Friday, August 14, 2009

Smoke at Sunset

It’s that time of year. There are fires burning all over California. Earlier this week we had a day or two of high, smoky haze from the fires in Los Padres National Forest, but nothing compared to the smoke from the much closer Lockheed Fire that started two days ago. Made for an incredible sunset last night, though.

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On the news last night they showed a satellite image of the smoke plume stretching 600 MILES down the coast of California, all the way to Baja. I’ve had to keep the windows closed, despite the heat. This morning dawned dark and grey and smoky, with a heavy acrid stench in the air. Between the weather, wind, and smoke cover, the temperature’s dropped about twenty degrees since yesterday. As the day goes on, the air here is starting to clear, but I’ve decided to more or less stay indoors, get caught up, and WRITE this afternoon. And count my blessings.

My prayers go out to every one in Bonny Doon, Davenport, and the Santa Cruz Mountains who’ve been affected—and evacuated—by this fire. And their animals. May they all be safe, and have homes to come home to.