Back in 2002, I think it was, there was a big ice storm in North Carolina where we lived at the time. We were without electricity for seven days. It was quite cold (something like 8 degrees outside after the storm in a place where homes had very limited insulation). This was pre-parenthood, and we found it surprisingly difficult to entertain ourselves with no electricity. (There was a baby boom nine months after the ice storm. Those people’s homes must not have been as cold as our apartment was. I refused to wear fewer than three layers at any time and the cats slept under the covers with us for warmth.)
After the storm, when the lights came back on, we found that we missed the dark and the quiet. For a few months, we would have what we called “Cat and Candle” one night a week. We cooked by candlelight, ate dinner by candlelight, sat and talked by candlelight, played with the cats by candlelight. It was quite a lot of fun and helped us to recapture what it might have been like to live in a luxury apartment in a gated community in North Carolina before there was electricity. It also helped us to feel good about saving energy. We gradually lost interest in the exercise and haven’t done it in years.
We might give it a try for Earth Hour tomorrow night. I’m skeptical about what impact one dark house in the middle of Salt Lake City will have, but it could be enjoyable anyway.
via TouchstoneZ
Imperfect Happiness 
Thank you for sharing this along with my post. We have been talking with the kids about taking care of the earth this week and conserving resources. They know we’re going to stay up a bit late tomorrow and turn the lights off to show we care about these things.
The upshot so far has been: 1. They think it means we’re staying up late to watch a movie and 2. They’ve been nagging us incessantly to turn off lights-even when we need them on to see.
I’m not sure they’re getting the message I had planned…
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The upshot so far has been: 1. They think it means we’re staying up late to watch a movie and 2. They’ve been nagging us incessantly to turn off lights-even when we need them on to see.
I need to put ratings on comments because I really like this! As the mother of two children who get angry with me when I leave a room without turning off the light…even if I’m stepping into a dark room to do a quick thing using the illumination from the other room for my task, and then stepping back into the lit room in a moment…I can relate to the “kids receiving a different message than you’re sending” piece.
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Ah, we loved the “dog and fire show” as we called it. One winter, it was the dog and cats and fire show. Fun fun fun!
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And i just realized I put a remarkably inaccurate year on the ice storm. I’m fixing to fix it now.
I was going to mention your hospitality and the dog and cats and fire show, but I couldn’t figure out how to fit it in. How wonderful it was to live so near such wonderful friends as you all!
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