Skip to main content

100 Candles + Fire = Donut?


Friends
Merriam-Webster defines a pyromaniac as "a person who has an uncontrollable impulse to start fires". Those of you who think me a pyro, on account of my new year's eve celebrations, should note I can control my impulses. I guess that makes me more of a pyrophile. That said, I do enjoy a good pyrotechnic display, no matter the proportions. Case in point, my grandmother Jane would have turned 100 years old on Sunday. She was really keen to reach this milestone and blow-out 100 candles. Although I had promised her I would host the party, the deck seemed stacked against it. When she passed away six years ago, I could have called it off. I didn't. When the pandemic hit, limiting gatherings, again, I could have called it off. I didn't. I was ready to have a small get together when inspiration hit and technology came to the rescue. Enter Zoom! Sunday, most of the family joined to sing happy birthday and watch the fire hazard from a safe distance (what else were they going to do? -- it's not like they were going somewhere!). It turns-out that if you put a bunch of candles side-by-side, the flames feed off of each other. A lone candle's light may go as high as an inch on a good day. Put it next to a bunch of other candles and you can get a foot-tall inferno, easy! And, when it's done, you get a wax donut.


Happy Friday!

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Ashes to Ashes

  Friends, I don’t know about you, but my household tends to use things a tad beyond their reasonably useful life. Cars, razors, pillows... heck, we squeezed the last BTU out of our home’s 25 year old thermostat —15 years is for rookies. This week we bid our fire pit farewell. Structurally unstable and rusted to the core, this contrivance was well on its way to returning to the soil. Memories of s’mores, cigars and shared spirits come rushing back, as does the six foot tall cardboard peach burned atop it, which caused the first stress fractures in the waning days of 2019. Good times! I suppose nothing lasts forever, but memories can add a sense of permanence to the fleeting. So go, grab a donut and make some new memories!! Happy Friday!

To an end to Covid Games

  Friends, As 2021 comes to an end, it’s time to remember and be grateful for another year of life – there’s much for which to be grateful. Sure, some things could have gone better (they always can), but on balance things were good. At the GonzĆ”lez household, the cathartic process of capturing this year’s essence to burn at midnight is wrapping-up. This year’s theme, “Covid Games from home” uses Squid games (Netflix’s unlikely breakaway hit) as a way to mock the two main Covid variants of concern (Delta and Omicron) and commiserate about working from home with all the weirdness it carries along. Comfy slippers combined with dressing-up from the waist up for zoom meetings (not to mention the quarantine fifteen). As I hope for lots of snow and no wind (lest we need to call an audible on the midnight burn) my thoughts turn to my friends in Boulder county and hopes for a quick recovery. May 2022 bring an end to confinement and lots of opportunities to share donuts. Happy Friday!

BIrds of a Feather

Friends, The early bird catches the worm, however, as the sun rises I’d much rather have a Denver omelet than a diet of worms . Ready to fly the coop, my ducks all in a row, I ponder one more time whether a bird in hand is truly worth two in the bush. Egged-on by my quest to tuck away a nest egg, I’ve decided to change industries and hope that, like the phoenix, my career will also rise from the ashes of change. After all, I’m no spring chicken –my crow’s feet and gray bely my age – however, I have to trust my judgment and believe you can’t catch this old bird with chaff (whether or not folks think me an odd bird for my actions). And so I shall attempt to soar like an eagle, aware that counting my chickens before they hatch would be ill-advised. As I learn to talk turkey in the language of cybersecurity, I will endeavor not to hide my head in the sand, choosing instead to be like a duck – calm on the surface and paddle like hell underneath! And while my excessive use of bird-inspired