Power Outage
Last evening, just as we were sitting down to dinner, we heard a loud "POP", and then the electricity went off. It took several hours for the repairmen to fix the problem.
So, with darkness descending, we made a campfire in the backyard, invited the neighbors over, and enjoyed s'mores together.
So, with darkness descending, we made a campfire in the backyard, invited the neighbors over, and enjoyed s'mores together.
Good conversation around the fire reminded me of Sigurd Olson's observation in The Singing Wilderness:
Something happens to a man when he sits before a fire. Strange stirrings take place within him, and a light comes to his eyes which was not there before. An open flame suddenly changes his environment to one of adventure and romance.
As our company parted, one of the kids said, "I wish the power would go out more often."
As our company parted, one of the kids said, "I wish the power would go out more often."
i remember when hurricane hugo ripped through western north carolina (not to mention the rest of the southeastern states); we lived a quarter of a mile back on a dead end gravel road. Trees were down everywhere and nobody had power, water or phones. School was shut down for a week. The next day, though all the neighborhood men (and we boys) got toegther with chainsaws, axes and hatchets - and cleared our road of about 7 different trees. We then went from house to house, clearing the wood. The mothers/wives/daughters spent the days cleaning and getting ready for supper. With the power out - everyone chipped in their steaks and ice cream from the freezers and we ate like kings, laughed like life-long firends and enjoyed dirty/sweaty strong-gripped handshakes and smiles. We were never neighbors like we were that week!
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