today i was driving home from the grocery store and saw a huge billowing black column of smoke rising from what i knew could only be a house on fire. since i hadn't heard sirens, and since the fire hadn't been there ten minutes before when i drove by, and since all the firefighters were sort of standing around watching, not fighting, and since the house on fire was an abandoned house, i figured it was a controlled burn. still, it made me sad. it wasn't this house (i didn't have my camera on me), it was this darling little old red brick small pioneer style house. a house that everytime i passed it i envisioned myself someday buying and fixing up. it was a sweet little place, and it make me get a bit teary eyed to see it engulfed in flames, orange flaring out the windows and smoke racing out the roof. it made me sad too to think of the memories it held in its physicality. i thought of all the lives, loves, heartaches, joys, births, deaths, changes, tender moments, things learned, meals eaten, stories read, hearts shared, reunions, etc. it's walls may have seen. and now it's gone. for what. who knows. i hope not for some new ugly pile of house to crop up overnight like a pernicious fungus. sigh. i remember when i was a little girl they burned down a similarly adorable old pioneer home on my block. just for practice. i wish we were more keen on restoring, and less keen on practicing destruction.
Tuesday, February 02, 2010
house on fire
today i was driving home from the grocery store and saw a huge billowing black column of smoke rising from what i knew could only be a house on fire. since i hadn't heard sirens, and since the fire hadn't been there ten minutes before when i drove by, and since all the firefighters were sort of standing around watching, not fighting, and since the house on fire was an abandoned house, i figured it was a controlled burn. still, it made me sad. it wasn't this house (i didn't have my camera on me), it was this darling little old red brick small pioneer style house. a house that everytime i passed it i envisioned myself someday buying and fixing up. it was a sweet little place, and it make me get a bit teary eyed to see it engulfed in flames, orange flaring out the windows and smoke racing out the roof. it made me sad too to think of the memories it held in its physicality. i thought of all the lives, loves, heartaches, joys, births, deaths, changes, tender moments, things learned, meals eaten, stories read, hearts shared, reunions, etc. it's walls may have seen. and now it's gone. for what. who knows. i hope not for some new ugly pile of house to crop up overnight like a pernicious fungus. sigh. i remember when i was a little girl they burned down a similarly adorable old pioneer home on my block. just for practice. i wish we were more keen on restoring, and less keen on practicing destruction.
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1 comment:
That looks like it could have been my house!! Speaking of houses ... do you know anyone who would like to rent a lovely BRIGHT YELLOW farm house in spring city???
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