I love having a bonfire

I had an eye test this morning and the optometrist was friendly and helpfully clear. He took the regular photos of the inside eye and then showed them to me, but can't let me have them (technical issues) which is a pity. He then commented that there was a textbook example of a phenomenon whereby a part of the eye which develops in the womb, and usually disappears after birth, is still there in my eye. It is not an worry, more an observation. I was glad he mentioned it as another optometrist had mentioned the same thing some years ago, so I felt at least he was alert and actually considering what was going on inside my eyes, which is all to the good.

Then I went to sign a cheque for a large amount of money on behalf of the town council for the building works at Lansdown Hall. While I was at the council offices, I had a chat with our mayor whom I work closely with on the Finance committee, and I had to sign all the other cheques for payment. She made an observation which meant that we might be able to save some money, and after a couple of calls, I then came up with another way of saving even more money for the council. You might say we were eagled eyed.

I managed to get home by late lunchtime, had a couple of pieces of toast and decided that since it wasn't raining, or likely to, I would spend some time in the garden preparing the ground for winter and in particular having a bonfire to clear a lot of material that had been in the way. This included a load of bindweed, brambles, old man's beard, couch grass and some shrub stems that had been pruned a while ago.

I did go a bit mad and found more than I had bargained for, so it took several hours and a lot of real sweat. After most of the material had burnt, with rather too much woodsmoke being scattered on the breeze, I cleared the ground and my tools and retired to the cabin which overlooked the bonfire. Helena had made a gin and tonic to revive us both, and I settled into listening to my shuffling ipod through the rather good, though elderly music system. Bach, the Yeah, Yeah Yeahs, T-Bone Burnett, John Lee Hooker, Miles Davis all came to my ears while I'd worked.

I had brought out my camera to the cabin on the off chance of some bird shots, as I noticed that a few of our favourite goldfinches had returned with their bright singing cheering me up. But I think my smoke production had put the
m all off as i didn't notice any birds, except a fleeting jay furtively rushing between treetops.

As I sat in the cabin I noticed the bonfire flare up suddenly, as I had heaped the last of the wood and green vegetation on to it in a big heap. I picked up my camera and shot this picture through one of the double-glazed windows. I liked the leaping flames in the gathering gloom of dusk, and its light warming the colour of the smoke. The fire was about four feet in diameter and the flames here were leaping about six feet in the air.

This was the second picture I took. It isn't a great picture but it does reflect my day and will remind me of a tiring but fun few hours of work, which I will appreciate all winter long. I expect I will carry on again tomorrow with some other task, but I fear it will be raining.