Monday August 11

power

Last night the power went out in my neighborhood for a solid two hours. The experience of dealing without electricity sucks at first, but becomes strangely comforting. By the time the lights came back on, I felt like I had re-bonded with the earth.

After lighting a few candles, I went outside for a bit and walked around long enough for my eyes to adjust to the absence of light. Since moving here, I hadn't been outside in such pure darkness. It was amazing how the redwoods looked silhouetted against the stars. The moon was nearly full, and cast a soft blue glow on these magnificent trees, which are so tall and dense that they leave only a tiny circle of the sky in view. The only thing missing from this scene were some fireflies, which are unfortunately non-existent on this side of the continent.

I went back inside and worked on my laptop, and found the combination of absolute silence and darkness to be refreshing. Made me wonder why I always have music and light bouncing of the walls of my domicile. When the power eventually came back on, I switched everything off, and retired to an excellent night of sleep.