La Leña

It's odd, I think, how autumn has sneaked up on me. It seems like it was just hot and humid and sunny (like it was for the better part of this past summer), and now today I received my annual delivery of firewood (not to mention that it is cool and damp outside). Four cords, that's how much I get every year. I know to some (who heat with wood) this doesn't seem like a lot, but it is to me. It's enough to carry me through the fall, winter, and spring months, and still have a little left over. I just have a small wood stove that is an auxiliary heat source, not my main heat source. But when to weather is cool or slightly cold--not frigged--it is enough to heat most of the house, as it is tonight. The wood stove is strategically placed next to my office space in the front of the house and is currently blazing away. It's bitter-sweet in a way. While I love the change of seasons I lament the loss of summer (and another season gone by...the passing of time). The picture above shows the wood after it was just dumped off the truck...in the very spot where I grow my front yard garden. Normally I have my teen-aged son help me haul it down our narrow alleyway to the backyard and and stack it, but today he had school (I usually have it delivered on a weekend)...lucky him. When he was leaving for school I asked him if he was glad that he didn't have to haul and stack this year; his answer..."um, yes."

Urban Simplicity.