I've Built a Fire That I Must Tend

When your inner flame grows dim

Bonfire Celebrating Midsummer Night, Nikolai Astrup, 1912

I learned something about tending a fire this year. In September my family drove all the way to Maine with two negative Covid tests in hand and spent two weeks camping up the coast. Every scene was breathtaking. But much to our beloved dog Herbie’s dismay, the weather was closer to freezing than a…