How to Spend A Power Outage

 

The wind raged crazily all day.  Blue skies, grey skies, some of both.  But all day, turn-umbrellas-inside-out crazy wind.  And then, an hour or so before we were all meant to gather next door for apèros to welcome US friends back to the village, the power went out.  All over.  My place, their place, across the street.

Cancel?  Not a chance!  I make my contribution of salmon toasts by the light of a votive, ask if I can scuttle over a few minutes before the arrival time before it gets too dark for me to navigate my stairs holding a platter, and arrive next door to a lovely welcome, beautiful candlelight, and a fellow guest solving the music challenge with his iPhone and our hosts' speaker.

Before we could settle in, the skies opened, matching the drama of the wind, and our street turned into this raging river:

Thirty minutes later, the water was gone, the streets glistened, and we'd all tucked into the amazing nibbles assembled by friends.

And, not too long after, the lights came back on...but we kept most of them off.

That's the way to spend a power outage.