father's day and sputnik
Every once in awhile, J will come whispering in our ears, "Should we build a fire tonight?" and Brian rarely misses the chance. He's got a thing for fires, and he seems to have passed the trait to his son. So when J asked tonight, it seemed a fitting way to end a perfectly fine Father's Day.
Several years ago, Brian was driving to work. (If you haven't checked out the ReStore link over in the sidebar, you should. There are ReStores all over the country and they are so very cool.) Anyway, passing someone's trash pile, he noticed a big 1970's fireplace complete with screen, hoisted the huge thing into the back of the car and took it. He gave it to the store to sell. Later in the day, he described it over the phone as "something you'd lay in front of on a green shag rug, listening to your Hi-Fi." o. k.
The next day I was down at the store looking at something unrelated and saw it. I flipped out! "Don't we need this for our patio- for an outdoor fireplace?!" He yanked it off the floor, explained to everyone that he was un-donating it and that was that. We've been hanging out in front of it for years. It's absolutely perfect. The tall flue directs the smoke up above your head, and the golden-rod yellow is very retro hip. It is hands down our best trash pile find ever. And we have many of those such finds in our home.
So tonight we made a fire in Sputnik, as we have named her, as our homemade ice cream churned. J could hardly wait for it to finish, and my Dad and Mom came over for a bowl. Mmmm... nice Father's day.
Comments
very cool story! Love it :)
Posted by: homejewel | June 19, 2006 12:00 AM
Love love love to treasure hunt ! The outdoor fireplace is absolutely awesome and with homemade icecream.... who could ask for more !
Posted by: diana | June 19, 2006 04:40 AM
We had a fireplace similar to this inside my house in the seventies! Ours was white though. It was a real pain to hang stockings at Christmas. What a great re-use.
Posted by: Mama Urchin | June 19, 2006 06:09 AM
Cool story and super groovy fire place! Sounds like a nice evening. 8-)
Posted by: Angela | June 19, 2006 07:16 AM
Nice indeed! Looks fantastic. Fire and ice. We used to have a chimenea but it cracked under the heat of David's rip roaring fires. We need a sputnik!
Posted by: Amy | June 19, 2006 07:52 AM
Nice fireplace indeed. And that thing throws out a lot of heat during your Halloween parties.
And look at your old-fashioned ice cream maker that doesn't have a hand churn. How's J suppose to enjoy the ice cream without hand churning it?
(I'm being obnoxious, we have an electric one too.)
Posted by: capello | June 19, 2006 08:24 AM
that thing is AWESOME!!! i think david would fall over if he saw that. he has a love of all things 70s. have any of that ice cream left?
Posted by: hannah | June 19, 2006 09:11 AM
Oh what a lovely day and such a cute story!
Posted by: vegasandvenice | June 19, 2006 10:03 AM
fan-tas-tic!! (did i mention i received some wonderful mail over the weekend?? more soon...!!)
Posted by: tracy | June 19, 2006 11:45 AM
I knew y'all were cool when we lived there... but I hadn't quite realized that y'all are the coolest family EVER. J and Nora are so lucky to be growing up w/ such precious memories.
(And I love your painted toes in one of the fireplace pix.)
Posted by: Kim | June 19, 2006 12:41 PM
Sounds like a nice Father's Day! And Brian deserves it for being such a great dad. :)
Posted by: Jennifer | June 19, 2006 12:52 PM
Homemade icream, what flavour? I love coffee flavour best.
Posted by: weirdbunny | July 9, 2006 11:56 AM
I love your blog...and this post makes me think you may be a long lost much younger sister! I love, love reusing stuff in unusual ways.
Posted by: joyce | November 17, 2006 12:45 PM
That fireplace is one of the coolest things I have seen in my life and the fact that it was free makes it so much more spectacular. I love trash night!
Posted by: Trisha | January 22, 2007 05:13 PM
Oh, I wish i could get something like that here... Is it an indoor fireplace originally or was it meant to be for outdoors? it's perfect!
Posted by: Péitseoga | January 29, 2008 05:02 PM