This morning, the timer on the coffeemaker was one minute from going off when — ZZZZT! POW! — out goes the power. We're having major winds, with gusts up to 55 mph, and they hit us early.
If you've had the misfortune of experiencing morning Mark with no coffee, you
are aware that this is a horrid state of affairs. After several hours in
this state, we hauled ourselves into town and found coffee, plus a really fine
breakfast, at
Be Wiched, in Uptown Martinsville. Thus, I am marginally alive again.
Be Wiched owner Kathy Kitzmiller also owns a brand-new boutique
—
The 9th House
— and today was its grand opening. There were mimosas and other treats, so
Brugger was ecstatic about finding such a cool place in town.
Happily, we made the best of an increasingly uncomfortable situation, and the
power came back on a short time ago. It's freezing out there, and it was
getting that way inside. So, we're hoping the wind dies down, and we don't go
dark again tonight. Temp is supposed to be 13° F, with a wind chill below 0°.
Ironically, we're about to have a generator installed, but alas, too late to
help us this go-around.
Last night, though, was an enjoyable time. Lately, we've been spending Friday
afternoons at
Hamlet Kitchen, right up the street from us. They have a good selection of their own wines,
and some decent food you can get for take-out. Last night, we spent an
enjoyable couple of hours with some wine. Our regular hostess brought us a
couple of glasses with "personalized" napkins — a party theme for Brugger
(naturally!) and a semi-humorous Hemingway quote for me (even more naturally!). For
afters, we watched Alien: Covenant, which really isn't a favorite, but we've been watching others in the
Alien franchise, so we figured we otter.
In the immortal words of the late, great Dr. Franklin Ruehl, it was better
than a slap in the belly with a wet trout.
