Yesterday I instantly remembered that it was Midsummer Eve, my very favorite day, and lay awake looking forward to it and planning my rites on the mound. …
Once the fire is blazing the countryside fades into the dusk, so I took one last look round the quiet fields, sorry to let them go. Then I lit the twigs. They caught quickly — I love those early minutes of a fire, the crackles and snapping, the delicate flickers, the first sharp whiff of smoke. The logs were slow to catch so I lay with my head near the ground, and blew. Suddenly the flames raced up the wigwam of branches and I saw the snowy moon trapped in a fiery cage. Then smoke swept over her as the logs caught at last. I scrambled up, and sat back watching them blaze high. All my thoughts seemed drawn into the fire — to be burning with it in the brightly lit circle of stones. The whole world seemed filled with hissing and crackling and roaring.
~ I Capture the Castle, by Dodie Smith
Mm, heaven. I love it when she does this in I Capture the Castle. Such a great description of a fire.
Episode of Midsomer Murders last night was centered around the Summer Solstice. Didn’t plan on watching that particular episode, per se. It was just the next in the queue, but excellent timing.