When I moved to Maine in the late 1980's I was schooled about The Importance of Pie. Sure, things like cakes and cookies and puddings were nice, BUT THEY JUST WEREN'T PIE. This is probably true of a lot of rural areas, where historically flour, lard, canned or dried fruit, and some sugar were pretty reliably on-hand, while butter and eggs would be sold.
In mid-coast Maine where I lived, a church supper would feature about four pies per table of eight people and inter-table pie swaps could get competitive. When I started helping out at the church's Community Days pie tent I often served four slices of pie, one at a time, to a single customer. I remember in particular one wiry little older man who had the biggest grin every time he bellied up to the pie table.
"I'll have a slice of the apple pie, please."
"I'll have a slice of the strawberry rhubarb pie."
"I guess I'd better have a slice of the custard pie."
"Well I see you have apple crumb."
Pie's Big Day is Thanksgiving, and pies (note the plural here) are baked the day before.
On Wednesday, November 27, 1991, the temperature at 6:30 am was 18º the skies were clear and the winds calm, perfectly normal for the time of year. My pie-making plan was limited to a single, small pecan pie that I'd bake that evening.
Returning home from work at 6:30 that evening, I noticed that the street light on my street was out.
(This is where the scary music should start.)
When I got home and flipped the switch for the kitchen light nothing happened Then I checked the thermostat and discovered that the temperature in the house was only 50º.
Looking out the windows, I could see flickering lights in neighbors' windows as they lit candles and lanterns. In some houses these were soon replaced with a steady blue-white light as folks dug their Colman lanterns out of their camping gear.
I spent that evening putting on more and more clothes and calling the Central Maine Power emergency line to get the latest estimate on when the power would come back on - 10:00 pm, then 11:00 pm. The pecan pie would have to wait. Power was eventually restored at 1:00 am. I stayed up until there was enough hot water for a shower, finally getting to bed around 2:00 am.
In those days there were still a lot of above-ground lines running through miles of woods and storm-related power outages were a fact of life. But the weather on November 27th while cold, was clear and calm. So what caused the outage? Well...
So on this day before Thanksgiving, as you roll out your pie crust and mix up pumpkin pie filling, be thankful that you (probably) won't have an eejit with a gun ruin the day for you.
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