Weary from fires...and more.
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We've had back to back to back fires around here.
The winds are due to pick up again next week.
I altered this photo in sepia tone to convey how I feel.
It was only this bad right in the heart of the recent fires as they were exploding.
But like I said, many are weary these days.
It was taken on my way to work early last week, on a really bad traffic day.
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We live down the block from our old place and aren't able to see Sky the same way,
so my photos will be different from the dramatic ones of the past.
J. could see this last one from the back parking area.
Of course I am gone all day,
except for the day roads in were shut down and I could not get to work.
I've been seeing the brown haze in the air on my commutes.
It's ugly and the air quality stinks.
I'm tired.
~AS ALWAYS CLICK ON PHOTOS TO ENLARGE~
As I sit in traffic, facing mountain...is that smoke, dust, blowing ash?
I'm not sure at this point, but there is no point in calling on it...firefighters are everywhere.
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Additionally, the traffic has mostly been horrible!
Wind is not easy to drive in!
I warned you last post I'd be whining.
Through it all, we've been FINE.
Living down the block we are further from open land
and the threat and beauty that it brings.
I miss it and am relieved at the same time.
I do feel somewhat safer as there are two blocks of homes
between us and that open land.
Through it all there is much to be grateful for and we are.
But, I suppose I would not be human if the hard parts didn't feel super hard.
Long -traffic filled- commutes, long work days, bad air quality for my asthma...
all leave me tired. Especially when it feels or maybe has been for a few weeks, never-ending.
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Can you see the smoke, dust, ash? rising up below those power lines?
These photos are all from the same drive in. I wasn't really moving anywhere fast.
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Some of these photos are zoomed in or cropped,
so it is not a clear representation of the drive. But, you get the idea.
What they don't show are the fender benders, breakdowns or
all of the emergency trucks on the road.
It is hard to capture the *feel* of it in still shots, while driving no less!
I tried to explain the feeling of driving through this every day to J.
I compared it to a Terminator movie or a movie where you are driving through chaos.
One day last week there was a bad accident on the freeway, shutting down 4 lanes. It took me 2 hours and 35 minutes to travel 25.2 miles. That day was the worst, but there have been other days that were pretty rough. The thing is when one is hyper-sensitive with a strong startle reflex, living in that fight, flight or freeze mode for days is exhausting and stressful.
Then a couple of days ago, the latest fire jumped a freeway, shutting that freeway down for a long time. Along with that, two major roads out, which run in the same direction of the freeway, were shut down too. No one from an adjacent valley could get through. On Friday all of the schools in my valley and The Valley (where I work) were closed too. Needless to say, traffic was (sadly) great! No one was on the road, but only because on one could get out or had someplace to go (school). I can't begin to explain how creepy it was being on empty, dark (commute home) roads, especially after sitting among so many for days and days.
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↑ Hazy, smokey skies in The Valley ↑
The smoke traveled all the way to the ocean!
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One of my main roads had been closed since the previous fire, so for two weeks? More?
It was finally opened Friday night. I cheered aloud when I saw that.
That road extends from one of the *Motor Home* roads
and I was so worried about those folks during that fire.
I was happy to see they were all still there,
unaffected when I drove by.
Yay!
Just when you start to feel some ease...tonight as I was getting to ready to write these posts, another fire broke out in the same general area, but not connected. I sat there watching the FB post light up - the comments and the firefighters came fast and furious!
Within 19 minutes, this new blaze had a name and
was being taken care of quickly and efficiently.
I feel like my days are filled with that old childhood game "good thing-bad-thing".
Along with all of the tragedy, community comes forward and Go Fund Me
posts are coming up, horses and dogs are found and reunited and a local furniture store (where we got our couch, I believe) put forth an offer to help those who have lost their homes by giving them furniture! Folks have offered (and done so) donations and helped out at the filled to capacity evacuations (at the height of things about 50,000 were evacuated). The local community college's culinary students prepared and served a banquet for those staying in the gym, evacuated from their homes. So impressive!
As I trudge through, I seem to always come back to the good people can and do
do for each other. It is good to remember these things and to cross your fingers too!
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As I move forward into next week~
I will remain grateful for all I have,
and I will remain watchful.
(remember those power lines behind our place from the laundry day photos?)
May you remain safe and healthy and full of things to keep you in a place of gratitude.
xo
Photographs by NAE ©2019
