Midsummer Magic

Midsummer Solstice came and went. I did not have a chance to light a bonfire this year. It was far too hot and dried up vegetation is up and down  my neighborhood street.

Oh to be home in Alaska again. To be able to light a bonfire on the beach and know it isn't going anywhere but 'out' at the end.

Here, at midsummer a wonderful family bonfire, using all of the cast off wood saved through the year.

And below, Christmas tree and rickety ladder and all..ablaze with celebration, joy, and de-light.

Fire is so deeply magical and I above so many others know its dangers as well as its great depth of beauty and magic. Our childhood home (on my little island in Alaska) burned to the ground in 1970. And all because our little metal woodstove let a spark out and it caught the bedding nearby of my younger brother. He was sleeping downstairs due to years of being in a bodycast and then in partial leg casts with crutches as he was then.

My beloved calico cat, Taffy, woke him up and he yelled at our parents..."fire, fire" just like you'd imagine. My father ran upstairs to all of the other bedrooms and literally threw my smoke inhaled younger brothers out an upstairs window onto the metal garage roof below.

Taffy saved all of our lives and then hid from everyone and died in the fire. I give her a medal for heroism in my heart just as I do my dad, now also passed on for his incredible bravery that night and as he recuperated from his burns, later.

Fire, Fire, burning bryte....my fires are home ones, now. I keep the lights and the sewing machines burning and perhaps even smoking when a project is in progress.

Here, from a previous project, old quilt squares from the past revisiting their creation into a picnic quilt. It's been used three times since it was made and gone on two canoe rides which it enjoyed completely. The water was refreshing from all of the sunlight it had to bare as it was loaded down on various picnic tables on beaches here and there; and plied with food..much food I might add.

So, much easier to be photographed here at  home, as it pretended to fit in and be its true casual self no matter what. It knew it was a setup but it did not mind being on display any way.

To read about the history of Midsummer's Eve, some of my Alaskan family history,  and how I love bonfires of celebration, click here below:

Midsummer's Eve: Combining the Olde With the New

Michele Bilyeu Creates With Heart and Hands as she shares her imaginative, magical, and healing journey from Alaska to Oregon. Creating, designing, sewing, quilting, and wildcrafting... from my heart and with my hands.