The phone rang at 10:17 the night before we were to head to the airport and to my surprise it was my parents calling. I thought, why would they be calling so late? I know they are usually holed up with a hot pot of green tea on the sofa, under the cashmere throw I needle felted and gave for Christmas watching some new (or very old) Netflicks movie at that hour of the evening. I thought maybe they were calling me to check when we were to arrive since my mom has been dodging my phone calls for the last two weeks in favor of her gallery exhibit deadline. No, my mom called to tell me that the fire department was at their home and that there had been a chimney fire. With a glowing read stove pipe and plenty of smoke they called the volunteer fire department. (You can kinda see the stove in the corner of this photo, I just didn’t have the time to sift through 10s of DVDs filled with pics…and not well labeled since they were made in haste and fright that we’d lost the images for good, to find a better photo.)

My mom said that nothing had been ruined, the house was fine, they were fine, and so was the dog. But…in January in New Hampshire, they wouldn’t be able to heat the home. Their home is a solar home heated by the sun and in the cold dark months by a wood burning stove on each level. We decided not to subject our children, who walk around at a low altitude of approximately 3 feet, to 50 degree temperatures for days on end. (Have you ever climbed a ladder to change a light bulb and noticed it is so much warmer the higher you get…well think of those poor children standing so much lower in all the cold air. Chilled to the bone in no time I say.)

So, with a sigh, we canceled our reservations and wondered when the next time we would see Ammy and Gramps. Until then, I’ll send via snail-mail the tid bits I had collected to bring for my mom (spices, herbs and tea) and hope for some warmer weather soon. Or just a fixed stove pipe and reasonably priced airline tickets. (Regular price is about $250 a person and we’ll have to pay for four tickets now. The tix we got were $75 round trip!)

With a reclaimed long weekend I am crafting up a storm. I finally finished the last of the Christmas presents I had neglected while sleeping  in bed with a fever over the holiday. And now on to new things… I have three birthdays fast approaching!