This face is on fire

"To cause the face to appear in a mass of flame make use of the following:

mix together thoroughly petroleum, lard, mutton tallow and quick lime.

Distill this over a charcoal fire and the liquid which results 

can be burned on the face without harm."

-- Harry Houdini

Face in the fire 7-13-13

 

"Fire has a mind and a determination. 

You don’t see it as a blind raging thing, which I suppose it is, 

but something that attacks and thinks and changes tactics. 

It has a malevolence that uses surprise, dirty tricks, cunning. 

You get to think of it as someone, not something, and it’s someone you have to beat, 

but right from the start you don’t like your chances 

because it’s so big and unpredictable and can do so much harm.”

-- Bryce Courtenay, Four Fires

Face in the fire (2) 7-13-13

“Faeries, come take me out of this dull world,
For I would ride with you upon the wind,
Run on the top of the dishevelled tide,
And dance upon the mountains like a flame.” 

-- William Butler Yeats, The Land of Heart's Desire

Jill, my super-awesome friend extraordinaire, came to visit yesterday.
We went for a motorcycle ride, had Tacos for supper, and then my son Leo built us a campfire on the back patio and shot off some fireworks.

I didn't have a face for the day yet, and it was getting late. I seriously did not know what I was going to post today. The cupboard was looking pretty bare.

Face in the fire (3) 7-13-13

Then Leo put some kind of color-changing glow-stick into the fire, and the flames started burning blue, green, red, fuchsia. I grabbed my camera and took a few pictures. When I started looking through the photos I'd shot, my imagination conjured faces in the flames. It was kind of like seeing pictures in the clouds. Some of the faces took a moment to see, but once I saw them, they were obvious and extraordinary and magical.

The face at the top of the page reminds me of the Hindu fire god -- Agni.

The second one looks like a flaming warrior -- some kind of Spartan or something -- turned in profile, wearing full regalia, face upturned with a plume of fire on his helmet.

The one to the right is a little trickier to see. Take a second and look for it. The face is a sad one with little eyes and a frowning mouth.There is a large, gaping black space spreading across the middle of the face, just below the eyes.

The one below reminds me of a flame-engulfed comedy/tragedy theater mask.

Face in the fire (4) 7-13-13

If Jill hadn't come to visit, these faces never would have happened.
We probably wouldn't have lit the fireworks or built the fire.
But Jill did come to visit.
And these faces did happen.
Like Jill, they only stayed for a little while.
Like Jill, they burned and flickered bright and beautiful, and then they were gone.