Apparently, I have run out of free photo storage and had to purchase some more today. And I thought blogger kept bragging about being FREE!! Since the timing was lousy – right in the middle of my Swedish Christmas musings - I hurried up and purchased some more space for $5.00. They said it may take up to 24 hours for this to become effective. So here is what happened yesterday sans the photos.
Yesterday, the rain continued, but I had to get the mail so I hiked down to the mail box. It was wonderful to walk in the rain. As I approached the mailboxes on the main road, I heard a roaring sound. Thinking it was one of the donkey rescue trucks, I looked behind me, but no truck in sight. Then I knew what it was: The creek! At one point it goes under the road through two large drums and that's where the sound came from. In the five years we have owned this place, I have only once or twice seen a trickle of water in that creek. Yesterday it was roaring, coming through the drums with a huge force and whitecaps on brown water.
And the sound…..It was wonderful…I just stood there….for a long, long time…. and listened. If you come from a country of many lakes, if you spent your childhood summers on an island or lived on a boat, if you owned a sailboat and used to sail to Catalina Island off the California coast, much as you may love the desert mountains, you will miss the sound of water because it was such a huge part of your life.
Earlier, around ten in the morning, as I was about to start baking, the power went and it didn't come back all day. So I had to get busy and make a fire. I had some wood in the house and I brought in as much of the relatively dry wood from the side of the house as I could carry.
And for the first time, I was able to make hot water for tea on my woodburning stove.
With nothing much to do, I decided to light candles, wrap presents and make my Christmas baskets.
At dinner time, I was thrilled to once again make lemonade of lemons: Since I couldn't heat my dinner or cook, I reveled in a salty, a very salty, dinner of Swedish Matjes herring with sour cream and Triskets. I love salt, but like all of us old folks, I have to limit it. Not so last night. To keep dinner a little bit healthy, I had an orange for dessert.
As the day wore on and dusk fell, the power didn't come back, so I lit more candles and just sat and watched as it grew dark outside, something I never do when I have electric service – how come, I wonder, it was a wonderful experience. I listened to the rain, stoked the fire, made sure Pippi Birdie was covered up with extra layers so he would stay safe through the night, and went to bed. I have a wonderful duvet, called a featherbed, like those in Austria and Switzerland ; it's huge and thick and there is no way you can be cold snuggling under it. Angel was shivering, so I made sure she came up and spent the night in bed with me. It was early, around six. I read for a while with my flashlight then went to sleep. The power came on around five this morning. My phone answering machine alerted with it's 'please set the time' message, waking us all up. I was happy to be able to turn on the electric heaters and make some hot coffee.
The rain stopped this morning. I hope it will be nice tomorrow as I have to go to the dentist early. Have a nice evening and thank you for all your comments on Angel and Samson. You know they love the attention.
the weather has gone mad this year hasnt it>?
ReplyDeleteThis is so funny! We had to do the same thing too this week. We ran out of free room. So we paid up. And yes it took a few hours, I think overnight,to put up photos again.
ReplyDeleteInger, I truly believe we are living in a parallel universe! lol It has been raining here and our power has gone out ( mind you not for long). But could again at any time.
The only difference would be we use gas for emergency heat not wood.
Really hope you and yours have a great holiday season and I so enjoy reading your posts and look forward to many more....with pics, of course. lol
Jim
I had to purchase more photo space from Google a few weeks ago too. They gave it to me instantly so I'd think you'd be good for more photos to spoil us with! :)
ReplyDeleteAnd I'm glad your power is back up too! I enjoy the quiet it provides, but I do sure miss my coffee maker. And instant coffee from water warmed in the fireplace isn't nearly as good. :)
What a beautiful day. Candles should be a must:)
ReplyDelete(I didn't know that about the photo thing...hmmm....I better be careful on what I use my photo"bank" on)
:) Lovely post!
I miss my wood burning stove, except for the smoke, which of course, is dreadful for me now. It is kind of special, when all is quiet and dark with no electric sounds. To watch the day vanish and then to see the day begin as it used to, long ago before electricity.
ReplyDeleteI too love the water sounds, unless they are coming at me! LOL! Had that happen once at the cabin, a little scary. Glad your rain has ended.
Good luck at the dentist tomorrow!
That's odd they asked your for money as long as I've had my blog I've never heard anything about having to purchase space?
ReplyDeleteNan
My! All this rain the West Coast is getting is really something, isn't it? I very much enjoyed this post. With the absence of pictures, you created words that more that filled the void. I could see you moving around your suddenly much simpler world, and reveling in the difference. Good thing you had that feather bed, though. I bet Angel was really glad to be in it.
ReplyDeleteJohn: Yes, for sure! Talked to my 87-year friend in Stockholm. He's shoveling snow and told me they had 1/2 ameter already!
ReplyDeleteJim: It's amazing how we seem to and it has made me feel a real feeling of friendship with you and your family.
texwisgirl: I'm glad I'm not the only one who had to buy space.
Dawn: I only paid $5.00 for 20 GB. Now that I know, I can monitor and see how long that lasts. They said 10,000 pics from a certain type of camera. I don't know.
Sharon: I had it come at me here too one summer after a very strong downpour. Not quite a flash flood, but very, very close to it. And it was scary, but fascinating at the same time.
Nan: I use a lot of photos and that's what they wanted the money for.
Louise: I felt so insecure w/o my photos. Thanks for this wonderful compliment.
Eek! I didn't know I'd run out of photo space someday! Thanks for the heads-up.
ReplyDeleteThose dry creek beds out here in the West can become a river in no time.
wow, sounds like what started out to be an inconvenience turned out to be a beautiful day and evening!! i'm happy it happened for you. wrapping presents and having tea for your wood burner by candlelight seems priceless!! and, yes, i understand the water... here in the desert and having grown up with a surfing family at the beach and sailing for a year as a child has put in me a perpetual longing for water. i'm glad you also had the opportunity to hear the creek rushing!
ReplyDeleteI loved your day without power... I look forward to those days... a break from the hum of the electricity and all of the electric powered cnoise makers is always a welcome relief to me.
ReplyDeleteI didn't know Blogger charged for photo storage either... guess I'd better check into that!
Glad you were snug in your Feather Bed when you went to bed... and Glad the dog enjoyed it too. Isn't it amazing how short the day is without the aid of electricity... not a good time to get anything accomplished... sounds cozy though. I'm really happy I made the journey to LA through the storm safe and sound... I needed to do that so I would regain the faith I could do it, even in that weather!
ReplyDeleteI do love the quiet that envelopes the house when the power is out, but am always glad when it comes back on!
ReplyDeleteyes, it's amazing how we notice things around us when we don't have electrical distractions - here in the desert we also have occasional flash-floods when it rains and the dry river beds come to life ...
ReplyDeleteCompliments of the season to you Inger.
We experienced power outages here and there as well, Inger, and I usually enjoy not being "plugged in." Making coffee on the woodstove, reading, finishing up projects... it's so peaceful. I'm glad that your power came back on in the morning, though. :)
ReplyDeleteIt takes a long time to learn to go with the flow and live in the moment...you have succeeded and reap all the benifits.
ReplyDeleteI came here to check to see how you fared. This rain was incredible. We had to get sandbags against some doors but other than that, all fine is here.
ReplyDeleteWow, up to about 22" where I live..in rain.
I enjoyed (with you) your day without power :-)
ReplyDelete