three years in denmark: fireplace thoughts

the mornings are definitely cooler. multiple times now i've wondered, "would this have been a good morning for my gloves? what about my ear muffs?" each time, i've been able to say no, not necessarily. but it's getting closer, for sure, that first day or two i regret not dressing warmly enough, until i learn not to forget or to brush off my cold weather wear.

"it's not well insulated..." i remember the neighbor and former occupant of this house saying. throwing it out as a counter to all of the things he did like and miss about the house. mornings, yes, even on relatively warm days, we notice how much colder our feet can get here compared with our old place-- a corner unit, situated above a basement. but it's always warmed up as the day's gone on... except today... as i sat doing my homework... sweatshirt, slippers, blanket... cold nose and cold fingers... all day. oh... if it's like this now... i think i'm going to learn real fast how to get a fire going. we made one tonight after dinner. (we meaning greg and william) and later greg made fireplace tea... there's a ledge, at the top of the fireplace, where william keeps lego projects (when there's no fire going) that he doesn't want his brother to destroy, that gets very hot, and tonight greg put a pot of water on it and made tea. it was quite innovative, i thought, though perhaps that's the point of the ledge? i remember 'tearwater tea' from an arnold lobel story as a kid, and i like that tea can seem so versatile.

william has a detailed plan involving the fireplace at christmas time. so what i haven't told you yet, and what i'm so excited about, is that greg's parents are coming here for two weeks at christmas! and william, who talks about this everyday, already has our (i must admit, gender stereotyped) roles all figured out-- while i am sitting on the couch, under a blanket nursing henry (granted, that role isn't easily transfered to anyone else), and william's grandma is in the kitchen making christmas cookies, greg will be getting the newspapers ready and william's grandpa will be getting the matches ready, while william will put on his scarf and his mittens and his boots and go out and get the wood for the fire that they will make. it's all very cozy, or hygge, as they would say here in denmark, and which you might remember from a post, very early on.

i will leave you with some pictures from this evening, and say very quietly, so as not to jinx anything, that henry has been sleeping until three in the morning the last few nights, which is absolutely amazing!