Hot and cold.

I cannot remember whether Ihave discussed the issue with present heating systems in the farmhouse or not. I know that I have mentioned the electric heaters which at least operate when not tripping the disjoncteur!!

The living room of the farm has an open fireplace as it's sole source of heating which we thought we would use to give us the comforting glow of a log fire. I have been making a log firebasket but had to suspend the project when my mig welder stopped working just before christmas. (I've now sorted that problem but didn't have the time before). That meant that during our christmas visit we went to visit Bricomarche at St Brieuc where previously seen log firebaskets at a reasonable price compared to the UK. However they had sold out but we bought a bag of logs and some kindling anyway and set off on a trip to source a firebasket.

We eventually found a fire basket in another Bricolage store and when back home removed the plywood front which was covering the fireplace and set up the hearth and a good fire. The fire was soon burning well and looked really cosy.

I am no expert in the Aboriginal tribes of the North Americas, i.e. the red Indians, but I seem to recall that the Pueblan Indians, the Hopi, worshipped their gods through their ritualised dances while wearing costumes and elaborate masks. They also carve 'kuchinas' or small doll like figures which represented the spirits (although the ones sold to tourists always have an error built in as the real Kuchinas are not for sale). Pueblan Indians lived in stone buildings in which the local stone found in the arid mesas where they lived was bound with mud as a mortar. This is very similar to our traditional Breton farm, in that the local stone is bound by wet clay as mortar rather than cement based mortar. We were warned not to have the stonework cleaned by a wet process as the clay would be washed out form the stones. It is a flexible and resilient building method.

The Hopi 'house' differed though in that it had no doors or windows, but a flat roof with a hole. This served as the entrance, chimney and window. They would climb up to the roof by a ladder and draw this up after them to prevent intruders. The men in Hopi society looked after the crops and animals (what there were), while the women looked after the home and children, it should also be pointed out that women owned the land and houses in Hopi society. The religious festivals and rituals mentioned above were also the responsibility of the men of the tribe or village. As well as the dances they would retreat to the Kiva, a womb like room built underground with a fire hole and an entrance hole in the roof. Int his room, I understand, the men would smoke, discuss matters of importance and philoshophise about their religion.

The Hopi Home and the Kiva must have been dark and smokey places to live. Some tribes who worshipped their ancestors also buried their dead in holes in the floor of the houses. They were buried vertically in a hunched up position with the arms hugging the legs! It is said by some that the men in the kiva would enter a trance like state due to the concentrated smoke and low oxygen level and this led to hallucination believed to be a religious 'revelation'.

Not only do I have a farmhouse whose walls are built in the manner of the Pueblan Indians but I also discovered what it must have felt like to be in a kiva. As our fire burned up, the realisation that the chimney must be blocked dawned on us. We hadn't thought of that possibility as we were contemplating the romance of sitting by the hearth next to a glowing, crackling log fire, cradled against the cold winter chill by it's warmth. As the tongues of smoke licked the matlepiece we realised something was wrong and it was confirmed as we lost sight of each other in the gathering smog. As we gasped for breath, the romance over, we threw open every opening we could find to get a through draft to clear the smoke.

Eventually the smoke cleared and remained clear while the doors and windows were open. However this was not what we had expected and the chill winter air certainly woke us up. We resorted again to an electric blow heater, and I resolved to get some chimney rods the next day to clear any blockage. One thing I can now say though I never managed to get to the trance stage nor did I get a religious hallucination. How those Hopi managed to survive I'll never understand!! By the way we did check the external chimney and yes there was some smoke coming out.