Homework by Kerosene Lamp

You can go ahead and make all the plans you like, but real life has a way of butting in and changing things around.
We had a power outage overnight that lasted until late this afternoon, so even though I had done a big chunk of my reading for this coming week, I still couldn't spend today writing. Instead of crouching over the computer, I needed to restock the wood pile, find some water, figure out how to cook on the wood stove in the living room, look for all the flashlights and batteries, put kerosene in the lamp, and a few thousand other details. Our water system relies on an electrical pumping system, which adds a whole other dimension to the lack of electricity.
A century ago, this would have been a typical day. In 1910, most homes in the Olympia area had no electricity, and running water was still something of a novelty. Kerosene lamps were the norm for those who stayed up much past sunset, but not many around here did that, even when the legislature was in session. Olympia was a logging, farming and mercantile community, early to bed and early to rise, and damned proud of it. Of course, most of the people in the community who were doing all that were not writing papers as they worked toward degrees.
I did try to study by kerosene light for a while today, since my study is rather short on daylight. The experience helped me realize just how much eyestrain our ancestors probably suffered. I am so glad that the power is back on, and that the water heater has come back to life, along with all the other systems.