I miss having a fireplace in the house, as we did when I was a kid, and we often had fires on cooler nights. The job of tending the fire fell to myself and my older sister, both female, so I've never equated fire with gender, and if I did, it would be female.

In tribal communities it usually falls to the women to keep the flame, for obvious reason, as it is they doing the cooking.

Then again, when my now-husband and I got together, we had frequent fires in my back yard fire pit, and he seemed amazed that I was as intent on keeping the fire going as he was. A lot of good times there, and a lot of fires, even though we lived in Florida.

Now we have a double fire pit in our back yard; one for cooking and one for enjoying. But in our current weather conditions, it's too freaking cold to sit out there for long: currently 14 F degrees and dropping, and last night got down to minus 3 F. Happily it will be warmer in a few days, so hopefully we'll be able to again, which we are looking forward to doing.

Like you, I take a lot of photos of the fire, trying to capture its living, breathing spirit within. Lots of faces, indeed.