Cold Kitchen







First day, last month of Spring: 
Even the rain seems pretty, falling to fresh leaves, caught on bright petals; a water veil draping us. Dog has been hose-piped and rain-rinsed and still a trace of spilt wine sits on her shoulders. She cares not. 

The house is cold, a little in mourning - our way of life having shifted lately, with the demise of the Rayburn. One morning at 3am the carbon monoxide alarm sent its shrill noise upstairs; at a more civilised hour the chimney man came, and it couldn’t be fixed.
I thought Rayburns lived forever.
Alas!

So now we wait for the landlord to do sums and calculate an acceptable replacement. Most likely a wood burner will arrive, fingers crossed it will have a back boiler and heat our water too.

Meanwhile we have pulled the pillow draught-catcher out of the front room flue, lit the tiny open grate each evening.
Meanwhile we are using an electric oven, which ought to seem more convenient - but the Rayburn was always lit, there was none of this waiting for warmth. 
Things ferment half paced in an unheated house.

Meanwhile, in the polytunnel, a jungle of sprouting shoots wriggle under the weighty scent of flowering lime, a fat frog patrols for slugs. Down in the garden, raised beds are fixed with new walls, onion leaves spike, wild strawberries climb everywhere.






Comments

Tom Cochrun said…
Your meditation on the cold kitchen and the long serving Rayburn leaves me with a warm heart.
6 May 2017 at 18:28
Geo. said…
"...we have pulled the pillow draught-catcher out of the front room flue..." I know poetry when I read it and love how you write. Best hopes the Rayburn will get an efficient and safe replacement. We heated this old farmhouse with a castiron stove for 30 years but have turned to electric radiators as my woodcutting stamina has declined --still, the battery is kept fresh in the CO detector, so important. Polytunnel is well-organized and productive --my compliments on your gardening skills. And soon, another summer --yay!
6 May 2017 at 23:30
Lisa Southard said…
Thank you Tom :-)
7 May 2017 at 14:07
Lisa Southard said…
Gardening and writing compliments received with hint of smugness and large grin. Stoves are marvellous, change necessary - glad you are CO alert too! May your summer be not too droughty :-)
7 May 2017 at 14:10
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