Lost Power; Gained Quiet!

koat.com

I was about to e-rendezvous, and what a hoot this time in the world is. My book formatter lives in another state. Not a problem; we've been working on the cover of Wayfaring Traveler, Earth-Whisperers: with oooh-yes, gackkk-no, and let's-brighten-the-color-tone... by lightning emails.

And then the power went out, power meaning electricity. There's been plenty of electricity in the sky. It's monsoon season in the Southwest, which is nothing like the hot, humid torrential downpours of SE Asia.

Here it means cool bright mornings, and by afternoon, spectacular cumulus cloud massing up around the mountain peaks. Big thunder begins rumbling and lightning bolts zing earthward. With luck, rain showers follow.

Last week, a thunder clap directly overhead and immediate lightning, triggered Zeus-alert and lifted me about a half meter straight upward and sideways from the window!

Unusual to lose power in the morning, but we did, and I turned my attention to simpler-life chores. No smoothie possible in the blender; instead I munched down the almonds and apricot kernels I'd soaked overnight.

The whole surround felt wonderfully quiet. I live in the boonies, but geeks live on this lane with every e-gadget and 24/7 WiFi. The bliss of e-silence.

During my months in a tent, power meant candle lantern, and a freeplay hand-crank LED lantern. I mostly slept with nightfall and rose with the birds greeting morning. Not an easy time, but amazingly quiet when I camped in a river gorge with no cellphone reception.

People had human to human conversations instead, sitting around a campfire and telling stories. I met very interesting characters. (See: Wayfaring Traveler, Whale Rider of the Tide.)

So, while waiting to get back online, I thought about bar codes and scanners and ATM's, and does anyone remember how to do bill of sale tallies by hand?!

wikimedia: Chinese abacus