It was a blank day yesterday.  No important emails (this does not count the horroscope or the word of the day, both of which are important), "no new messages" on the phone and an empty mailbox!  They didn't stay blank for the whole day (what a day that would be) but it was enough to get me started.

I generally work from 7:30/8:00 until 3:30/4:00.  I'm on the schedule from 8-4 but I'm here early so my supervisor doesn't care if I leave early as long as my clients are taken care of and my work is done in a timely manner.  On Mondays and Tuesdays I am usually here until after 4 because those are my clinic days.  I try to make up for it at the end of the week but that doesn't always happen.  (I have to learn not to return phone calls at 3:30!)

Yesterday as I was waiting for it to be 3:30 and time to go home, I noticed that the window had that reflective quality it gets when it's dark outside.  Now, it's summer here and is not usually full dark in late afternoon but yesterday it was.  I had on a skirt and sandals and the idea of running through the pouring rain did not appeal to me so I packed up quickly and went to leave the building only to be confronted by very high winds ("it looks like the Wizard of Oz out there" said the receptionist) and as I was watching, the sky opened up.  There was thunder and lightning and rain.  Lots and lots of rain.

I called Pk and told him I was trying to leave but would wait a little bit until the rain slackened a bit.  He told me he had ducked into a doorway to wait out the downpour.  After about 15 mins, I left (it was still raining just not as much) and as I was walking the two blocks to the train station, the skies opened up again and I was slipping and sliding in my wet leather sandals.  I always have an umbrella with me but with the wind, it wasn't terribly useful. I try to remember not to wear sandals when it's going to rain but yesterday I goofed.  They have been predicting rain that hasn't come for over a week so who knew this would be the day?

We got home and had blt's for dinner and Pk was watching the soccer game and I was knitting (I had blocked the Travelling Woman shawl and was peacefully working on an easy lace pattern with that lovely green sock yarn) when the power went out about 8:30.  At first we chuckled and then I went outside to see how widespread the outage was.  It was just dusk and none of the streetlights were coming on and the persistent hum of a/c was not present.  My neighbor came out and asked if our power was out and said hers was, too.  She was calling the power company.

We sat outside until the mosquitos got too bad and then we sat in the bedroom looking longingly at the window unit.  We drifted in and out of sleep until 2:30 am when the power came back on.  It promptly went back out.  About 3:30 it came on and stayed on but by then it was too late to get any meaningful sleep before the alarm went off at 5 (I had to keep resetting it since the battery backup was not working). 

I'm at work but am not sure how effective I'll be today.  Listening to the news, there was a line of severe storms that went through the area and some people may not have power for a few more days.  Luckily, as Roxie points out, I'm in an air conditioned building, in a comfortable chair and I don't have to dig ditches in the hot summer sun. 

I just have to stay awake.