Playing with fire

Since moving into a new house that has a garden, I decided to buy a chimenea – a traditional Mexican wood-fired outdoor heater and stove.

Last night, I invited a couple of friends round for some beers and a curry on the patio, and needless to say, the appeal of playing with fire was too strong to resist. Between us, a chemist, a physicist and an engineer, we stoked the fire until it was leaping out of the chimney.

Later on, the fire died down and I was able to get some shots of glowing embers. These ones were stuck around the grate at the top of the chimney.

And these ones were flying out of it!

This photo of scraping the ash out reminds me of an iron forge.