Let Me Tell You a Story...

Yesterday morning, I was happily working away in my studio, making tremendous progress. Things were flowing effortlessly, and it was a nearly perfect morning... until I glanced out the window. Immediately, I knew the color of the sky wasn't right. The light was too red... and too dark... It was nauseating.

I raced down the stairs and outside to see a fire burning on the mountain behind our house. Two years ago our neighborhood was forced to undergo mandatory evacuations as we watched the fire burn right up to the edges of our yards. It was a horrible experience. And this was too similar in nature for my comfort.
Steve came home from work at noon and we began to pack... again. How do you decide which items from a lifetime of collecting make the cut? It is a surreal process with a cruel time limit. It is nauseating and nearly paralyzing. The animals don't understand the high stress, and this breaks my heartl. I feel powerless to comfort them. I wouldn't wish this type of day on anyone.

By evening they had announced a 70 percent containment. Thank God. But with nightfall comes the eerie quiet of a sky devoid of aircraft. The hours stretch on unbearably. The knowledge that there are no water-dropping helicopters and no fixed-winged aircraft bringing fire retardant is scary. I picture those brave firefighters on foot in the rocky terrain. They've been fighting with a hundred pounds of gear all day in one-hundred-degree weather. I'm sure they're exhausted... and now they have lost their visibility. The sky turns into an inky black, which makes it difficult to determine if it's actually getting better or worse...

This morning the air is heavy with ash and smoke. No open windows for me today. It's still too dark for me to get a feel for what has transpired over the course of this long and sleepless night. I do see stars, however, so that is an answer to a prayer. I'm tuned into the radio, waiting for an update. They are promising the aircraft will be back up shortly after 6 am. That jumble of mechanical noise never sounded so sweet...