I dropped in on Aunty Sandy and Martin on my way up to Brisbane.

We spent the weekend out at the farm, which isn’t as much fun as it sounds – the entire weekend was cold and rainy.  But we stayed inside and had hot food, and we even had a log fire going!  Check it out:

Enjoy with me the strangely mesmerising flicker of the flames:

 

When you’re sitting in front of a fire, seeing the flames and hearing the wood crackle, you can spend worrying amounts of time staring at it.

It’s also pretty amazing how much of a difference the fire makes.  We opened doors between the rooms and it warmed up the whole house, pretty much.  Of course, having a fire going pretty much all day meant we had to have a lot of wood on hand, which had to be chopped up.  So, Martin showed Aunty Sandy and I how to use a chainsaw, which was very exciting.

Aunty Sandy went first:

I also took some video:

 

Yeah, you can see our breath in the air, and this was at around 3 in the afternoon!

Then it was my turn:

That photo is courtesy of Aunty Sandy.

There were some tricky bits that were hard to hold flat, so Martin sawed those up:

And Aunty Sandy split some into wedges:

We didn’t really do anything with the horse, but we did go to check on Nipper and Missy.  They were put in the cattle yards because they got fat, and Aunty Sandy doesn’t want them to develop laminitis.

Nipper, taken in mid-yawn:

The rain combined with their winter coats was making them look like bedraggled stuffed toys.  This is Missy:

Some of my more loyal readers may recall the photos I’ve taken of the view from the farm house’s verandah.  Well, this is how thick the mist was for this weekend:

Looks bad, but it was actually rather nice.  There’s something appealing about snuggling up in front of the fire during winter, something vaguely smug about knowing that it’s freezing outside but you’re toasty and warm.  Plus, Aunty Sandy and Martin make amazing food, so I had a warm fire and amazing food.  What more can you want?