I cleaned the fireplace in my house today. I filled a large plastic bag with ashes, which remained since last Christmas and New Year’s, and took it to a garbage bin down the street from my house. There was always a possibility that my beloved would want another fire around Easter, for it was rather nippy during the holidays, but she is gone by now. Having cleaned the fireplace, I brought several hefty logs from the covered part of the terrace, where there are many more for another winter, and arranged them carefully for the next fire. In other words, everything is ready for the coming winter well in advance. Which is why this strikes me as a special day. The wheel of time has moved forward by a notch. What better pointer of time’s passage than the good old fireplace?