Mind wandering in the dark.......

Suddenly the whole house went dark and silent.

I knew it was going to happen since it sounded as if the

storm was about to not only steal my umbrella, but also my

roof tiles and outdoor furniture.

(When it's ''windy'' here, usually numbers on the Richter scale

are involved.)

With the house in total darkness my very familiar and

cosy home turned in to unfamiliar territory with

boobytraps everywhere.

In the pursuit of a torch or at least a candle, I kept

bumping in to this, that and everything.

(This was before phones came with a torch mode.)

Finally, fumbling about in the ''tools'' drawer, I found

an old torch and though it kept ''blinking'', I  could

at least use it to find the box of candles that I

knew that I had put on a shelf in the pantry.

Now, where were the matches? ;)

With a few candles lit and placed in the kitchen and

 living room, the unfamiliar became familiar again.

With nothing else to do, I sat down on my couch

and just watched the flickering candle on the table.

Outside the wind was still roaring and now and then

the odd broken branch would come crashing down

on the verandah.

My mind started to wander and I found myself

pondering what it was like before the invention of 

electricity.

My wandering mind:

It seem to me that when we started to light up the world

it must have had a rather intrusive affect on animals and

other living creatures. Not only from a visibility point

of view, but also from a noise point of view.

What we(humans) call ''enlightenment'' may from the

point of view of flora and fauna perhaps be experienced more as

 bewilderment, and as a risky

 and an exponentially hazardous living environment.

As we keep on expanding our ''living space'' I believe

that we are too noisy,

we are too self-serving, we are too discriminatory, we are too blunt,

and we often think short term rather than long term.

(I dare not even imagine how bad may be the damage we are

causing flora and fauna as we chase after MORE.)

If mankind was to be put in the dock as accused of

endangering the life and continued existence of 

the animals of land and water, the winged creatures

of the air, the inhabitants of the micro cosmos, the

rivers, the oceans, the forests, the lands, the mountains,

how would mankind respond?

''-It seemed a good idea at the time?''

Our planet is trying to tell us to change our ways.

If earth quakes, tsunamis, El Niño's, El Niña's,

hurricanes, droughts, floods, blizzards, etc. etc.

is not getting through to us, what will it take?

 me wondered.

Suddenly the TV sprang to life, the lights came on

and my mind wandering came to a stop.

I blew out the candles.

I walked over to the tea kettle, flung a bag in a

mug and poured in some milk.

As soon as the water boiled I filled the mug

and walked back to sit down on the couch.

Then......

 I turned off the TV and all the lights.

I lit the candles again.

As I did this, I noticed that the wind had stopped.

I decided to be brave and embrace the gentle lights

and the soothing sound of silence.

about the top image: all done in Elements on a Wacom tablet

second image: water colour on paper and a real band-aid

plaster stuck on top