cards wrapped and sealed with sealing wax,
when the power went out yesterday.
we had filled water jugs and animal bowls,
and the porch was already stacked with wood
(thanks to beloved husband). So it was an easy thing
to light a few candles and add another log to the
woodstove fire and decide how to the spend the
newly-quiet and simplified evening.
I had grand thoughts of continuing with the
making-of-things….but candlelight and lamplight
are not what they used to be to these older eyes of mine.
So, after a simple supper of cheese and apples and crackers,
I decided it was a good time to go through another of the piles
of books that are still dotting our home-landscape.
In our very first stack we came across a little paperback
of “lost words” that I had bought long ago
at a used bookstore, but had never read.
My son opened the book and we were
off on word-journey that had us looking at each
other in delight over and over again when we learned that
our “low-bred” dog could be called a “trundle-tail” and that
the state of lethargy that the warm woodstove and dim
surroundings caused in us could be named “slumy”. We are
just longing, now, for the right circumstances to come along so
that we may call an “insignificant creature” a “whifling”. When
our minds were filled to overflowing with the wondrous words,
we turned to the pleasures of reading aloud and music. Do
try to have a musician in the house when the power goes
out…it makes the time passing so sweet.
And now it is morning, and we have oatmeal bubbling
on the campstove, the generator keeping the refrigerator
just cold enough to be safe and I am looking forward to
some hours ahead with paste and paper and string.
With thoughts for those who aren’t so comfortable
when the lights go out, gratitude that we are, and
wishes for all of you that “the blessing of light be
on you…light without and light within.”
P.S. Wouldn’t you know that as I was adding
the last photo to this post, the electricity came
back on? Rats…sort of. But while the rain continues
to lash and blow outside, we will continue to light
candles and add wood to the fire…even if we
don’t have to.
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