Searching for a fire...

5oSo, I'm sitting there working when I hear the village's volunteer fire department siren sound, which I hear frequently throughout a typical day, even though it's a real small village and there are rarely any fires. This is a little different, though, because 1) I smell smoke, and 2) the fire chief's car just went screaming down the street by my house. Then, another fire car (not a fire truck, mind you). I listen to hear if the vehicles are stopping close by, but I can't tell.

So, off come my headphones and out we go to look for the fire. It is a long walk on a gorgeous spring day, the smell of wood smoke in the air, not unpleasant or noxious, a slight haze, filtered sunlight, and all manner of wood and plant life bent on picking up where they left off at the end of the growing season last year. Even though this is a bustling little agricultural village only about 50 or 60 miles northwest of New York City, sometimes during the day all you can hear are birds and crickets and bees and mosquitoes, and, of course, the odd bark of a dog or more rarely the crow of a rooster. You can go maybe three or five minutes without hearing any cars or airplanes. The main street is not all that far, but the traffic din seldom makes it into my window, only a little ways away.

Anyway, we walk leisurely but purposefully in search of a fire, discussing the possibilities of what we might find, pointing out and naming plants and birds, and each of us remembering and telling tidbits of anecdotes that may be connected or may not be. We see and smell the smoke, but not its source. We walk as far, I suppose, as is practical, all the way up the dead end street to the crest of the highest hill in the village overlooking the vast sea of Black Dirt that is this region's claim to fame (well that, and being the home of the 16- or 17-time Grammy winner for the polka genre!), but still, nothing. No fire.

So, we wind our way back and have lunch. A completely uneventful episode, yet so filled with fun, beauty, and wonder!

Simple pleasures!!