like tending a group of little fires and as close to a fireplace as I will get in my little Hollywood apartment.  By the end of the year and this season of light, I bet I will have burned all the candles on hand right up and will have to stock some more....

Trouble is that I have  made our living room area enough like a ski lodge that I am quite happy to sit here in my comfy chair and read and listen to music.  But haven't you noticed that the Xmas TV  fare has run to the macabre?  Either sugary kid's stuff or famous murders - are they all cynics or what?

It's hubby that's antsy - but he's off to the music store to spend the gift card he got unexpectedly - Oh, did I say that I WON a Macy's gift card from one of my bargain fashion sites? Hasn't come yet - but hope to get something now that post-Xmas prices have been slashed....

So I am very grateful for all - and content - incipient cold or no...

0 Comments

Let's All Relax a Bit.

Enjoying the calm between Xmas and New Year's...