Fireside Fun

I’ve been out of the Renaissance Faire Circuit for years now. We used to drive out to re-enactment fairs about 10 times a year, dress up in costume and play act our way through the weekend. We attended a couple of fairs this last year to check out the new scene, but there was a lot about Faire that was so different. One of the things I realized I missed was the afterhour’s fun. One of the best parts about Renaissance Faire was always sitting around the Fire Pits at night drinking, chatting and being just silly. Now that we’ve grown up a bit, the drinking wouldn’t really be a draw. But that fireside camaraderie sure is missed.

There is just something about an outdoor fireplace that brings people together. People of all ages, are drawn together by the warmth of a fire outdoors. You don’t have a TV or computer or video games to distract the kids. Funny stories are told all around, silly songs are sung with no embarrassment in the firelight. Kids stay up late and then drift off to sleep on adult laps without whining and crying.

I think the lure of those fireside chats brings up memories of beach trips with my grandparents. We’d get in my grandparents little silver bullet trailer. Straight out of a 60’s movies, it was pulled behind my Grandpa’s van and filled with camping treats we didn’t get at home like sugar cereal and cans of soda. We’d pull up hours later at a southern California beach and meet up with cousins we only saw once a year. Then all the cousins would gather up large rocks and dig a pit to make a couple of fire rings. The big kids would sit around one and tell stories and the adults and the babies would be around the other, socializing and laughing and filling the air with comforting voices.

It so makes me want to get a house with a great big back yard and set-up my own outdoor fireplace to bring back that fireside fun.