contentLater, driving to Mats' and Annelott's home for the yearly Walpurgis Eve bonfire celebration, we came over the crest of a hill and started a descent into a gentle, sloping valley. Ahead of us, off to the right, was an obviously artificial forest, the trees tall and all exactly of the same height, set in a large square. The trunks rose straight and pale through a squared-off glowing, diaphanous cloud of neon-green baby beech leaves. It looked like something out of Middle-Earth. Or one of Eyvind Earle's paintings. I couldn't get over the unearthly, glowing leaf-mist.
I missed the bonfire last year because my choir always sings in outdoor concerts around Malmö on Walpurgis Eve. It's a spring tradition, to sing in the greening. It was the first time I had missed the bonfire at Mats' and Annelott's since we moved to Sweden. Last night, it was a wind-still chilly evening. Perfect, with the proper clothes,* for sitting around a freshly-dug firepit heaped with dry logs, crackling merrily. There is something so soothing about sitting and staring into a fire. It's so easy to get lost in the melting, shifting shadow-embers. Grilling hotdogs to eat along with potato salad, deviled eggs and potato chips rounded out the experience to a nicety. The kids disappeared within seconds of our arrival, let loose on several acres including groves, a creek, a dog, an overturned boat, and a humongous trampoline. We saw them only fleetingly until it was time to pack up in the starry-cold late night and drive home.
Really Great Writing Out There Right Now: Mosaic Minds Relativity Issue, especially a knock-me-down-wow feature story titled My Glamorous Mother...and introducing our new Forum!
More Really Great Writing Out There Right Now: NoMex 05
*I can't believe I said that.
