The BONFIRE thread!

[Sarah]

I have been itching to do this since I discovered Tom's love of bonfires... I was happy to discover this however with it being summer here I could only gaze at his pictures of flames and glee with jealousy and long for the cooler months to come.

Well our nights are getting cooler and I am getting exited. I do not know when the bonfire fun starts and ends in various corners of the world but if nobody objects I am starting this thread to show off our bonfires.

Remember safety first don't get TOO exited I don't want anyone getting hurt. I am sorry to those not fortunate enough to live where you can pile mountains of wood and 'rehearse for hell' but you could always go camping or post pictures of your fireplace, or you can vote for who has the best bonfire!

I start making my piles this week and I will post some pictures of my progress if you like leading up to the big night. There are many properties around here with people going mad burning their prunings from summer and it will all begin soon. I saw some rippers last year so this year I will take my camera when I go for my walks and out for drives and get some shots of the best ones. Tom if you get a chance to drop in now and then I hope you enjoy this

[Who dat?]

I've always loved a good fire. When I was young and living on the West coast in Northern Cali (Eureka) we used to go out to Samoa beach and pile up huge bunches of driftwood and torch them. We always imagined that they could be seen in Japan!
Sarah, I would like to see the pictures when you get the fires burning.
Tom, I'm sure we'd all love to see your fires even more so. You have been practicing for a while now so I'm saying it's time to put on a show (if I may be so bold). I'd love to see the grin on your face when you're surrounded by the fingers of hell. Ooo, that brings a good character to mind, I'd bet you'd make a great Beelzebub.

[Sarah]

I will not be able to let my fires get too high unfortunately because I am not on a cleared block. We have to be carefull because we have thousands of very tall gum trees. The lowest branches are a good 20 - 30m above and so and I am probably quite tame compared to my ex neighbours who made enormous fires right in the scrub. I always kept a hose on hand. One night they got drunk and passed out next to the fire which got a bit out of control. We were having 'issues' they were ex city people not used to roosters of which I have a few. So things were tense and it was 3am and I was standing looking, hose in hand (it's a fire hose, well almost a fire hose it's for a bush block) they are passed out around this insane fire... and I turned the hose on, aimed it and ran lol. It was on a timer... I watched out the window (I am such a wuss) they woke up soaked and the fire was on it's way out. It was a priceless moment, I suppose they thought it was raining.

[Mouser]

Ooh, a fire is a hypnotic thing.

The crackle, the flickering flame, the smell, I love it all.

We have a gas fireplace, it is like having plastic flowers.

I could sit in front of a real fire for hours, especially if it is cold outside. the only thing to make it better is a kitty in my lap.

We need a bonfire night here in the US.

[Sarah]

We used to have them here when I was a kid. It was officially fire cracker night. We had bonfires and fireworks. But too many people did silly things like blowing their hands off and they banned it. But in rural areas you can still have bonfires at certain times of year or with a permit, so long as you are sensible about it. I am making a dedicated fire pit this year for when friends come over with logs around it and a grill. A day on the bay fishing and a cold night round the fire grilling our catch!

[Gold Usher]

I've been tempted to have a bonfire in the little fireplace ---it's been brrrrrr around here. But I really don't trust the fake firebrick panels to handle it. We used to burn off the smaller limbs and branches from pine trees we cut in our yard back in Scarborough (that's how I messed my back up--pulling a huge piece out of a pile by the driveway to haul to the fire in the turnaround space). But here there's restrictions on open burning because it's been so dry these past years here in Florida. I do smell the smoke from wildfires now and then in the area. Once even had to drive though one on Interstate-75 before the road closed.

So I will have to stick to looking at Tom's descriptions of his....
Might tempt me to get a bag of marshmallows....

[Sarah]

You can be there in spirit

[Mouser]

Oh! S'Mores!

That is another excellent reason for a real fire. Even just the toasted marshmallows. An awesome replacement for the graham crackers and Hershey bars are fudge stripe cookies. Ooh yum!

[madgoth]

I have little bonfires in my portable fire pit in the back yard. I get rid of all the tree twigs and such, and I love the smell of the lichens burning. It smells musky and woodsy and wonderful!

Once at 12th night we had a huge bonfire of all the discarded Christmas trees we could find. Some of them were so dry that they burnt to a crisp in seconds. POOF! gone! It was sort of scary thinking that it might have been in one's house.

[Moderator]

Bonfires warm you and S'mores make tummies happy. BTW the following is to be enjoyed!

HOW GIRLS MAKE S'MORES -- (1) Break graham cracker in half. (2) Place 4 squares of Hershey bar on graham cracker half. (3) Toast marshmallows golden brown. (4) Place toasted marshmallows on Hershey bars to melt chocolate. (5) Top with other half of graham cracker, and eat gingerly.

HOW BOYS MAKE S'MORES --
(1) Eat Hershey bars. (2) Burn marshmallows black. (3) Eat marshmallows. (4) Throw graham crackers and gooey marshmallow leftovers at girls.

Best,
Dirk