TRY TO IMAGINE it is Saturday afternoon rather than 24 hours later...which shouldn't be too difficult, as the weather is pretty much identical today--cool, breezy, sunny--extra crisp autumn, you might say. Since there is no rain to be feared, it is all systems go for the bonfire. Preparations are now being made in earnest (as opposed to lackadaisically the day before.)

Chairs are dragged from the storage shed...


What you might call the most essential ingredient--the wood-- is stacked at the ready. (Although arguably the most necessary element could also be the people, since we pretty much don't want to have a bonfire without people in attendance).




And, moving ahead a few hours, here they are...the people...!


And, yipee...lots of food arrives with the people...our well-rounded meal is supplemented with all kinds of less-round but more-appealing foods (to me, at least) such as two kinds of soup, deviled eggs, roasted potatoes, veggie chips, pasta salad, roasted corn-on-the-cob, and all kinds of stuff for the sweet-toothed.



The lower dropped the sun, the brighter burned the fire...

...which was fortunate, since it was getting downright cold in the meadow.



It didn't seem to take long for the evening to get to that grope-for-the-food stage. Luckily, we had two oil lamps to spread some light on the edibles.



And, of course, situated beside the fire one had both light and heat, a great combination when you think about it, especially when you're looking at a bratwurst on the end of a stick.






After a long time of roasting and lots of eating, most bellies were fuller than the beautiful harvest moon that had risen (sorry, no lunar photo...you'll have to trust me it was orange and large, but on the wane). That's when the fire was in its prime, and we relished the third course--- jokes and funny stories (mind you, most of them so oft-repeated that we laughed for the sheer pleasure of laughing...easy to do when you're encircling a bonfire.)




In the end, if the fire reaches that mesmerizing stage that it did last night...piles of white hot embers and showers of sparks when tossing on the final logs... before anyone bestirs one's self to head for home...and in spite of the cold night air on their backs, and the lateness of the hour, all are reluctant to leave...then you know your bonfire has been a success.


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