Cape Cod Coffee Table

And a fitting prelude to winter it was, too. Hurricane Noel hit Cape Cod, leaving over 50,000 without power.

It's remarkable how many things depend on electricity. I had made a big pot of coffee early on, but its bitter warmed up in a saucepan instead of a microwave. Porcupine has a variety of candles and candelabras, and putting them together reminds one where 'candlepower' gets its name. Indeed, as the power went out rather suddenly, Porcupine was reduced to hoisting his trusty laptop onto his shoulder, its eerie blue light serving well as a beacon to gather the safety matches and candles.

But, other than sitting alone in quite dim light for a few hours (the batteries in the radio had been cannibalized for other devices by...well, no accusations, but Porcupine has no MP3 players or handheld games...I say no more...) playing solitaire in the chilly room, there were no real repercussions. Porcupine's younger relations drove out to look at the truly impressive surf and avoided getting hit by wayward trees.

Grateful that NStar did a stellar job of restoring power, Porcupine can concentrate on the really important event of today - watching Tom Brady beat Peyton Manning.