Living By Lamplight

Because we are still operating with only one outlet in the house and because we want to conserve energy on cloudy days for other things (the days being almost all cloudy this time of year), we light the house almost entirely by oil lamps at night. And, I've noticed that "living by lamplight" seems to create a much . . . gentler . . . lifestyle.

Tonight, a glorious sunset at precisely 4:49 PM was followed by me lighting the lamp in the bathroom and two in the dining room where I was working. We have no TV, and the radio was softly tuned to the local radio station which plays a terrific mix of classic country (think Jimmy Rogers) on Sunday evenings. Life just seems to move differently. There is no glaring excess of electric light all over the house and so the recesses and unused rooms are dark. We find ourselves making a conscious decision regarding timing our work these days. Inside work that requires bright, leave-no-stone-unturned light gets done during the day. But then, things slow down when the sun sets and more "putter-y" projects seem to take the forefront.

So, tonight, I attacked the "some assembly required" file cabinet I had purchased on one of my last trips to Canada. Tom claims the thing never would be sold in the States due to the DEGREE of "some assembly required"! The average "I want it, and I want it NOW!" American would probably take one look at the myriad of pieces, the 17 pages of instructions, and say, "Are you kidding me?!" And, even though I had all the time in the world on my side, I did find myself thinking, more than once, "Why is this reminiscent of a horrible Christmas Eve gift assembly project?"

The other title to tonight's post could have been 'Nobody Will Come Visit Us'. That was always Tom's theory about once we moved up here - so far away from everything and everyone. But, if this weekend was any indication, we'll have no worries about a lack of visitors . . . .