October nights

October nights in Alabama are chilly. Last night we had a fire in the fireplace - our first since last spring - and the three youngest children parked themselves on the hearth and stayed there for about two hours. From time to time they'd cry plaintively, "Mom! The fire's gettin' low!" and I'd go in and stir it up and adjust the firewood to coax a brighter flame out of it. We burned some pecan wood Steve cut back in the spring and it sang and whistled and hummed companionably as we enjoyed the sight and smell of the first fire of autumn. (Sam decided he needed to wear the earmuffs Kelli gave Marley. Four-year-olds are afforded that kind of latitude.)