A couple weeks ago, a fierce wind blew into the Philadelphia area and lingered, knocking over trash cans, uprooting trees and snapping their limbs, de-shingling rooftops, and sweeping up trash and debris.
I had been out running errands in the midst of the windstorm one Saturday when I came home to find that my clocks had stopped dead at around 3:20 p.m. It was now about 4 o’clock. The wind had knocked out the electricity in my house and my neighborhood. Before I had left that morning, my lights had flickered on and off, so I knew the wind was testing itself.
I figured I’d wait a little while to see if the blackout would end soon. As the time passed with still no electricity, I decided that I should get ready for a night without lights, just in case. So I went looking for the candles and flashlights I had placed in every room on every floor of my house for emergencies like this.
I found the candles and flashlight together in one room, and only candles in the others. Had I been interrupted and never completed the task, I wondered. Fortunately, the batteries in the flashlight worked, but I kept others nearby in case they gave out.
My next duty was to find candle holders for the candles. That’s when I realized that I don’t buy candle holders often and probably did not have a single one in the house.
With my flashlight, I went to my basement hoping that I was mistaken. As I shone the light around, I came across two candle holders made of thick glass – one clear and the other a deep cobalt blue. These thick glass candle holders, which I had bought at auction more than a year ago, were beautiful there in the faint light.
I had completely forgotten about them, and now they would be my night-saver. But I needed more than two if I wanted to walk around my house without stumbling into anything and breaking my neck in a fall.
So, I also brought some other auction items upstairs: a small green bowl in the shape of a flower, a small white vase with flowers on the side and a small dish with flowers in the center. With a little aluminum foil, I could improvise some candle holders.
Which I did. I covered each container with foil (especially the glass ones that I really didn’t want to mar with dripping wax). Then I wrapped the bottoms of the candles with foil and stuck them securely in the containers. I then placed a broad sheet of foil under each of them to protect my furniture.
I had five candle holders, four of which I set up in my bedroom. The warm glow of the candles made the room feel very peaceful, and they gave off enough light for me to feel safe and comfortable.
By nightfall, my entire street was dark. A family in the house diagonally to my left had set up candles in a window. The other houses near me looked totally dark; either the families were not at home or were in back rooms in their houses.
The street was ripe for night-crawlers looking for a place to score a robbery. It wouldn’t be my place: I put my fifth candle in a front room as a warning that this house was occupied and someone was at home. I kept a check on that candle, too, to make sure it didn’t accidentally cause a fire and burn the house down.
Around 8 p.m., we had lights again. The blackout was over.
Later, I realized that I had a vintage candle-warmer and candle holders in my basement, and could have used them. One was a Silex coffee warmer (at right in photo) for use at the table to keep your coffee or tea warm with the aid of a candle inside a glass container. The other was a Delft Holland candle holder (in center), and the other, which had a wire mesh top, looked also to be a candle holder. With a little ingenuity and some aluminum foil, they could’ve all been converted to hold my 12″ candles.
You never know when – or how – those auction finds will come in handy.
