Winter Solstice

Life was very good yesterday at chez nous. Although the winter solstice occurred this morning at 7:04 a.m. EST,  we celebrated last night, snowed in as we were, with some waltz, tango, and cha cha dancing at home followed by a nice dinner.

Samba always coming running to the living room when we roll up the carpet to dance.  She joined in the fun by dancing with her toy mouse in the corner.

That was then...

This morning I really was glad that I had made myself these hand warmers because we had no power and consequently no heat. 

I awoke at 6:30 a.m. to the sound of the calculator on my desk over in the studio going "Chuckita, chuckita, chuckita..."  Luckily, there was no paper tape in the spool because it would all have been fed onto the floor before the darn thing woke me up.

Then I noticed that the light of the computer monitor off/on switch was flashing like crazy. "What the *?!," I thought.  Still sleep-logged and barely conscious, I tripped in the dark to the bathroom and flipped on the light.  What was this strange root-beer colored haze?  After turning the light off and on again, and getting the same result, it finally dawned on me that were having power issues.

I unplugged all the electronic equipment, reset the flashing alarm clock in the bedroom, and crawled back in bed where Dennis and Samba were obliviously to the sounds of the ice-laden branches of an alder tree grinding on the house just outside the bedroom window.  

Two hours later, the situation had not improved.  We were powerless and heatless. It was 21 degrees outside.

But I had style...

The rust and cinnamon-colored scarf, which was completed last night after dinner, looked really hot with my forest green terry-cloth robe and the tobacco-colored hand warmers. A pair of extra-warm socks made from brown Socks-That-Rock completed the ensemble.  The only item out of sync was those red and green plaid, flannel, pajama pants.

****

Without electricity, the only heat source available to us is the gas cooktop. The house was scoured for matches, because the electronic igniter on the cooktop wouldn't work, and water was set to boil for coffee. 

Imagining myself as Pioneer Woman, (without a microwave to heat up the syrup), I decided to fix scrambled pancakes and sausages while it was still a balmy 57 degrees inside. 

It's hard to cook wearing hand warmers.

Luckily for us city-slickers, the power was back on before noon.  Here are some more photos after nine inches of snow and more on the way.

Samba says "Hi!" to you all and doesn't understand why she cannot go out on the deck today.