I awoke this morning to a rather smoky and smelly upstairs. First thought: My altar with it's burning candle. Second thought: Should I put on clothes first or run downstairs? Moses and Maui (2 out of three of the Senior Citizens Brigade) were not alarmed, but the others are nowhere to be seen. This isn't unusual. Sometimes, in the morning, everyone is in bed with me. Sometimes it's just Moses and Maui. They almost always sleep with me. Nevertheless, I ran downstairs, or rather I limped. It was early in the morning, and I wake up stiff and creaky.
I crane my neck around the corner of the downstairs. "Good. No flames. Nothing burning." Or, so I thought. Upon closer inspection, I found the altar, which I keep on my dining area hutch, too hot to touch and smoldering.
HOLY SHIT!
I started clearing the broken glass votive candle holder, but HOLY SHIT it was still too hot to touch. I then got a bowl of water and poured it on the area; it sizzled like a plate of fajitas. I continued clearing the bottom layer of the hutch of its bric-a-brac cussing like a drunken dalai lama. Do dalai lamas curse? If they do, I was certainly channeling all of them.
The thin glass candle protector-thingy (it's round and, I thought, constructed to withstand a melting candle, or hot candle holder) was shattered. Pieces lay on the floor, and on the hutch. CRAP! I almost cut my foot, but thankfully I looked down before stepping into the area (I do live with cats, you know. So, I'm trained to often look first, then step.) The cotton rag rug-like runner that covers the bottom layer of the hutch had been burned through when the blue votive holder shattered, I suppose. Double CRAP! I really liked that runner.
There's an older couple at the Fayetteville Farmers Market who sell out of the back of their truck to supplement their retirement. He makes wooden bird/bat feeders and she makes rag rugs, runners, place mats, etc. with her loom. They both make great stuff! I often tell people that she makes the best rag rugs EVER. It's true!
I have two of her runners and a lovely rug; one - the cream-colored runner is on my antique trunk coffee table, the blue jean rag rug is under the cat bowls, and this now burned multi-colored runner is usually on the bottom layer of my hutch which was damaged when friend (fellow grad student) cat-sat when I was in Italy. She (identity protected) had placed her laptop atop my hutch and the heat from the laptop made a big ol' white-ish chemical-like burn in the middle of my hutch. Oy vay! Now, just south of the whitish chemical-like burn is a half-dollar sized blackened burn mark. This hutch is cursed.
The pretty multi-colored runner is now soaked with water (from me avoiding the fiery incendiary reaction of flame vs. cotton fabric.) CRAP! But, I'll wash and dry it and see how it fares after being burned through. Well, it is just a smallish (baby fist-sized) hole and, I suppose, could be covered with something decorative. I think I'll forego a candle as the decorative item.
DISCLAIMER: I have kept an altar for years, and have often left a candle burning while I went to sleep. The candle is always, or so I thought, placed in a safe candle-burning thing like a votive holder or other candle holder. I also had the circular glass plate thing that, I thought, was designed for withstanding the heat of burning candles or hot votive holders. Moral of this story? Never trust a burning candle.
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