I spent a wintery February day very contentedly, doing washing and working in the dining room and kitchen. Snow was falling outside and I had a fire going in our trashburner and was feelng very cozy going about my work and listening to the little sounds a fire makes -- little sighs, some muted pops, and sometimes a little roar when the wind blew across the top of the chimney. Very comforting and happy. Reminded me of growing up.

When we first moved to Greenville, our little home was heated by a warm morning stove in the living room and a wood-coal range in the kitchen. That light green range stood up off the floor on legs, and Sue remembers scooting under there when she was little to feel a little cozier on a winter day. Though toasty and warm on a cold day, that old range was a bear in the summer, however, when Mom had to fire 'er up in the summer in order to have hot water for Daddy to clean up in the evening after working. Add to that, the kitchen was on the southwest side of the house, and you can imagine the heat! So eventually the old range was replaced with a modern propane stove which was much more summer-friendly, but Mom found a little stove that she called the Trashburner that she could fire up on wintery days to bring that wood fire warmth into the kitchen on winter mornings. Morning chilliness greeted our sleepy-warmness then making it hard to get out of bed and get dressed for school, and we would make a bee-line for that little stove where we could warm one side while we hurriedly pulled on clothes and tried to wake up.

When Wayne & I moved into our home some 37 years ago, we needed something to take the chill out of the winter mornings, and even though it was many, many years after Mom had purchased her Trashburner, she managed to find one for us. Wayne popped a hole in the brick chimney and installed it between the kitchen and dining room, where pleasantly warms our wintery days creating memories and bringing back the warmth of older times when we least expect it.