Worshipper of dawn

I have been a worshipper of dawn for many years. It probably started when I was still in my teens, a young conscript in the East, who enjoyed rising before his comrades, shower and shave, polish my boots, well before the first inspection of the morning. I later years, commuting to the city forced an even tougher regime on my days. I remember with awe, before sunrise, getting into those elevated car parks with the sharp edge traders ensconced in their Porsche and Aston Martin…

Wood fire at dawn

Nowadays I have two additional pleasures in the early hours. I have already written in these pages about morning coffee, the pleasure of grinding, brewing and savouring. I want to talk now about another dawn pleasure: a log fire. Some years back, when we came back from one of our long range wanderings – this one was three years long, we redecorated the bottom of our suburban house and restored the old chimney in the front room. There we installed a small size but lovely wood stove, named Peanut. It’s a darling.

The right size, the room is not very large, but it takes in a couple good size logs with kindling. In this season (we are now in June) the temperature outside before dawn is about 12 to 13 degree (C), so strictly this is not necessity, since inside it’s usually a comfortable 18 degree. But still, if the morning – say at around 4:30, this a good 20 minutes before sunup, is a little cooler, I cannot resist the temptation. In winter we make fire in the evening.

If I have been wise enough to clean Peanut the day before, then I can enjoy myself, while coffee is brewing, to construct the little scaffolding which will support the logs. I love the smell of dry logs, mixed with Peanut’s sui generis scent, charcoal and dust. 

When the construction appears stable enough, that is with the right amount of kindling, and not too dense, then the time has come to seize the long matches, we always use natural wood wool fire lighters (none of the diabolic kerosene-like rubbish), which makes for a progressive start, as slow but inexorable sparks spread through Peanut’s belly. By that time, coffee’s ready, which means a double pleasure, or dare I say the word, well, deep pleasure.

faint escalation of sunlight

The flames move slowly around the logs, as if surprised at their success. It must be said that careful manipulation and adjustments of Peanut’s vents is essential at that point, especially if one wishes the pleasure to last. It’s time to sit back, look at the faint escalation of sunlight through the window. It’s not quite 5 am, so the street is beautifully quiet and deserted. Peanut now gets more excited, the flames rise higher, I readjust the log, and opened the top window to outside for some cool air.

Talk about non-linearity

The coffee tastes lovely, just right. The plan for the day is slowly taking shape. The writing, the editing, a look at several art sites for inspiration. Peanut is roaring. A quick look at email,  couple of messages, and good morning darling to my daughter who won’t be up for another hour. Fires have an inexhaustible choice of patterns and colours. Talk about non-linearity, in this sense fire is the clouds cousin: try and model this sunny!

I can hear birds, soon the town will wake up too. I can still enjoy the fire for another thirty minutes, another cup, then it’s work. What can be a simpler pleasure?