solitude

At about seven tonight we lost power, so the scramble was on to find and light candles. After lighting candles, we finished our word game. Then we decided to watch a movie on my laptop, aren’t dvds great? Then everyone went to bed, it was about 1030, but I wasn’t at all tired, so using a candle I sat to read. I was struck by the quiet… there are no residual sounds from music in the house, no refrigerator humming, the heat pump wasn’t running… so it was just quiet… a quiet house, light to type this from a single candle… simple… this is solitude… for me it gives a greater meaning to the old saying, “silence is golden”, there is more good news on the phone, school is closed tomorrow, Christmas break has begun, the state truck comes by scraping the road, the sound if far clearer than usual because the machinery of this house is not working without electricity… I have not enjoyed such quiet in a good while…