Fire

I hate fire..Well not all fire. I mean the fire that allows us to have hot meals, stay warm in the winter, gaze upon in the fireplace on a cold winter night or happily gather around when camping, those are all great. But I hate wildfires. They always frighten me and make me nervous. Even the ones very far away in another country upset me. Wednesday August 26 a fire started along Angeles Crest Highway..my neck of the woods. It started out small, 25 acres. There were no structures threatened and no winds to push it along. The weather has been very hot and the mountains are overgrown and very dry but there was a fire in Azuza to tend to and it was bigger. I am not saying the fire was not attended to..it was. Fixed wing aircraft was all over it right away. But this fire has a mind all its own. I really feel fire takes on a personality. This one, now named the Station Fire, is evil and wicked and crazy and confused. It cannot make a decision as to what direction it should travel. It is going three different directions. It burns uphill and downhill...it re burns over itself. I shoots flames ups 100 feet and sends ashes everywhere. Many of my friends have had to evacuated their homes. The little fire is now a monster...as of today 85,000 acres. It spread from La Canada to Sunland Tujunga to Acton to Altadena and points beyond. Right now it threatens Mount Wilson. Two fire fighters have perished is it wake and no containment is in sight.
I can stand on my front porch and see flames dancing and laughing...almost saying you cannot control me. We have extraordinary fire teams working on this monster(the press calls it a monster, not me) and I pray they stay safe.
For me..I am on pins and needles. The reverse 911 call kind of set that into motion. So In my stress I painted the bathroom..go figure.
After this is all over (and I pray that is soon) I will again have to clean my drapes, wash everything, scrub furniture and shampoo rugs. The smoke and ash have engulfed our neighborhood. I am just so grateful I still have all these things to clean.
One of the prices we pay for living so close to nature is that we stand the chance of having it all blow up on any given day. Fifty years of no fire and now....well lets hope all those prediction of a El Nino fail to appear and we have a normal rainy season...otherwise my next blog might be about mudslides.
BTW..the picture was taken last night not too far from where I live.....

Man how they grow up

So, last Sunday Amanda, Teresa and I danced at a private birthday celebration for my dear friend Susie. It was actaully her grandson Kevin's birthday..he turned 22. We had danced last year, giving Kevin his own private bellly dance show and he enjoyed it so much he asked us that we dance again this year. Kevin comes out from Pennsylvania to spend time with Susie each August. This year the party was much bigger. And our "show" was pretty well organized. We had a stage, lights, costumes and choreography. The crowd was sort of quiet, something we belly dancers are not used to. We failed to let them know that the more noise they made, the better. So it was hard to tell if the group enjoyed the show...with the exception of one young fellow..He is twelve (he is the less tall young man in the picture). He was very enthusiatic. He was so enthustiastic that while taking photos with his cell phone he fell off his chair...His mortified mother apologized but we were very flattered. Gosh I am no spring chicken so that made me feel pretty darned good.