The light bulb I mentioned earlier this week was right where my mind’s eye pictured it. It lay snuggled comfortably in the thin, corrugated cardstock which was brittle and faded with age. The parts cabinet has been its home for some thirty or forty years. Other drawers contain colorful Western snaps, machine needles, hooks and eyes, and feet for invisible zippers. Each time we moved, the contents of the drawers were stabilized with paper toweling or bubble wrap, and the cabinet wrapped in newsprint.
Because I an a caver, and a genuine olebat, I can safely say that I do my “best work in the dark.” However, that doesn’t apply to sewing. When the bulb on the old Singer 201 shed its last watt of illumination, I was near the end of the project. Fatigue had already gripped me, and I was not strongly motivated to search for, and replace a little light bulb. Last night, however, I was stowing some other supplies in the parts cabinet, and remembered the bulb.
After opening a few drawers, I saw the rounded end of the bulb peaking out from within its paper cocoon. Gently removing the tiny package from the long term resting place, I carried it to the sewing annex where the classroom machines are crammed. Then began the struggle of removing the expired bulb. I even used my quilting gloves to get a better grip. I was on the verge of unscrewing the bulb hood when I decided my answer was one story below. I woofed over the balcony to my husband. (Having had only 4-legged children, we became fluent in Dog.) He responded, happy to help.
With a push, twist and pull he removed the darkened bulb. To my enlightenment, I had a wrong replacement. I held the screw base bulb next to the bayonet mount bulb which had just been removed. No words were needed between us. We knew that this would be a necessary shopping trip, and that I won’t buy just a light bulb.
O, BTW, if you haven't read my Confessions of a Want-to-be Quilter, be certain to look it up
http://www.quiltingboard.com/t-89325-1.htm and look for a new installment each Monday.
