Or Kilmurry by Candlelight....
Well, so we decided to hold our New Year's Eve party again this year. Those of you lucky enough to be in the SCA or fandom in the West Kingdom will be familiar with Greyhaven's huge New Years Eve bash (which gets several hundred people in shifts over the course of an evening) well ours is never that big, but is loosely based on the same concept.
However, this year our "guest" list of about 20 people was swollen to more than 30 by a combination of timing and the fact that a major SCA event is being held in Dublin next weekend. So we had not only the regulars, plus a few people from the UK but folks from Sweden and Germany as well. Most of whom were flying in New Years eve or the day before. So far so good...
First comes, the WEATHER REPORT - we wake up clueless on Sunday morning, because the only person who watches the News aka Your's Truely has been too busy having fun to watch much for a day or two. By the time we discover the forecast is for 70 to 80 mile an hour winds it is a bit late to pay it too much attention, besides, they often predict this sort of weather and it blows right through either above or below us - no problem right?
Before we get any further with this story I want it known that Yes, we did in fact invite Loki to our party, not once but several times. Those of you who know your Norse Mythology know it is a good idea to always invite Loki to your party otherwise he tends to show up anyway and sometimes the entertainment is not quite what you were hoping for. In this case, I can only guess that the Hemidallar messenger service was running slow after Yule, perhaps do to an over abundance of Thor's Special Home Brew at the Asgard Yule Party? In any case, we suspect that Loki had not received his invitation in time, because...
Just as we were settling in, Swedes and I in the kitchen to cook huge pots of ham in cider and husband to prepare his famous Scallaped potatoes when suddenly...the lights dim. They do not yet go out, they just dim...at which point I say "Loki, you were too invited to this party and I think you will like it better if you let the lights stay around for awhile..." at which points the lights flickered again...I had hoped this was in recognition that the invitation had been received, but we think perhaps that instead, Loki was too listening to the IPOD that his wife Sief gave him this year to pay any attention...in any case, after flickering a few more times ..."poof" and the lights were gone.
Along with the lights went the stove, the oven and the water...thankfully we had managed to fill about 10 water bottles while the lights were flickering and we had enough beer and wine to keep 30 people happy for awhile...opps, we just remember the phones are now not working either. Quick does anyone know where the printed out version of the phone list is? The one NOT still on the computer! We have got to call people on mobiles to give out guests mobile numbers so they can reach us to tell us their planes are late because the same winds are about to hit the airport as are hitting us...someone else volunteered for that job leaving us in the kitchen with...
Four pounds of chicken pieces, Three pounds of potatoes, Two large hams, and one Very Cold Turf Stove....Uh oh, time to find the husbands and other stray male figures who have somehow managed to disappear about the same time as the lights. Perhaps it is the 80 mile an hours winds blowing between the house and the turf shed? Or maybe the fact that the fire wood is sill lying about the yard waiting to be "collected and picked up sometime and stacked somewhere in case we need it..?" In any case, we did locate one husband and one single guy who could be dragooned into going out into the weather and another to drive to the shop about to close for fire lighter and matches. Once again, the great survivalist compound of Kilmurry is caught red handed without matches or fire starter just when things begin to get interesting. I was able to locate one oil lamp and several candles to guard and place in the kitchen, because while it was still light at 3pm, at 4pm things would start getting dimmer and I wanted to get a head start in the light department. If we were going to have any hope of dinner the candles would have to first be allocated to the kitchen, then to rest of the house.
I need not have worried, while we were rushing about explaining to the lovely 16 year old miss who really wanted to help by washing dishes, that we now had very little water so we would have to use basins like in the "old days," the Lizard had taken on the tasks of elegantly placing candle holders on the walls, corners and every crack in the stairwell and upstairs. He had also managed to find a mother-lode of candles, so that when you opened the kitchen door the stair case was ablaze of light and actually looked...well really good, in fact a lot better than it did with the electric lights that let you see all the bags of stuff quickly hidden and shoved under the stair case.
Meanwhile, it was time to clean out the solid fuel stove (another of those "we really need to do that soon tasks" greatly helped by a lady from Sweden whose relatives had a country house. Once lit, it then took about an hour to raise up to cooking heat, by which time we were using a candle to shove pans of ham onto it and a lantern to find flour and mix up the cornbread. Thankfully I'd made the black eyed peas the night before and so just threw them on the back of the stove to warm, while hoping the oven stayed the right level for 45 minutes and avoid my having to open it in mid-bake to cool off. Somehow the corn bread turned out perfect and more people began to come down to the well lit kitchens.
Soon joined by, the Electrical Company Rescue crew! I could not believe it! The last time we'd had something like this happen (when it was only me and husband in the house the day after Christmas) we were without power for three days and four nights. This time, the cavalry appeared only about three hours into the saga, by which point about half our guests had arrived and begin to get used to the candle lit atmosphere. The poor guys looked around for fuse boxes and laterns while shaking their heads in dismay when they could find nothing inside the house to explain the problem.
With a longing look towards the ham, hot tea pot (made with tea kettle simmering on the stove) and warm corn bread they wished us happy New Year and muttered something about the problem being "outside along the road in the weather..." I said yes, happy New Year we expect 30 people soon, hope you can sort it, if not at least we have a way to cook..!" and someone else shouted "but it will be easier if we have some power back on...!"
Once again we settled down to drinking tea and several ladies (including me) got out needlework or knitting that could be done by candle light. Husband got ready to put potatoes in solid fuel stove, guests upstairs lit a fire in the drawing room and we begin to look for victims ..er..a volunteers to bar-ba-que the chicken in the Franklin Stove there (Franklin Stoves were invented by Mr. Ben Franklin partly as a way for the hostess to cook and visit with her guests at the same time a fire-side feature we seldom use but can be a great help in a pinch). Having found said volunteers ladies were about to hand them the meat when,
"poof"
The lights returned....just in time for the last batch of guests to arrive...hams were hurriedly transfered to the electric stove to finish, volunteers disbanded and the table wiped down from all the spills we couldn't see before. But except for the cooking crew, an interesting thing happened, upstairs where the party was in full swing, the lights were quickly dimmed again and the candles relight and arranged. The drawing room was darkened and seeped in fire light, it seemed that Loki had added a bit of magical sparkle to the party that we might have otherwise have missed. The gentle golden glow of the candles really was more friendly and the firelight more cheerful than anything electrical could provide. So, without a word, the new fangled objects of the 21 century were turned off and those of the 18th returned to a house of the same age. As if inspired by the atmosphere no stereo or CD player was heard, instead the sounds of singing were heard along with those of harp and drum, far far into the night....by 8am the house was quiet and 2007 had really begun...and I remember in a dim part of my brain that Loki is the one who is always bringing gifts, yes I think he did get that invitation after all...
Disaster Cat....who can hear the sound of the chain saw making firewood outside...I guess someone else saw the new weather update...