It was truly stirring to experience and welcome the Solstice in with this group. I met a couple of new people, and hopefully we will see more of them very soon.

With that said....

24 hours after our celebration I returned to the spot with 2 close friends. The remaining wood was still basking on the beach. The pit was still occupied with the charred remains of the wood that served as a vehicle for our celebration. Two foil-wrapped cobs of corn saw one more day on the edge of the pit. As I reached into the sands of the pit, I discovered warm embers still struggling for air... the precious air it needs to spring to life.

As I dug and stirred a little more, faint wisps of smoke emerged and circled my face, beckoning me to stir the coals and bring life back to the fire. While my friends were unpacking the truck, I wondered if it wasn't too late...

Slowly I pulled the blackened pieces up from the suffocating sand. One by one, the deeper I reached, the warmer the pieces became. To my pleasant surprise, a few were actually too warm to handle for more than a second or two.

That made me smile. Perhaps there was hope.

Almost on cue, winds off the water turned toward me at the edge of the pit. "Was this a message?" I wondered. Who was I to deny the pit a chance to one more blaze under the sparkling canopy of Summer's second night?

I gathered kindling I had brought and carefully aligned the coals & kindling with the channel that someone dug into the pit (Kurt, I presume :-) )
My friends were unfolding lawn chairs and settling into them as I coaxed the elements of Earth & Air to bring their companion, Fire, to the pit. I promised to introduce Water later if they would provide us with one more night of light in the dark. It took some convincing... but with the help of one of Fire's cousins, Match, we were greeted by a gust of channeled air at just the right time, and shortly thereafter, the pit was dark no more.
As if jumping out and reaching into the sky, fire sprang to life. A long stretch of flame leaned toward me and licked at me briefly as if to say "Thank You" for its resurrection. I thought of the Phoenix. I thought of the Hindu. I

thought of my friends. And I thought of you.

After the fire settled into a steady rhythm, I placed the wrapped cobbed corn near the edge and waited patiently for the reborn fire to rewarm the corn. My friends thought I was a little crazy as I pulled the corn from the fire and proceeded to unwrap the first. I planned on sharing, of course, but my companions appeared a bit squeamish at the thought of eating corn that had been left exposed to the elements for 24 hours, garbed in foil, or not! I thought to myself, "More for me!"

As I disrobed the first cob and peeled back the husk, the scented warmth must have wafted toward my friends.

Their noses perked and as they observed my delight with my first bite, their apparent squeamishness was suddenly a thing of the past. I had to share, after all! :-)
All was well for the second night. The only thing that could have been better... is if you were there again!

Thank you all. I look forward to the next time we gather!

Be well!

Stephan