Stormy Weather

The predawn wind was like a hurricane and shook the windows. It made me roll over and dream a lot. I dreamed I was at an animal adoption fair and I adopted a blond long-eared hound the same size as Lily, to be Lily's friend. The hound in the dream had hurt its ears, and the black stitches were exposed.

Today is the 4th anniversary of Lily's adoption.

This morning Bill got up at 4:30 as usual. He was at his computer having tea and around 5 AM there was a BOOM and then a blackout. The city was dark, a stormy blur with windy horizontal rain, unusually warm. Luckily Bill knew where a flashlight was. He came up to tell me there was either a neighborhood blackout or we're ALL delinquent on our electric bills. I was still in bed but realized I should help him prepare for his day. All I could hear was the wind, and the house was shaking. I opened the curtains and got dressed by the battery-powered light over the neighbor's back door. It was offering just enough light into our bedroom. Every little bit helped. How metaphoric. I guided Lily down the linoleum stairs in the dark.

Then I found my new Christmas-gift flashlight in the hall, just where I had left it. I followed Bill around holding the super bright LED flashlight while he showered and dressed and removed lint from his pants and packed his lunch and made peanut butter sandwiches and cold coffee for breakfast.

I almost called my pal in the neighborhood nearby to celebrate the blackout, but I feared waking her up. Instead I sat in my chair and wrote in my notebook by flashlight, enjoying the silence and the sunlight coming up.

The lights came back on 7:40 AM with another BOOM. I reset the clocks and turned off the printers and amplifiers which come on when the power goes out and then comes back on again. I made coffee and warmed up some oatmeal. The power went out again briefly. I reset the clocks again.

The lights went off once again while I wrote this on the computer - but it was saved in time. Many people we know have had day-long and week-long blackouts after hurricanes! Jeez, I am bellyaching over a two-and-a-half-hour one. What a baby.

I turned on WOON AM radio to hear news about the blackout. They were busy reciting all the day's school lunches for Northern RI! Hilarious and adorable. Super-local radio.