Hot Stuff
I had the most amazing bath this evening, in fact I had the first ever bath in our place!
A friend came to visit to help us build our house and the house building did happen, it’s just that the work we were doing was slow and really only needed two people for most of the work so she was a little bit at a loss as to what to do.
We had finished the foundations so while we were setting out the house frame and playing with string and maths she busied herself with one of the many bath tubs that we have collected.
We have often thought of organising an outside bath and I have just the place in mind – it’s a wee hollow near our stream with a beautiful whitethorn (hawthorn) tree growing at it’s edge. One night that I stayed outside to watch the full moon move across the sky ’til dawn and I sheltered in the hollow when a north wind blew for a while, it was a beautiful place to shelter and felt really magical.
Nice and all as that spot will be for a winter or spring bath it is too sheltered for a midge season (summer) bath so my friend and I walked around a bit and found a great spot for the bath tub when it is humid, misty and midgy.
I went back to working on the house project and my friend got seriously stuck in to building up two clay banks to hold the bath and supply insulation. She also dug a fire hole under the bath and then dug a channel to drain the fire hole as it is likely to fill up with rain.
She made use of two lovely little stone walls which were simply sitting in the middle of the field to support the clay banks. The walls also now make a great place to put a mug of tea and a night-light for night-time baths.
The fire was started with local fire-wood gathered in the woods and then we used turf to keep the fire going. It’s a job for patient people, the fire was going for about four hours and the job of walking down to the stream and carrying up water also took some time.
It’s great when friends come to stay and bring great energy and motivation with them!
Eventually the bath was piping hot and as the evening was coming to a close I got the pleasure of being the first into the bath. It was a windy and rainy evening and it did seem a little odd to be going into the garden in a bathrobe and a hat when it was raining!
It was SO worth it! What pleasure it was to be in a hot bath with the rain gently dropping all around – glad I wore a hat to keep my head dry and warm because the wind picked up and I found myself in the bath-tub laughing as the wind blew my hat off, the rain became heavy, the water was piping hot and the turf smoke wafted around!
After some time the rain stopped and the sky became blue with white billowy clouds gently moving across the rainbow above me, as I lazed in a hot bath enjoying the view.
Aw, the simple pleasures in life…