• Friday-What'sUP November 16 - 06:02 pm

I may be prejudice, but the sunrises here in the U.P. are hard to beat. That flaming ball of fire rising up over the horizon, brings such a beautiful glow to the entire sky. Tex DeGraves captured just such a morning, with the fiery sunrise peeking through the trees, trying to warm up what looks like a chilly morning. What a great way to start the day.

Fast forward to the evening hours and Mark W. Anderson gives us the perfect way to bring your day to a close, especially with the chill of winter in the air. Nothing soothes and warms a body after a day at work or play, like sitting in front of a fire and losing your thoughts in the flames. Now there's a good prescription for when things get you down... take in a fire in the morning and another at night, with a visit to the Pasty Cam in between. Before you know it, you'll be smiling and happy once more!

The hearth shot reminded me of an early Pasty Cam photo of the Hart family, which appeared back in October of '98, warming up around the fire.

Wish I were UP there right now warming up in front of that fire.

I can hear the snapping and crackling of the fire now! Nothing smells better than a wood fire!

Nice pictures today, Tex and Mark. Thank you for sharing them, Tex, Mark, and Mary.

LOL, Paulwebbtroll--all you need to add is some pop, and you could have Rice Krispies! Sorry, I couldn't resist that one. Then, you could add some milk and sugar, and you could have breakfast.

There's nothing like sitting in front of a nice fire in the fireplace, with a mug of hot chocolate, and your knitting or a good book, or whatever, when it is cold outside or inside! It looks like this weekend would be a good weekend for that, at least weather-wise. Happy Friday, Everyone!

Both pictures are beautiful. I love a fireplace. I want to build a sitting room with a fireplace to read all of my books in.

A wood fireplace is the way to go! When we built our new home we wanted a wood fireplace, we were haggled so much that a gas fireplace was the thing to do, sure a wood type requires a little more effort as for cleaning and so forth, but a gas fireplace just seemed like cutting corners to us.

I love the smells and comfort from a wood fireplace. I live in the city and wish I had one. Someday :)

I just put some wood in the stove. We have a Vermont Castings Defiant. We've been heating our house with this since 1979. We very seldom use our furnace. Sometimes when it gets too warm we just open a window for a while. So we get some fresh air too.

I just checked the Bridge Cam. Do you all know it was
still on Daylight Savings Time?

Wood fires are the best, not too fond of the fake gas ones. Too bad you can't have one without chopping wood.

Beautiful pics! We always had wood fires, until my husband decided he was too old to do that anymore. Now we have the gas log fireplace, and it looks good, is warm and toasty, and takes no work. I'm glad we did it! (No more wood debris on the floor!)

One sad thing about wood fires: they are outlawed in many places out west, I believe even including some of the famous Colorado villages that are well-known. Why, you may ask? They claim air pollution from wood burning.

Hey Deb, we have a fireplace in our family room with lots of book shelves on both sides of it. They run clear to the side walls. My better half wants to take the fireplace out and put in more book shelves! I suggested getting rid of some books but that doesn't seem to be a viable thing!!

What ever happened to Toivo and Eino's Pasty Sauce? I haven't been able to find it anywhere, in stores or online. Even their phone is not connected. Thanks.

Marianne, you are correct. Wood burning stoves and fireplaces are not allowed in many towns in the west (except if that is your only source of heat). The problem is during the winter months we get temperature inversions almost every day in the valleys. Cold air from the mountain peaks is heavier and during the night it settles to the valley floor and as it does it slides under a layer of warmer air. The warmer air acts like a lid and holds in all the smoke and other pollutants. Even with the wood-burning ban we get a nasty brown cloud here in the front range. There are way too many people driving too many cars... I think it is time for me to leave!

The fireplace picture reminds me of fires at the cabin of John and Dorothy Kaleita. Warm and cozy. Then we watched videos of old movies that John's brother made of the Plautzes at play at their cabin on Bete Grise. So much fun and good times. John died in September of 2003 and Dorothy lives in the Detroit area. These are my memories of the UP.

now dat is nice=========i remain walter p

Just got around to checking todays picture...Makes me wish I were back up home.
When my wife and I built our home in south Florida twenty years ago, we had a grand rock fireplace built in our family room..To this day we have yet to have lit a fire in it. We have a pile of birch logs stacked in the hearth just for appearances. Although this morning it was probably cold enough (40) to light a fire. We are now building a house in northern Georgia and I know for sure that the fireplace there will definitely be used. Have a happy Thanksgiving everyone.

Oh, Mary Drew... You are NOT prejudice. There is no other place with such beautiful sun rises and sets. I used to watch them in swe, when I was at Grandma's house in Mohawk. She had a house that delivered a perfect view of sunsets. There's nothing like them!

swe above, should have been AWE.

Hi all
I remember we had a wood stove at our old cabin; it was mostly a summer place but we did go up a few times each fall. The fire would usually go out in the night, due to either it's primitive design or lack of skill on our part in the art of banking a fire. So the first person who got out of bed in the morning was stuck with getting it going. We would all lie there in our sleeping bags, til somebody had to use the bathroom. Usually my mom, poor woman.

Leaving in 2 hours for our drive from TX to the cabin for Thanksgiving week...from the looks of the temps, we'll need to have the fireplace going full time next week! Can't wait to wrap up work and get on the road!

Love the fireplace Picture! Would be awesome to be in front of a fire like that one. Brings ack memories from my childhood of my grandparents cabin. Those were the days.
Dreams...someday...warmth...rest and relaxation.

Paul, your better half is right! You can never have to many books. But I wouldn't sacrifice my fireplace either. Build more book shelves. LOL

Sean- here's the link you were looking for. http://www.uporiginal.com/ps/2/psgrocers.html