sun!

Another power outage yesterday afternoon, a couple hours after I posted my previous Blathering...this one affected all of Huntsville as well as the surrounding area. Apparently some people got temporarily stranded in the town since gas pumps weren't working.

But even more significantly, our local ISP wasn't working, which meant I couldn't get online!

I coped with this catastrophe by engaging in activities which didn't require online access like reading (print text, not electronic!), napping, and actually enjoying the outdoors. I made toast in the fireplace by sticking a piece of bread onto a barbecue skewer and holding it over the coals. It got slightly singed, but I swear it tasted better than regular toast.





Sunny and somewhat warmer today, plus the power's back on! The sunny part is, unbelieveably, more important than the electric power.

It's funny, really. I know that if I put myself in the right mindset (like on the Nahanni trip, or even on a regular canoe or hiking trip), I don't mind being cold and wet for extended periods of time. When you're in an environment where you're used to certain luxuries, however, your mind gets somewhat more truculent (yay, I finally get to use the word truculent in a Blathering!).

The combination of the power outage and lack of sun made it pretty much impossible to ever get completely warm. A novelty at first, but then it gradually gets somewhat wearing.

But there's sun today! Amazing how cheering a bit of sunlight can be. I'm sitting at the dining room table in the boathouse right now. Jeff's still sleeping and JBR's still up in his cabin, so I've got the whole place to myself. I was up at 6:30 this morning, lit a fire, started some hot water for tea and porridge, then (insert shuddering sigh of ecstasy here) picked up my e-mail.





Last night, JBR, Jeff and I went over to Bob Clappison's cottage to check out the night sky on a telescope kindly loaned to us by Karen Yule. We saw Jupiter's stripes and three of its moons, a blindingly bright Venus, orangey-red Mars. We weren't able to identify any other planets, sadly. The Clappison cottage looked cozy with electric lights powered by their emergency generator.

Hey, Jeff just woke up. Wow, and it's not even 9 am!

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Today's Blatherpics:

	Me in the boathouse.
	Jeff on the telescope last night.
	My breakfast this morning. Quaker's Instant Oatmeal, Peaches and Cream.