I lost both internet and electricity last night about midnight, but my lights came back on midafternoon and my internet service came back on about 1020 p.m., so less than a day. As far as I know, Mom and my sister Susan are huddled in a room with kerosene lantern and gas grate.

I used a battery powered blowup air mattress to stay in front of the fireplace last night and was pretty toasty warm. I kept a fire going for most of the day and there’s a merry one crackling in the fireplace as I type. The hot water heater still worked, so I got a steamy shower in about a 50-degree house. I used sheets to block off the living room and kept the drapes closed to retain the fireplace heat in the living room, festooned with candles. (I’m not gay, I’m single).

I figured out how to make coffee this morning: I used an all metal pan over the gas pipe in the fireplace to boil water for a French press. Soon after, I headed for the Red Cup, where a good number of all the folks I know stopped in. I thought I’d get internet at the Cup, but they had the same problem I did: the dsl line was down. They did have electricity and I ate there and drank far too much coffee.

The cat has thought it quite an adventure and has scurried about under my feet and treated the living room bed as a carnival of delights, dancing over the furniture and bouncing off the walls. He sure as hell doesn’t want out, though. Even with a fur coat, it’s damn cold, especially when the sun goes down.

There’s an awful beauty to this weather. The glinting ice everywhere is lovely in its own way and reminds me of the ice castle scene in Dr. Zhivago. On the downside, the trees in this town have taken a terrible beating. Everywhere you go, nature has pruned cruelly and killed indiscriminately. I saw trees split in three all the way to the ground. Huge limbs blocks streets everywhere I go and despite the efforts of many public teams and personal efforts, there seem to be new limbs falling for all those that get picked up or dragged off the street. Finally, tonight, the rains washed off more ice than they left, but the temperatures are headed back below freezing before morning and ice and snow is predicted for the weekend.

Despite all this and the 22 hours of inconvenience, I’m still a pretty happy camper as in the last post. One result of the storm that is wonderful is that several of us gathered at GaryB’s for dinner last night and he is one darn good host. It was scrumpdelicious and I made a happy plate. Got to see the poor unwashed still without power who are bunking in with the G-man and that made me grateful for the power I did have by then, in addition to the day of hanging out with the crew.

The primal pleasures of a real wood fire draw me. I like tending a fire. I like watching its changing shapes. I’m glad I don’t have to go outside and cut wood and haul it and do this to keep warm, but as a matter of enhancing an already warm life, it’s a visual and aromatic pleasure for me. I like thinking about the architechture of the fire, banking it for coals or rustling it back up into a merry blaze. At my age, I imagine the golden glow of the light is flattering to me, which is a crying shame since I share the glow of the fire with no one (sniff. poor me. anyone falling for this shit? no? OK).

Speaking of which, I’ll stop here to tend to the fire.

blogblah