bliss

now that the weather is gloriously cool, i have been relishing in one of my favorite things:  hot water.  hot showers, hot soaks in the tub, hot tea--hot water in just about all its forms is one of my delights.  tolkien best expresses it in words:

Sing hey! for the bath at the close of day

That washes the weary mud away!

A loon is he that will not sing:

O! Water Hot is a noble thing!

O! Sweet is the sound of falling rain,

and the brook that leaps from hill to plain;

but better than rain or rippling streams

is Water Hot that smokes and steams.

O! Water cold we may pour at need

down a thirsty throat and be glad indeed;

but better is Beer, if drink we lack,

and Water Hot poured down the back.

O! Water is fair that leaps on high

in a fountain white beneath the sky;

but never did fountain sound so sweet

as splashing Hot Water with my feet!

and is the cast iron tea kettle that ryan gave me for my birthday:  also a wonderful tribute to hot water.