This evening the local power company bestowed a power outage on Hesse Seewald. So we made the best of it by lighting a fire in the fireplace for both warmth and light in the room. We also collected all of the candles and candle sticks in the house and lit them in parts of the house. The warm glow of candlelight ( supplied by about 20 candles) produced a low, but peaceful light and made me think about life in the 18th Century when all homes needed fireplaces and candlelight at night.
There is one downside to this scenario: Our thermostats are electric powered so when the power goes out, so does the thermostat and thus the furnace shuts down. The solution is to huddle in the family room where the fireplace is, closing all of the doors into the room, and let the fireplace keep all the heat in the room.
Very atmospheric !
ReplyDeleteAgreed. It looks highly inviting. When I grew up in rural Pennsylvania, we used two candles and fireplaces, plus a woodstove, for cheery warmth during the fall, winter, and early spring. . . Especially when ice or wind knocked out power lines and, as in your case, the furnace. Believe it, or not, I really miss hauling in the loads of cut wood (a daily chore) for all of that now.
ReplyDeleteBest Regards,
Stokes
When our power is out I remind myself that there was no electricity when our house was built though it was probably modern enough for a wood stove.
ReplyDeleteTo reduce risk of fire we have moved from candles and kerosene lanterns to led lanterns, inexpensive, batteries last forever (as in years), they give a very nice light but they don't catch fire when tipped over.
That photo with the candles does look very attractive though.
That looks really cosy, Jim, and nothing beats the smell of a wood "campfire" Happy New Year! Cheers, Rohan
ReplyDelete