Thursday, January 14, 2021

Three Beautiful Things 01-13-21: New Book for the Power Outage, Christy's Fireplace, Sleeping with Cats

 1. I had settled in this morning, enjoyed a couple cups of coffee, was getting ready to head up to the clinic to meet my appointment with the nephrologist. My lab results came in this morning and I studied them, hoping that Dr. Bieber would agree with me that things still look pretty stable, albeit with a little slippage.

Then, around 8:00, the power went off.  Dr. Bieber's office called. My 9:00 appointment was off and we rescheduled. 

So, of course, I wondered how long this outage would last. The winds had been howling all night and continued to whip through our area all morning and into the late afternoon. The big tree in front of the Tall Pine drive-in in Pinehurst blew down. I hundred foot tree just east of Jim Byrd's house dropped across Maple Street in CdA. I began to realize that this windstorm was knocking down trees all over and wires and other parts of the power grid were also going down.

I began seeing notices that it could be anywhere from 36-72 hours before power would be restored in some areas.

So, I settled in.  I took the flashlight out of the Sube and put new batteries in it. Christy boiled water on her gas grill and brought me a thermos of hot water. I made coffee and, later, ginger tea. I got out a bunch of blankets. I put on gloves.

I also started reading a new book, The Yellow House, by Sarah M Broom. It's a memoir of her family's house located in New Orleans East, how her mother came to by the house, and the many many family members who either preceded her mother's purchase or who lived in this house. It's lyrical, touching, insightful, and bursting with vigorous detail about life in this part of New Orleans. I know where it's headed. In fact, today I got a foretaste of where it's going when I read the chapter describing the power and destruction of Hurricane Betsy. This book is headed toward Hurricane Katrina. Already, I feel like I'm reading a very specific family history that could have been a part of Spike Lee's devastating documentary on Hurricane Katrina, When the Levees Broke

2. Christy's house next door has a fireplace. Thank God. Around 7 or so, I left the darkness of my house and the growing chill and plunked myself in the recliner that sits right close to the fireplace. Christy had a roaring fire going. I got myself situated and we gabbed for a couple of hours about things local and things national. Yes, it was dark, but Christy had candles and other lights on that gave us some light. I was really grateful for the time we spent shooting the breeze and that I wasn't freezing.

3. I slept in the recliner under a huge and very warm comforter of Christy's. During the night, Christy's cats, for sure William and Grayson (unsure about Winnie), jumped up on me and warmed themselves on my chest. I loved it. It's been many years since I've had cats join me while sleeping.  I found several ways, with or without cats on me, to get comfortable in the recliner and got a good night's sleep. 

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