A Different Learning Curve

The Arctic weather we're experiencing in Oklahoma just now is presenting me with a learning curve of a different kind . We lost electricity on Sunday for five or six hours. A big old tree had fallen under the weight of ice, right across some electricity lines. Electricity returned just as darkness fell - for which we were truly thankful! My husband's photographs above show how the trees are covered with a heavy layer of ice . This morning, as the sun rose behind the big Cottonwood trees in our backyard and in the woodland beyond, shimmering through ice coated branches and twigs, the scene took on a look of pure burnished silver - an amazing and beautiful sight !

These circumstances have delivered a salutary lesson. "Be Prepared!" We had to scramble around in the freezing cold garage looking for batteries, portable radios and torches . AJ, my husband's son, who lives in the neighbourhood, braved the skating rink of a road to our house to make sure we were warm enough and OK. He brought news of the reason for the outage. He pointed out that our telephone wouldn't function under these circumstances, it's the "walkabout" type which relies on electricity. This started yet another hunt in the garage for an old fashioned telephone handset which would plug directly into the phone line. With this organised, AJ left for a slithery drive home.

I made sandwiches while the daylight held out, and we hunkered down for a picnic evening, with gas fire, candles, alcohol, and radio playing country music....then the lights came on again! Good on ya, Wichita Lineman! We were lucky this time, but many in the state and beyond are less fortunate, and may be without power for much longer during this unusually long and severe Arctic interlude.

On a brighter topic

Here is a link to The Curator's notes at Jonathan Cainer's Psychic Museum site
http://www.psychicmuseum.com/curator.php
There's a selection of very interesting links there relating to all things paranormal.
One of the most recent is to a group of articles and websites on the subject skepticism.

PS
The photograph (left) is of a Christmas gift I received from AJ. A plaque showing the Aquarius symbol. AJ's hobby is using scrap copper to make sculptures. His job as heating and air conditioning expert is source of much scrap copper.

His family was quite surprised by his new-found creativity when he started experimenting a couple of years ago.

On my first Christmas here he made me a 10" high copy of a British telephone kiosk (right) working from photographs. I was most impressed, and touched. It stands in a prominent place in our living room, reminding me of "home".

The above plaque, AJ confessed, proved unexpectedly difficult to make. He gave up on it several times throughout the year. He knows nothing about astrology, but worked from an illustration provided by my semi-indoctrinated husband. I think the plaque is a true work of art, it hangs by my desk as I type.

AJ is a sweetie!