Looking at my open fire, flames leaping, wood crackling and furrows of smoke rising, I feel the gentle heat on the back of my hand, the side of my leg, my chest, shoulder and face.
Sitting, mesmerised by the full spectrum of colours of a single flame coming from one piece of wood. Violet and indigo at the base, quickly parading through all the colours of the rainbow to be red and yellow at the tip. The dancing flame disappearing into the dark void of the chimney.
A glass of soft red wine, some simple yet tasty garlic bread. No music, no books, no TV, no phone and no computer. Simply stopping here and being. It is almost as if I have had to exhaust all of the normal things I tend to do to ‘entertain’ or (in reality) distract myself before I got to the ‘bottom’ of the list – simply sitting, simply being still and allowing my senses to be filled; a real gift.