Saturday with the Thibaults

"BEEEP! BEEEP! BEEEP!"

I woke on Saturday morning to the blaring of a fire alarm. As acrid smoke filled the air in my third floor bedroom, I hurriedly dressed and stumbled downstairs.

"We wake up like this every Saturday morning," Sarah, my Rotarian host, said sarcastically. She stood on a chair fanning the fumes from the smoke detector on the ceiling.

"Just in case you were wondering, we thought you were sleeping in too long. So we decided to set the house on fire!" Paul, Sarah's witty husband, quipped as he wiped the tears from his eyes.

Smoke billowed from the fireplace in the library, filling the kitchen and library on the ground floor with greasy, brown smoke. We spent the good part of the morning arranging portable fans, opening windows and doors and trying to keep the fire alarm from wailing constantly. Finally, Paul and Sarah removed the offending logs from the fireplace and the smoke cleared up. Crisis averted, I sat down to have one of Paul's famously delicious omelettes for breakfast. Over breakfast, I asked Paul and Sarah what had led to the mishap.

It turned out that Paul had thought that it would be a good idea to start a fire to combat the chilly Saturday morning. Even though he had left all doors open to create a draft, the cold, still air prevented the smoke from rising up the chimney and instead it was sucked back into the room. With nowhere to go, the smoke accumulated and set off the fire alarm.

What can I say? Never a dull moment with the Thibaults.

With that incident behind us, we went to Lancaster's Central Market to shop for some lunch. Then we rested for the big event at sundown - Easter Vigil. More on that later.