A day of small firsts

Last night we had our first fire of the season.  It promised to be a very cold night, and we'd set a fire in our slow-combustion stove a few days prior in anticipation.  I also wanted to spark up the first while we were both here, just in case there was a flue issue.  Beyond an initial back wash of smoke from the cold pipes and firebox, it went fine.  There really is nothing quite like it.  Burning wood for warmth is a sacred act.

In the mornings, unless it's raining, we go outside to our little garden sitting area and enjoy the start of the day.  For so many years I was a nocturnal type, but now I love the earliest bits as the sun does its hello land thing.  This morning we saw the first of the season's balloon flights.  We have a couple of hot-air ballooning companies here in our valley (the header of this blog is a shot over our valley, taken a few months ago), and they take off only a couple of kilometres from our house. Generally, we are pretty much right under the flight path.  It's a fantastic sight (and sound), these ponderous yet entirely graceful globes of light sailing free across the sky in the bright early mornings.  It's a really friendly thing.

When we fiorst moved here, I was outside early on my own with coffee in hand and heard this bizarre, loud whoosh/roar noise somewhere to the North.  There it is again!  What the?  My thoughts were along the lines of a seriously malfunctioning hot-water heater next door (theirs is a gas one) when suddenly, over the trees and only a few hundred feet up.....there she sailed.  Felt like a child again, instantly.  Wonderous stuff.

To top it off, I just saw a shed levitating.  Not something one sees every day, yes?  I walked out the back, preparing to donate some of my precious urea salts and moisture to a deserving patch of mulch, when movement caught my eye to the right.  There, two yards up (which we can see now since their tree butchery) was a 3m x 3m aluminium shed, levitating along the fence line at about 5 feet off the ground.  It was some seconds before I also saw the heads of those carrying it.

Today I had back spasms very early and took a pill.  For a moment there I was wondering about side effects.

Oh, and Collingwood comprehensively towelled up the hapless Essendon side in today's now-traditional ANZAC Day match at the G.  Not a first, but a great thing, this is.  I shall refrain from going on, but I think this picture of our big fella Josh Fraser (reminds me of Boxer the horse in Animal Farm, a real honest workhorse) says it all.

Respite tomorrow afternoon for a week, so I shall catch up on my writing probably.  Been a bit slow in that department lately, my apologies.  Never mind, eh?
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