About 2 hours ago, 6:30 pm, the power went out. No air-conditioning, no TV, no computer. I wondered how widespread this was and how long it would last. It has been very hot and humid and lots of air-conditioners have been working their buns off. I wondered what I would do with myself for the rest of the evening.
I began to think about my grandparents and about hot evenings on their front porch. My grand-mother would be sitting and rocking and fanning herself, with what I don't remember, and my grand-father would be sitting on the porch steps watering the small patch of grass that was the front lawn with hose in hand. The front steps of the house led directly onto the sidewalk making it so easy to be neighbourly.
As I am picturing this, 2 faces came to mind, ... people who regularly passed the house during the day or the evening. One was "Crazy Charlie" who wasn't crazy at all, just simple, and always happy. He always spoke politely to my grand-parents, ... "Hello Mr. Farr, ... Hello Mrs Farr." He stopped to talk and they were always gentle with him as well. If he stayed too long my grandpa could nicely tell him to carry on. The second is just a face, I don't think I ever knew her name. A woman with dark eyebrows, dark hair and a consistently sober face. She would chat a bit too.
As I waited for the lights to come back on, ... the TV and the computer, I wondered about the difference these toys have made in our lives. I am more insulated, less friendly and I remember that as a little girl, I enjoyed those evenings, even though it was warm. My grandma would send someone to the corner store, with a bowl to be filled up with scoops of ice cream, ... or we would have a "mellow roll" ice cream cone, or a glass of real lemonade, ... made by my grandma, and none I have ever tasted was as good as hers.
There were always lots of lightening bugs to watch when the sun had disappeared, "heat lightning", a thunder storm "coming back around" as my grandma would say.
I rarely look back in time, I just don't usually enjoy doing so, but those times were so easy, calm, pleasant.
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