fall fires

there is something primal about fire that draws people together. last year i discovered my neighbor across the street had a fire pit made from the rim of a big tractor. i admired it so much that he found me one which i promptly put at the edge of our business manager's garden (he has gardens everywhere on campus) and between several of the houses. it was made clear that the fire pit was communal property. so whenever the weather is nice and sometimes when it isn't, one of the neighbor's starts a fire and everyone in the close neighborhood comes over. then the food starts coming over -- little bits and pieces from everyone's house to share. usually there are marshmellows and predictably some catch on fire. i dragged an old workbench out of one of the empty garages and washed it with 409, bleach, and then murphy's oil to put stuff on. my neighbor went to the gym and snagged about 2 dozen old wooden fold up campmeeting chairs and brought them over. when it gets dark enough that we can't see the food on the table, i turn on the back porch light. i need to get a camp lantern though--porch light just sort of ruins the atmosphere.