xtcian

7/10/03 Columbia County, NY (30

7/10/03 Columbia County, NY (30 days until wedding)

I write to you tonight by candlelight, on the last remaining few ounces of battery from my beloved Powerbook, connected to the internet through a shaky landline towards Albany. A tremendous windstorm swept through Columbia County tonight just as we arrived - a series of three small explosions erupted just to the east of us, and suddenly everything was black.

And I mean everything. There is not one powered object, not one streetlight, in view from our hill, which gives us a vista of 5-6 miles. Nothing but the raging wind blowing through the trees at a full gale; when it stops, the silence is so profound that you hear the high-pitched frequency of yourself living.

Tessa and I fired up an old tiki torch and sat outside for the show. I managed to snap one time-release picture before it got too much for us.

Inside, all is as it was when this place was built sometime during the presidency of James Monroe. We have a cavalcade of people coming here tomorrow: contractors, electricians, wedding consultants, laborers - but when you are left without power, things can suddenly seem so simple.

And so I will load this onto the net and blow out the last candle and sleep the sleep of my exhausted forefathers.