Thunder Storm

We’re currently without power. During a brief but bucketing early evening thunder storm, there was an inconceivable crack of lightning (like a giant light bulb explosively extinguishing) and in an instant the power in the entire Town went out. Wouldn’t you know we had just positioned the scallops and bacon for the oven? It appears that our cocktail munchies will have to wait for another time. Thankfully this new diet we’re on calls for vast amounts of salad. We have lots of that, plus some cold cooked chicken and meatloaf, so we’ll still be able to nourish ourselves. The Grey Goose, Bombay Sapphire and Martini vermouth are at the ready. Our laptop computers (although without internet connection) are still available for writing and solitaire, so all is not lost!


Not so oddly (because I am positive it happens all the time) we both thought of the original settlers who were obliged to make it through life without power, the internet, refrigerators and power garage doors. I’ve lit several candles in the kitchen, but if it weren’t for this computer screen, it would be quite dark, even though we have only just past the summer solstice and it is only six-thirty o’clock (all my mechanical clocks still work!).

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So much for pioneering! The power is restored, and we have resumed our intended evening schedule, including the scallops and bacon. I just heard more deep thunder, so we may yet be in for an evening, but for the time being I can see what I am doing and the pleasant wafting of the conditioned air is sensible. I shall retard my consumption of gin until the hors d’oeuvres are prepared. If we’re plunged back into darkness I shall be none the worse.

At the office this afternoon I received an unexpected telephone call from a remarkable woman and friend from Vancouver. She is about to record the extraordinary age of ninety-four and she still sounds like a young woman. What was of particular interest to me in what she related was that, as far as she is concerned, the markets are behaving well. My elderly friend has followed the ups and downs of the stock market for years. I recall staying with her and her late husband in their lavish condominium on the Gulf in Naples, Florida years ago. When not preparing breakfast for me and her equally delinquent son, she was constantly poring over the financial pages of the newspapers, often followed by a long-distance telephone call to her broker in Canada. As a result, I take her intelligence as both informed and reliable. It was an uplifting interlude to have her advice. When things are slow I tend to multiply the reasons for disparaging, though I was most certainly comforted by her counsel that “it always returns”, a comment which I figure someone of her venerable age is justifiably entitled to make.

You can imagine how green everything is after all this rain we’ve been having! Our garden bushes and flowers are burgeoning! The rain is still hammering the railings of the patio deck I see in the distance. The scallops and bacon are almost done. We appear to be out of the woods. Time to refresh! Salut!