18 Apr 2012

A - Z Writing Challenge: Q


The letter for today is: Q, where I feature quiet and quince.

The power has gone off. It's quiet in the house.
I'm sitting at my desk in the bright morning sunshine. Two hours have passed already without electricity. We rely on that form of power too much. Here, in the quiet, I miss my computer.
I'm writing with a pencil on a notepad, so different from typing letters on a keyboard.
In the back garden outside the window, no fruit trees mingle with the bark and roses. I wish I could grow at least one form of fruit—maybe the old-fashioned quince. My grandmother used to serve quince jelly with scones. I still remember the flavor, slightly sweet with a fresh, fruity perfume.
Before electricity, people would cook on a wood stove. I did the same thing in the seventies, when my family tried the back-to-the-earth style of living. There was something very satisfying about baking bread in a wood oven. But before that, when people didn't have a choice, life offered enough challenge—they didn't need entertainment from the television or computer.
The quiet lulls me—allows clearer thoughts.
Oh, the power's back. Now, on with my life.

20 comments:

  1. My mum cooked on a wood stove too..

    Look forward to the rest of your challenge run…can’t believe we’ve had 16 days already!
    --Damyanti, Co-host A to Z Challenge April 2012

    Twitter: @AprilA2Z
    #atozchallenge

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  2. Sometimes it is nice to have to step back (as long as it isn't for too long *wink*)

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  3. We do get too attached to modern technology - recently my internet went off, and when I couldn't access via my phone, I called about and found everyone I knew was without internet. It was about an hour and I was terrified the internet had gone forever!

    Wagging Tales

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  4. Ah, you brought back good memories of the big cast iron wood cook stove at my grandparents when I was a kid. It was before TV, before internet and the phone was a 3-party line. Baths were on Saturday night, clothes washing on Mondays, the water coming from a pump and when you had to go, the 2-holer outhouse is where you went.

    BTW, thanks for visiting my blog this morning and informing me that American "spit" translates to "gob" in England. Somehow, translating one of grandma's expressions to "I'm so mad I could gob" seems foreign to me. LOL

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  5. Francene, We are on a similar wavelength today!
    http://bethlapinsatozblog.wordpress.com/

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  6. I love the quiet of no-power - though it makes writing touch as I'm very reliant on the speed of my keyboard typing fingers.

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  7. It is humbling to realize how much we depend on the 'monster in the wall' isn't it?

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  8. The quiet of no hum of electricity - so sweet the sound. It is important to remember how to be and do without the convenience of at-your-fingertips power.

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  9. Hi Francine, first time visitor and great to meet you! I do like my quiet time. Seems to be at a premium these days so I enjoy it while I can.

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  10. Francene, you brought back a memory of when I graduated college and rented a house in the country. The house had two quince trees in the back yard and I had never heard of them prior-they really do have a different taste, don't they?
    love the quiet as well!

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  11. How very poignant. Reading that made me wish for that simplicity, then I stopped reading and realized I would hate living without modern technology. Not to say I couldn't. I enjoy the modern quiet time of humming machines with no voices or television in the background. *wink*

    Great post, Francene. New follower here!

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  12. We do that on vacations - always the rustic, camping way. It takes a day or two for the kids to adapt (no computer? no mobile telephone?), but when they do - it's simply wonderful.

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  13. I have to say I think 'all things electrical went too far when i disacovered some folk can't flush their loo during a power cut!
    I hope your power came back on before too long.

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  14. Very nice Q post. Have never had quince jelly. Now I'm all curious. I love when the power goes out. It's one of my favorite things during a winter storm. Lighting candles, the calm that comes with it. It's just rather nice sometimes :)

    Anna@Herding Cats & Burning Soup

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  15. great choices for Q....enjoy the rest of the challenge :)

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  16. If we had a power cut, I wouldn't feel peaceful at all. My house is all-electric (even the gas boiler requires electricity) so I'd be tearing my hair out with no internet, no light, no heat, no hot water, no means of making a hot drink etc etc. I'm relieved that it's many years since we last had any power cut!

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  17. I love your "Q" post! You writing is so pleasant to read, and the content so true! We depend on the "noise" of life so much that sometimes we act as though quiet is unbearable. How odd, that so many have become almost afraid of the quiet! Sometimes power outages are the best things that can happen to us. It reminds us of our ancestors, most of whom treasured the quiet, peaceful times in their days.

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  18. I really like this "snapshot," Francene. Actually, it was quite beautiful in its simplicity. Well done. :)

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  19. Oh, no! I hope I didn't jinx you. I know how you feel.

    BTW, Rick just installed backup batteries for our server, so now when our power goes out, my website will stay up - at least until the batteries run down.

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  20. I love it when the power is out...of course it isn't always convenient but it is nice to have a little break from everything. Once when my kids we small they loved it when the power was out for 31 hours because we cooked on the camp stove and played board games by fire light. Simple...in most ways.

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