Two mornings ago I woke up to no power. It was 6:00 and I couldn’t make coffee. I didn’t wake Ed up because I knew he’d been awake for hours during the night. I walked outside and spoke to a neighbor. The entire island was dark. She was chatting with someone else and I soon realized I had to leave them because he was exuding a really disgusting odor. Perhaps he was storing garlic in his pockets. I kept shifting from one foot to the other, wondering what was wrong, and then I realized it was him.

I got dressed and biked down to the mall and was able to get coffee at The Perfect Cup, which specializes in gourmet coffee. They had been one of the few places to have power and had been able to brew coffee before being shut down by the electrical maintenance crew that had come to work on the problem. That alone saved my life. I biked back and Ed and I had coffee and bagels that had been dumbed down. They had a mildly sweet taste. Why don’t bakers realize that when you have a perfect product, you don’t mess with it?

For this repast – two medium sized coffees and two bagels, I paid $6.30. The power came back on around noon. We haven’t yet had to use the generator we got after Wilma. Ed bought it to ensure there would be no hurricanes, his theory being that when you are prepared, nothing happens. I believe this.

There were a bunch of squad cars on one of the streets and I stopped to talk with my friend, Sherry. It seems that during the night her son’s truck had been burglarized and the CD player and some other piece of equipment had been taken. The cops think, I learned today, that someone who knew the truck was so equipped, had taken it and that would mean it had to be an acquaintance. They dusted for prints.

My friend Leeann is moving over the weekend into the house she and Butch have rented nearby. She told me today, stopping her pick-up to chat with me during my walk, that he was being a bit domineering but she felt he would get over it. I said, when he feels more secure probably. And she agreed. She also said she’s being really laid back and not confronting him. I told her she could wind him down if she did it sweetly and she agreed. She said she was going to really try to make this work.

I have run into him a couple of times since his birthday party. He seems always happy to see me and is very friendly.

Ed did his Chamber of Commerce duties today (every Friday afternoon). He has complained about how dull things get when no one stops by. He always has a book and for a while he was listening to music on a CD player. Tons of opera. He does this at home too. I used to like opera. He said he would like to put speakers on the pool deck so we could listen out there. I said, please not, I need a haven to retreat to. He’s heavy on Italian baritones. Also he likes German lieder. He doesn’t agree with me about voice quality. I am much more picky. Ed will enthuse about a singer’s technique and control and I judge based on are their voices moving me emotionally. Mostly they are not but that may be because I do not like the particular arias they are singing.

Although Dvorostovsky could sing happy birthday and I would melt every time. I am partial to the Eastern European personality. He is Siberian. There are emotional/religious ties between Russia and Greece and I love Russian music. Sophie (piano mentor/friend) used to say that the Russians and the Greeks are "primitive". Bless her. I never smacked her for that. I cut her a lot of slack because of the music. She taught me beyond the possible.

Meanwhile our halogen floor lamp has gone out and replacing the bulb seems to be rocket science. We have to take it to a shop. It’s the main light in the computer/den room and I am making do with a desk lamp. Loading the floor lamp into the car (it has a wide disk glass reflector) will be a pain.

xx, Teal