Cold weather is back to the mountain, and I have been living with the fire as my heat source every day. Last winter was one of the harshest ever in these mountains, and certainly the harshest of my life. For weeks it was just me, my dog and the fire – that is it. For stretches of that time no light, no water, no phone, no internet – just the three of us. Now the fire is back like an old friend who deeply cares for me and provides well-being and liveliness in my home, a being who also requires that I feed, talk with and care about it. But we are missing our partner. Coco is not here to be with us, and the return of fire heightens my sensitivity to that. But Coco’s absence also heightens my sensitivity to the fire as a living thing, with presence and consciousness. I know it’s true.