Roll of thunder, hear my sigh.

[N]ow and then an ominous black cloud had blotted-out the sun from our sight, and poured down a deluge till it had spent itself, and then had left the sky glaringly bright and blue... ~Alfred Rowland

Wow!  We've had some weather lately.  Flooding rains a couple weeks ago, and a ferocious thunderstorm last night.  We haven't had any major problems because of the weather, and we count ourselves fortunate.  A little dampness on one of our basement walls, and an evening spent in the basement waiting for the winds to die down were our only inconveniences.  Oh, and the loss of power.  I'm hoping it'll be back on by the time I get home this evening.  Tomorrow at the latest.  But, we get what we get--so if it's a few days, we'll survive.


The three girls and I hunkered down by candlelight last night in the basement.  We all had our books, and the candles were enough in that small room to give us each enough light.  There were four in the bed, and the little one said, "I haven't learned how to read yet."  Not that it stopped her from picking a chapter book out of the various books I brought downstairs. 


A book is a good escape.  When the howl of the wind, pounding of rain, and cracking of thunder send your child into a fit of panic, it's best to remember to bring a book with you to the basement.  A book can help you forget about your fear of thunderstorms.  If you have enough candle or flashlight light to make reading possible, you can forget about those winds that are swirling around your house.  


It was cozy to be tucked up on an air mattress with my three girls.  All of us with books to read, even though the youngest has yet to learn how.  The candle light was much more soothing than the harsh glare of the lights before the electricity went out.  The stories found beneath our fingertips brought us to worlds miles away from our own.  The trials of Pongo and Perdita (101 Dalmations by Dodie Smith) helped remove the terror from one child's eyes.  We all got to hear some of the funny moments in The Lost Hero by Rick Riordin.  The littlest child played "What word is that?" until she fell asleep.   


When you live in the sticks and face losing power at least a couple times a summer, it's good to have something that doesn't need electricity in order to work.   It's good to have a book or two on hand at all times, you never know when you might need it.     

  

It was very dark; but in the murky sky there were masses of cloud which shone with a lurid light, like monstrous heaps of copper that had been heated in a furnace, and were growing cold. ~Charles Dickens, Martin Chuzzlewit, Chapter XLII