When I was a little girl, my folks had a wood
cook stove
and the smell of the new wood burning in that
stove as it
heated the kitchen on cold Pennsylvania mornings
was wonderful.
I would smell freshly brewed coffee as I was
awakened to
get ready for school. My, how that does touch a
lovely
memory in my mind.
As I aged & got into high school, my folks moved
that big
cook stove to the basement and it continued to
be used for
heat in Winter. The folks got one of those new
fangled
electric stoves to cook on and it was cleaner,
neater and
you could regulate it better, but that wonderful
wood
burning smell was gone.
Every Winter as the frigid winds howled around
the eves of
the house and I snuggled under what seemed to be
a mountain
of blankets and quilts I longed for the comfort
of the dying
embers of that wood heat and smell. Isn't it
funny, how just
reading a poem can bring on such strong,
detailed memories?
I just loved it!
We lived in central Pennsylvania and it is
really beautiful
country in that area. It is extremely fertile
land and one
often smelled the aroma from wood stoves. One
year when
I was a young 14 or 15 yr. old, there was a
hurricane named
Hazel that caused a lot of damage. Most everyone
had
electric stoves and oil furnaces by then and few
had kept
their cook stoves. People walked for a mile or
more to cook
on our cook stove or drove their trucks to cook
a hot meal.
It was a mixture of wonderful chatter, cooking
scents and
a coming together to help one another. I will
never forget
that time of closeness that I felt at seeing
neighbor
with neighbor.
The LORD is my strength
and my shield; my heart trusted in
him, and I am helped: therefore my heart greatly
rejoiceth;
and with my song will I praise him.
This story is used
with Ann's permission.
Please respect the copyright and contact
her if you wish to use it!
