Maria and I had one of the sweetest and loveliest evenings of our time together. We started a Winter Solstice Bonfire around 5:30 p.m., using dry wood, twigs and old fences we had saved in the barn for months.

For us, the Solstice is a time of renewal, the beginning of winter, the shortest day, the beginning of light and color’s return. It prepares for the harshest days of winter and reminds us of Spring, the growing time when the land returns to live and the gardens bloom again.

We hoped to light the fire on Friday, but it rained all weekend. Today was mostly sunny and dry, it took us about a half-hour to get the fire going, the ground and leaves were so wet.

But when it caught, it roared and sparked and we sat by it for more than three hours. It was cold 10 feet from the fire, but war in our chairs near it.

I cooked dinner and we ate outside, and then the full moon showed up and lit the pasture. This, I thought, is why I came up here, to feel Mother Nature and share a life with animals.

We waited until the fire was dying down, poured water on and around it, and came in. Red and Fate sat with most of the time. We kept Bud inside the house, he doesn’t settle like the other two.

The roaring fire was hypnotic, I was so happy taking Maria’s hand, listening to the crackle of the fire, looking up at the moon, we even had some sherry and toasted the winter.

We are ready for the hard winter. Our barn is full of hay, we have seed for the birds, a heated water  tank for the chickens and the donkeys, the barn cats come in when its cold and hang out in the basement, snow tires on our car, a woodshed full of wood.

Bring it on.