There is a phenomenon that occurs with widespread blackouts like the one last Thursday. It plays a game of discovery with human (and cat) consciousness.

When the power goes out like that, our awareness of the problem drops like a rock into the still waters of our daily routine. It’s a startling disruption, and immediately we all set about on a quest to find out what’s going on by asking around and eventually tuning around on the car radio. If you are like me, your first thought is, “My goodness, my lights just went out.” And then, through ever-expanding concentric ripples of awareness we discover that it’s not just my lights, it’s the whole office, then the whole street, and then the whole town, then the whole region, and even Canada!

They say misery loves company, but at the end of this game of discovery when I found out that 50 million people shared my problem, I kind of wished that it had been just my lights. I can’t think of any other event of this magnitude that starts with everyone thinking simultaneously that it is their personal problem.

One of those 50 million was Jodi Valenta, who was in New York City to attend a seminar last week and found herself trapped by the blackout. After her hotel refused to extend her reservation another day, she spent Friday wandering around the city, carrying her suitcase and trying to find a way out with no public transportation operating. Jodi wasn’t carrying a cell phone –– hers had broken a few weeks earlier –– and when all of the land phones went down, including the pay phones, she really felt stranded. Eventually she paid someone to use his cell phone, and was able to reach her company, where the staff had made dozens of calls before finally locating a service that was bringing a limo full of people out of the city to New Haven. Jodi says she learned one thing from it all –– to never again travel anywhere without a cell phone.

Let’s forget about the Great Northeast Power Grid Failure for a moment and talk about the weather. Frankly, there has been altogether too much rain lately. All this humidity in the air is taking its toll, and gardeners are complaining of mildew everywhere, even on their clay pots. Lilac leaves look like they’ve been dusted with fireplace ashes, and rose leaves are black-spotted. Inside the house, things aren’t much better. Doors won’t open, drawers won’t close, and towels won’t dry. Pillows weigh a ton, and the fans are dying from overuse. They call this the Dog Days of Summer and I can see why. No self-respecting cat would put up with it.

Of course there is a silver lining to all those storm clouds. When bright sunshine and rain storms bump into each other, as they did last weekend, rainbows adorn our horizons. There was a great double rainbow hanging over Newtown after one of last weekend’s downpours, and both Howard Bowles and John Klopfenstein stopped by The Bee office at different times to show us some of the great color photos they each had snapped of the event. Both Howard and John live atop Castle Hill Road and are lucky to have one of the best views of Newtown –– and its rainbows.

If you will be needing a haircut soon, plan to visit Ricci’s Salon & Spa on Monday, September 15, from 4 to 8 pm, when the price of all cuts and several other services will be donated to Kevin’s Community Center, the new clinic designed to provide free primary care services for Newtown’s uninsured and low-income adults. Besides $25 haircuts, there will be $12 manicures, $15 15-minute chair massages, and $15 makeup applications available in this fundraising event. Call 426-1611 for appointments.

You know how Connecticut Magazine is constantly having special issues with the best of this and the best of that? (I’m still waiting for them to address the “cat with a column” category.) They finally got around to assessing flower and garden centers, and guess what? Lexington Gardens was judged the best in the state. Of course, we didn’t need Connecticut Magazine to tell us that.

Bee copy editor Janis Gibson had a shock Wednesday afternoon when the motorized rear window of her Villager minivan simply jumped out of its casing and crashed down onto Queen Street, smashing into tiny bits. “It was acting a little sticky when I pushed the button to open it, so I pushed a little harder. That’s when the whole thing fell out,” said Janis. So, she stopped in the driveway at Dr Gellert’s office and called the local police to let them know there was glass all over the road. Then she drove her newly ventilated vehicle back to the office. Then she called the insurance company and made an appointment for a guy to come out and replace the window on Friday. All in a day’s work, Janis. But don’t push any more buttons, please.

Time for me to push the button that files this column for the week, but I’ll be back, so be sure to…

Read me again.