Tuesday, March 9, 2010

After the fire

Over the weekend there was a huge bush fire on the hill next to the house. The hill is bare land (bush, grass and some trees) and, being dry season, everything was brown and incendiary. Suspicion is that some people living on the fringe were burning a fire in their garden (not wise during dry season) and a spark from their fire set off the blaze. There was a lot of wind that day and the tall flames were advancing quickly toward the house. Luckily there was water in the taps and, with three hoses, we managed to keep the flames at bay. It was my first and hopefully last experience of "fighting fire". Scary at first, but (once we had it under control) exciting and even beautiful to watch and listen to the flames.

By the time the fire engine arrived about an hour later, most of the fire was out.

When it was all over and I was going to turn off the hose, I looked down at my feet and saw the heart-shaped stone in the above image. For a long while after, even when I took it back inside with me, it was still hot. It has been sitting with me ever since - and every time I hold it, it feels like it's more than just "a rock" ... or, more precisely, more than just a piece of concrete with small stones embedded in it.

What powers do you possess, Fire Heart?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I'm so glad you and your house and animals are okay. Wow, that was a close one.