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Waking up to darkness on Friday morning, we prepared for a candlelight breakfast

You might not have known it, thanks to the pictures I had staged to go live last Friday and Saturday, but Nick and I were among the ranks in Seattle who lost power for five days last week. The “Big Blow Out” storm left more than a million people powerless for up to a week. Even now, there are pockets of people in outlying areas still in the dark.

It’s never really occurred to me how dependent we are on electricity. Sure the power goes out every now and then, but it’s usually back on within 24 hours. No big deal, right?

Last Saturday, people waited up to an hour and a half in line at the two gas stations in Bellevue that could run their pumps. Like a frightening Mad Max movie, fist fights broke out when the station finally ran out of gas. In order to buy a telephone that didn’t need plugging in the wall, I walked around a darkened Walgreens by flashlight. The clerk wrote the price of each item I wished to purchase on a piece of paper and escorted me back to the checkout counter. The lady who added up my purchase was probably the only employee old enough in the store to know how to count change without a calculator.

With nothing else to do, I set out on a walk around Kirkland to document the damage. Pictures are available in the gallery.

Standing among the trees

Overlooking Eagle Creek near Hood River, OR

Rio in your living room

Rio, as seen by model train

I was always jealous of people who had trains around their Christmas trees growing up. Somehow that just seemed more “Christmas-y” to me than having “just a tree.” (We had the trains, but we didn’t put them out because they never seemed to work.)

I still don’t have trains, but thanks to the magic of Photoshop, I can create a whole miniature train world - without the expense and time to construct the elaborate setup I might add. 

Possessed

I wouldn’t say that I’m a computer expert, but I think I’ve got things figured out more or less…until today that is. It happened while moving the computer from our dining room table to the office where it belongs.

Somewhere between there and here the monitor picked up a ghost – the Ghost of Christmas Past to be exact. When I turned the monitor on a few minutes ago, the speakers started playing Christmas tunes for absolutely no reason. Right now a choral version of “Oh Little Town of Bethlehem” is reaching its final climax.

Wait…now there’s a commentator asking trivia questions about the Bible: “How many chapters are in the book of Jordan? For whom did Moses want to build the three tabernacles? Complete this line: ‘Perfect love casteth out...’”

And now we return to our regular programming.

Don’t get me wrong – I’m amenable to sharing my life with friendly spirits. But a Christian classical music ghost?! Why couldn’t the monitor have been infected with the Ghost of Indie Rock or the Ghost of NPR?

Maybe God is trying to send me a message: “I haven’t seen you in church for a few years. Thought I’d drop in for a visit.”

Okay, I get it. Now can you turn off the music already? It’s just not my style.

Thanks.

Little Hand