Let There Be...No Light...

(Stars) 

This past night was like so many other nights...until a little after 1:00 am.  Wide awake and gearing up for some online time, I walked into the guest bedroom where I keep my computer, flipped the wall switch to turn on the ceiling fan, and...blackout.  The timing was spot on with my switch flip, so it felt (for a moment anyway) like I had cut off the power in the entire condo.  After the initial surprise, I cautiously made my way to the living room where Glenn was.  Although a short distance, it was difficult maneuvering through the intense darkness that had filled every room.  The candle light in the living room helped, kind of acting as my 'North Star'.  I always burn candles, this particular one has a warm and comforting pumpkin spice aroma.  It was actually my store of candles that saved our proverbial bacon.

Once I got to the living room, I opened the front door to confirm that it wasn't just us that had been effected. Indeed.  I opened the door on a pitch black world.  Couldn't see anything.  Seriously.  Nothing outside was visible.  Here on the island, we do have some street and porch lights that illuminate things to a degree, but with their absence comes absolute darkness.  I, of course, was incredibly intrigued and had to venture out to investigate.

(Light from flashlight) 

Glenn decided to hop in his truck and go for a drive to find out just how far this blackout reached.  I stayed behind to try to get some pictures.  "Try" was right.  Since it was so dark, I didn't think I would really get much of anything.  My preference for flash-less photography pretty much guaranteed that my efforts would be fruitless, but I took the chance anyway.  The first two shots above are both from a string of pictures I took outside.  The stars are out in force on a good night, and with the absence of light here on planet Earth, they blanketed the heavens.  The photo at the top of this post is one of the shots I took of the stars.  Wasn't sure if I would catch anything with this camera, but I was able to capture some of them.  The picture looked pretty good on my computer, so I hope it translates here on the blog since it is smaller.  The second shot is from my walk back from the cul-de-sac by the marsh.  It is the light from my flashlight on asphalt.  Another one that looked more impressive on my computer.  At any rate, they illustrate well just how dark my world had become.

(Candle in living room) 

When Glenn got back, I learned that the lights were out for quite a distance.  During the first few calls to Georgia Power, the automated system said that they knew about the problem and were going to get someone on the job.  Those first calls said it would be back on by 2:30 am.  Then the deadline became 7:30 am.  Glenn was tired and decided to crash, and I stayed up and continued reading a book I am really digging (review to come).  The lights popped back on about 5:30.  Yipee.

Interesting it is to have a power outage during a time of potential boredom.  No better way to show someone just how dependent on technology they are than to take away their 'power' during a night of insomnia.  No TV or computer.  I was especially bummed about the computer.  Thankfully, cameras run on batteries, so I decided to play around a little with candle light indoors.  The rest of the photos are from my flash-less photo session inside the condo.

(Candle on glass coffee table) 

(Reflection of candle from photo above, as seen in the round mirror over the couch) 

(Bananas and lemons in the bowl on the kitchen table...took this when I decided to have a snack) 

(A stuffed raven with a glass berry in it's beak, and it's accompanying shadow)