Back to Work

Spent the Christmas holiday visiting the Indiana side of the family in Brookston, IN. Actually, we nearly spent as much time on the road as we did on the ground in Indiana. Although remnants of a previous snow remained on the ground throughout the state, it was hardly a white Christmas. Rain passed through the area as we drove into town, and temps rose with the storm. This created something resembling a "white" Christmas, but the white part was really a thick fog. Oh well, we'll take what we can get.

As a gift, we gave my wife's father a Petzl headlamp. As a farmer, we figured the headlamp would come in handy (or handless) as he worked around the farm. Having to hold a flashlight in one hand, while working with the other is not always easy. The headlamp had been a hit each of the other times I gave it as a present. My wife thinks they're ridiculous.

We "beamed" as we discovered my wife's father loved the gift. So much so, that he wore it quite a bit during the weekend...such as when looking for things in dark places or reading his mail or greeting visitors at the door. One thing about headlamps, it's not easy looking directly at a person wearing one. The light is intense. Or if you're my wife, you just think it looks goofy and can't stop laughing.

On Monday we discovered that the giving of our gift couldn't have come at a better time. Early in the morning, the power went out for about 45 minutes. As we all grappled around in the dark, the headlamp was at the ready. I regretted not bringing my own. Shaving by candlelight is not an easy task.

But we got to thinking. Considering the popularity of the headlamp with my wife's father, wasn't this sudden power outage a little too convenient?

The drive back from Indiana was nice. The winter countryside through Indiana and Ohio looked postcard perfect and the Pennsylvania mountains had just received a fresh coat of snow as we passed through, so the scenery couldn't have been better. A great weekend by any measure.