PRAISE TO A HOT WOOD STOVE

We’re lucky enough to have a wood stove (see below) in our solarium, the most used area of the house, off from the open kitchen.

The blue enamel stove takes up a small portion of the solarium. It rests on the obligatory fire-resistant material topped by a section of hundred-year-old ‘old’ brick.

We bought it from Vermont Castings, Inc. some years ago. It's a Resolute Acclaim. It has a prefabricated metal chimney rising up through the roof. It’s heavy for sure, weighing in at some 450 pounds (204 kms).

We have several bush cords of split hardwood delivered in late summer from north of us. It will last us through till spring.

The stove is made of cast iron and sits in the corner of the solarium looking as if it owns the place.

Author’s comment: It brings more than heat to the solarium and beyond. There’s this wonderful, undeniable scent, a feeling from it that lingers in the air.

I’ll swear in the off-season, it seems to be waiting for the winter ahead.

YOU'RE KIDDING ME, JAMES!

James. As in James Bond.

Don’t ask me why I’m such a Bond fan. But I am. Always have been. Always will be. I doubt if I’ve ever missed even one of them.

They came to life in the late ‘60s. Or close to it. I’d look it up on the Internet to get my facts straight, but it’s down. Dead. Off the air, in our area.

Back to Bond. We tuned in CRAVE TV yesterday, Christmas Day, for a little down time before the BIG dinner. After all the excitement of opening presents, we discovered the entire James Bond films had popped onto the TV screen. One after another.

.

No commercial breaks. It’s Sunday afternoon now,, Boxing Day as we call it in Canada, and the movies are to continue till noon tomorrow, if I've got it right. Probably with repeats late into the night.

Why I’m addicted to James Bond, first books then film, I’ll never know. Maybe it's the action, the touches of humor. Good plots. I enjoy those with Roger Moore best; not so much George Lazenby who lacked that certain something.

AUTHOR’S COMMENT: Right now I'm watching 'A View to a Kill', to be followed by 'Never Say Never Again'. Then 'The Living Daylights'. My eyes are about to fall out of my head. Then what? Hmm. I can always listen to them...