Re: The lights went out in Waterford

On Aug 12, 3:20 pm, Alan D. <SPAMNOTa...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Chuck <chucksears1_nos...@xxxxxxx> wrote:
betsey wrote:
...last night.  lost power for about 1.5 hours.  this was after a
blustery stormy day that had us under a tornado warning for a few
hours in the afternoon....significant enought that Fred deemd it
worthy to bring the bunnies inside as a "just in case measure"...

however, when the lights went out...around 8pm,,,after getting some
candles going...katie grabbed my "new" 12 string and brought it into
the family room, as well as the rise up songbook and a flashlight.  we
four entertained ourselves silly singing and playing.  yes, i still
can't strum and keep a beat to save my life, but it was fun.  more fun
than watching the olympics, or whatever would have occurred should we
have had power.

the classic exchange of the night...i started in on blowing in the
wind then wanted to know why fred was not singing "well betsey, to be
truthful, i didn't know what was playing, it all sounds the same"...to
which i gave him Norman's "four chords and a cloud of dust".....

so a few minutes later, fred launched into *HIS* rendition of "Proud
to be an american", which is retitled "Proud to be a piney".  I told
him i didn't know that one....his response "Cheese betz...you know
four chords, pick two of 'em!".

Katie wanted to know when Norm would show up to show us how to do it
all.....

betsey

You, Fred and the kids will likely recall the moment for a long time to
come.  It doesn't get any better than that!  I think this country needs
many more "lights out" moments.  Even though I can't write a song, let
alone play one respectably, it seems there is the making of a song in
your post.

Chuck

P.S. - I'm trying to selectively catch up on postings and e-mails after
a hard couple weeks of business travel.

This thread reminds me of what my father called "Old Time Nights".
Periodically, but with a random time interval, he would declare an old time
night. That meant we didn't use anything with electricity. We were already
still using wood  heat in a pot bellied stove, or later when we got upscale a
fuel oil space heater, for houe heat, so that was allowed. Mum would cook some
sort of skillet dinner on the stove and we would use candles or railroad type
lanterns for light. Sometimes we would do "pass-it-along" stories where each
person would tell a bit of a story and build it up to some impossible point and
then pass it along to the next person in the circle to continue. Reading out
loud was another favourite and of course singing. This was when I was pretty
young and before I played guitar, but harmonics were involved. We did the same
when we had cook out picnics in the woodlot. Lots of good memories there.

Alan D.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Alan--

it sounds like a good practice- and one we could all benefit from. We
do lots of "no electronics" nights...play board games, roast
marshmallows and in the colder weather, go for walks in the
woods...its fun seeing what you can hear at night, rather than
see.....

betsey
.

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