Our Easter holiday is definitely going better than some folks'. Whoever struck the power pole and knocked out the power on our end of town is having a rotten holiday, I am sure. So are our neighbors, most of whom have driveways lined with cars. . .Just after Joe hung up from chatting with family at Spumoni South, the electricity went off, leaving most everyone in the middle of cooking their Easter luncheons without power. (We would have fired up the smoker and the camp stove and finished it up, but then there are just the two of us, not a whole hoard.)

However, we did not have to. . .Luck was on our side. Normally we would have breakfast together and then a late lunch, but I thought Joe needed the sleep more than sustenance, so we skipped breakfast and he caught an extra 40 winks.

We opted for lunch right at noon, so the ham and ginger-orange-Grand Marnier glaze, sweet potatoes, & crab fried rice were in the oven and out at a few minutes after noon. . .the rolls were in to brown when the beep beep beep of three UPS units sent Joe to the fuse boxes with his voltage meter and Tarka to the door to ensure that I left the building in case of fire. (She doesn't differentiate between the smoke alarm, the UPS and our emergency pagers. All she knows is 'protect the humans.') Joe ascertained that it was an outage and it was confirmed when we heard the call go out over his work radio that the local power company was responding to an accident near here.

We were able to enjoy a very companionable lunch with a bottle of Asti Spumonti Zonin all the while watching the neighbors gathering for their family luncheons with no electricity. They all seemed to think that standing around in their yards grumbling was the appropriate response.

We didn't gloat; indeed we were very thankful that luck was on our side even if the brown and serve rolls were not browned. Then we cuddled up for some quiet time together (it is a rare thing with Joe's job) and just relaxed and enjoyed the lack of noise from computer fans, TV, radios, stereos and other electronic equipment. . .

Now that the power is back on and the neighbors have all gone back in to their respective homes, I am still thankful for a quiet dinner and time together and the restoration of power so that the food is under refrigeration and we can enjoy the leftovers.