How dependent we are on electricity. Storms came through the Midwest Tuesday night. We, along with thousands of others in Cook and DuPage Country, lost our power. Our cellphones were sort of charged, and we do have one phone in the house that is hard-wired. John did some reading on my Kindle (Les Mis) with its handy-dandy night light, and my iPad was freshly charged so I was happy to continue with my reading. And clever John not only knew where the flashlights were but also knew where the extra batteries were. Our stove has electronic ignition, but I was able to light a burner and make coffee the next morning - of course I now have no hair on the knuckles of that hand. Because I had no Internet access that morning, I headed to the studio where - of course - I couldn't sew or iron. Instead I did some organizing and putting away and planning. John was able to get both cars out of the garage. The LaGrange Library was jammed with people like me using their wireless network. I also heard that local Starbucks were jammed for the same reason. Despite hearing we'd be out of power for days, it was restored late the next afternoon. This whole experience took me back to Kathmandu and parts of Kenya where electricity is on for only four or eight hours a day. In Kathmandu we saw a student revolution protesting the ruling Communist party policy of 4 hours of eletricity a day. The hotel we stayed in had its own generator. That was also the case on a couple of the nature conservancies we stayed at in Kenya - places that had their own generators and posted hours when electricity would be available.
As Americans we are terribly spoiled. And our dependency is a bit scary...
