This is a reanimation of the Vicaribus blog as lived by Miro Kazakoff and Ehren Foss in 2004 and 2005. The photos may be spotty.

Smelly Cat is an Excellent Campfire Song

Posted by Miro

I cannot roll my R’s. I’ve been trying for years. Instructors from all walks of life have patiently coached me and I’ve still failed. A rather extensive lesson from Michelle last night around the campfire ended in sputtering disaster: I sounded like a motor that wouldn’t catch, everyone else got sprayed with spit. I am officially giving up.

We don’t do campfires quite enough on this trip. When it’s just Ehren and I, it’s hard to have the discipline to build and maintain the fire. While I love the feel, look and smell of a campfire, it also seems to have this power as social lubricant: a power that’s perhaps wasted on just two people who already know plenty about each other.

The campfires we’ve had with groups have all been tremendous fun, though. I wonder if it’s a conditioned expectation that people relax and tell stories around fires, or if Ehren and I have just been blessed with meeting and reconnecting with great friend along the way. The fire itself might be part of equation, though. Perhaps the warmth provides both a physical and emotion sense of comfort to humans. Taming fire was a major advance for people and brought us to a new standard of living. Food could be cooked increasing it’s nutritional value and taste. The light and warmth helped ward off dangerous creatures. People could be productive where before they had to sit in darkness. I think campfires trigger the sense of comfort our ancestors must have felt when they returned from the dangerous and unknown to the community or family fire.

Today’s slang:

Fanny: slang for vagina. Used just like we use the word ass, which is what fanny is slang for in The States. As in “Stop being such a totally fanny.” One can also say “Stop fannying about.”