Fun With Huge Bonfires On A Rainy Night During Foliage Season

Steam, an otherworldly glow and ghostly
people at a bonfire in Shrewsbury, Vermont last night. 

Last night, I was at a huge party at my sister Laurie's house, and her partner Bennie, in rural Shrewsbury, Vermont.

As you read down, you'll get an explanation of the ghostly photos in this post. Some explanation is in order.

Laurie's parties tend to be huge affairs that go late into the night. There's plenty of music, food, and LOTS of booze.

(It's OK, there's also lots of designated drivers, or people who just crash on couches for the night.)

The party was a huge hit, despite the fact it rained torrentially through most of the event.

We huddled under tents with good buddies like Dr. McGillicuddy, Dr. Jagermeister,  and some home grown concoctions.  Although, to be honest, at my age I wasn't able to handle much beyond some nice Vermont microbrew.

A bonfire on a rainy night in Shrewsbury, Vermont.  

There were two guys, one a singer and guitarist, the other, a handsome young man playing spoons incredibly expertly.

The pair played mostly country standards, and were surprisingly talented and engaging.

There was a lot of dancing, but I don't think anybody there would be a finalist on "So You Think You Can Dance." 

Especially not the woman in the pink sweater and the clear garbage bag she was using as a raincoat. She was drunk enough to kind of look like those blow up signs and figures that wave wildly in front of used car lots.

I did think the big huge burly guy wearing the hard hat while dancing might have been the smartest person at the party.

People were especially enthusiastic when the two guys played Garth Brook's "Friends in Low Places." It was that kind of party. In other words, raucus, not exactly fancy, but very, very, very fun.

Sparks from a nighttime bonfire rise
up into fall foliage overhead on a rainy
Saturday night in Shrewsbury, Vermont.  

Another odd highlight was when the two guys played that song from the early 1960s about a teenage couple who gets in a car crash and the girl dies.

It's called "Oh Where Can My Baby Be." It's totally cheesy, which is why the guys played the song

It was hilariously odd to see people dancing with drunken joy to a stupid, melodramatic song about a car crash. You had to be there, though, to get the full effect.

A centerpiece of Laurie and Bennie parties is usually an immense bonfire. Such was the case last night, despite the rain soaking everything so thoroughly it was hard to get a fire going at first.

But it did get going.

I loved the ghostly images it caused with the flames spiking up into the rain pouring down, the smoke, the sparks, the glow of the fire on the fall foliage, the steam from the fire's heat hitting everything wet.

Of course, it was hard to take photos of this with an iPhone in the rain after a few beers, but I tried. They're amateurish, but I got a few otherworldly images that I kind of like in a weird sort of way.

So they're in this post. As always, click on any image you're interested in to get a bigger, better look.