Winter bonfire memories
Memories of winter...
Hello neighbours,
Although it’s a bit late, I wanted to say a few words about the winter bonfire. While it was certainly cold and windy, between 75 to 100 people showed up sometime during the day. That was a great turnout.
At first there were only three people on the beach. The three of us struggled to get the fire lit but once we got the fire going, it blazed away for hours. Just getting the fire going was chore. The wind was so strong we had to light the fire behind a table turned on its side. Once the fire started burning we moved the table and setup the trusty Coleman stove and warmed up the hot chocolate. Modern technology is not always the best way to go. I brought my Coleman stove and linked it up to a propane tank. Unfortunately it did not work. Luckily Ben brought the tried-and-true Coleman setup that uses white gas. That setup worked until we ran out of hot chocolate.
People stated showing up and soon people sliding down the hill in increasing numbers. The hill was very icy and there was not much snow. Since the hill was very icy an attempt was made to direct people to a portion of the hill that had better footing. Not everyone used this route and there were plenty of slips when people tried to climb the icy hill. Despite the icy conditions no one was hurt either climbing up or sliding down the icy hill.
When people were not sliding down the hill they huddled around the fire and sipped hot chocolate. I had a chance to speak to many people I knew and a few people that had just moved into the area. Hopefully the rest of you had a chance to talk to old friends and meet other people from the neighborhood that you did not know.
Most of the people had left by 5:30 and a few of us cleaned up the mess and put the fire out. Despite wind, cold, and icy conditions, no one was injured. Hopefully everyone had a good time.
Thanks to all of the people who showed up, help light the fire, keep the fire going, contributed the firewood for the bonfire and helped carry the wood to the beach. A special thanks to Tim for the juggling entertainment and the music. A fair amount of wood is left over and based upon the success of the first bonfire I am sure we will have another one next year.
Peter
