There's Always a Silver Lining

A storm to top all thunderstorms came down like a hammer in the Camden hills last night, struck us like a nail and wiped out the electricity at 9:15 p.m.  I was in the bathroom when the lights went out and had to feel my way down the hallway as if I were blind. I laid on the sofa staring upwards into the darkness that was alternately lit with brilliant flashes...when it subsided, I went into a semi-conscious state.

At around 10p.m., Matt came into the living-room searching frantically with a flashlight for the electric company's bill.  In my semi-conscious state, I thought he was weird wanting to pay his bill in the middle of the night and rolled over into a deep sleep.

By morning the house was stuffy, hot and uncomfortable.  Tristan was up at 5 a.m. and woke Meg and Matt up.  Matt ran out to the Rockland McDonald's for breakfast and ice for the fridge.  The children ate, dressed and went with Mary for a few hours as Camden had no school due to the lack of power.  Dave and I went out for a morning stroll.

                                         On our walk we observed the debris, a barking Anna, a run-a-way blue canoe, an enormous tree branch

hanging on the wires, and a couple serpentine wires on the ground.  At the Snow Bowl, a father and son were playing tennis and two women were having an adventure strapping their crafts to the roof of their vehicle.  We sat on the wet picnic table and gazed at the intermittent sun dappled upon the water until it began to get too warm for comfort.

A gentleman was out front of his house on our return walk and said, "Hi" to us.  We went into his yard and met him.  His name was Woody.  He was tall, lanky, and wearing a leather hat.  He had a front tooth missing which was obvious when he smiled. We introduced ourselves and asked what his black and white splotched cat's name was:  Spunky - because he's all over the place.  Do you have your power yet? As we looked down the road the power company was working on our street.  He then went on to say that we'll have power long before he will because with the configuration of these wires, I am on another grid.  Then he described that he has his house only because his mother passed away 20 years too soon because of cancer and he's out of work.  He makes wooden baskets for apples and home-made ice-cream to sell at the Common Fair Grounds this coming weekend. And hoped that it wouldn't melt in this heat before his power came back on.  Would you like some ice-cream?  Sure.  Then he went inside and we continued our walk back to Meg's past the power people and stopped traffic.

The power came on soon there afterwards and we reset everything before enjoying a break in the weather outside.  The yard was strewn with twigs. I began sorting the wood into sizes for our campfire this weekend.  (When I told Matt about it, I said, "Bonfire" and he cringed.)  I had to change my wording to fit my idea of an all day long small fire.  We were outside grooming the yard for a couple of hours until fatigue set in as well as hunger.  There has to be a balance between work and play. We live all day, and write about it during the evening.

I read about Shakespeare's method of creating his life and his station...he acted his way into the gentry...and his often quoted saying, " All the world is a stage" - Shakespeare  was proved to be true within his own life. He paid for a coat of arms so that his children would be part of the aristocracy.  "

Mary brought the children home and stayed to visit with us.  Tristan played for blood at the outdoor gymnasium and came home all scrapes and bruises needing a band-aid.  Alyssa wanted to go into the Nomad and play restaurant...(We later found out that our family likes watching Master Chef, so Alyssa pretended she was a Master Chef.  I had no idea what she was doing or why...good ole generation gap!), we played Uno, then cleaned the dishes and their rooms. Mary went home when Matt got here.Then Matt fell asleep in the office chair and the children watched movies.  Dave and I worked on Blogs.

"America is where dreams come true"--Luca, a new Master Chef.  New to America and he loves our country...where has our enthusiasm and loyalty to our own country gone?   Not only have we left the storms of yesterday behind, but creating our own lives and having our new dreams come true is our silver lining.

Until next time,
The Happy Campers,
Jill & Dave