“It is almost impossible to watch a sunset and not dream.” Bernard Williams
Photo by Enchanted Seashells
Photo by Enchanted Seashells
Photo by Enchanted Seashells
These photos were taken before we had a few days of much needed rain. There was no flooding around here but I saw video of devastating mudslides in the fire-damaged areas around Malibu — in addition to a medium-sized 3.5 earthquake in the same same general vicinity.
Today was super sunny and warm, a perfect time to spend hours in the garden cleaning up from the storm and getting the raised bed ready for spring planting.
I haven’t had any visits from my coyotes or bobcats in about a month and I’m not sure why. Hopefully, they’ll return soon because I miss my animal family!
As I’m writing this post, there are six major wildfires ravaging the Southern California Los Angeles area, about 100 miles north of me, burning more than 30,000 acres. As many as 10,000 structures have been burned and the death toll is reported to be ten, but will most likely rise.
Santa Ana winds were calculated at 100 miles per hour BEFORE they were supercharged by the heat of the fires themselves. We haven’t had rain in months; everything is bone dry.
Many celebrity homes in Malibu are completely destroyed, not that I think those people are any more special than anyone else who lost everything in the fires or other disasters. It’s just crazy to see those beach homes right on the Pacific Ocean burned to a crisp.
Thousands of homeowners were dropped by their insurers before the Palisades fire, leaving them with no protection. It’s been happening for the last few years to homeowners who live in regions prone to climate disasters.
The coastal Palisades Fire is now the most destructive ever to hit Los Angeles County, while the Eaton Fire has devastated communities below Angeles National Forest to the east. There’s also the Hurst Fire, Lidia Fire, Kenneth Fire, and the Westhills Fire near Calabasas.
I don’t want to even think about the cause or repeat any unsubstantiated gossip. Mostly I care about the poor animals– pets and wild creatures — who are now injured and displaced. It’s so sad.
In the midst of this tragedy, I’m sharing a heartwarming story of a heroic woman who rescued forty one pets from the wildfires.
Dr. Annie Harvilicz, a veterinarian, bravely risked her life to help rescue dogs, cats, and a rabbit from the path of the Pacific Palisades fire as their owners were forced to flee.
The animal lover has opened her home and an empty pet hospital because their owners simply don’t have the space or resources to bring the pets with them.
She also rescued 4 dogs near LAX airport and has taken them into her home.
While Lāhainā burned to the ground in utter devastation and so far, thirty-six people lost their lives, everyone is also talking about the largest banyan tree in America, located in the heart of the town.
It was planted in 1873 and turned 150 years old this year. It seems to be badly scorched but it’s too early to predict if it will survive.
Here are my thoughts are on this tragedy…
Memo to Social Media… Nobody wants to hear about how you vacationed on Maui and how your family is so thankful to experience Lāhainā before the fires. Local families and businesses have lost everything. Families can’t even find each other. Instead of posting tone deaf photos of yourselves on the beach, use your vacation money and donate to help Lāhainā.
(To fellow WP bloggers, this is the weirdest thing. Apparently this post did not publish, or it published in a draft format that was not at all what my final result looked like to me, and that’s why I’ve reposted it. Strange limbo zone!!)
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Do you smell the smoke?
It’s a rainy SoCal day and I was in a state of cleaning bliss, dusting and polishing and organizing.
I lit dried sage from the garden to smudge in a metal bowl on top of a mirror on my bedside table to bring a little pungent sagey/outdoorsy fragrance.
It seemed safe, right? Metal bowl placed not directly on wood, but on a mirror to protect it.
Apparently NOT safe.
I continued cleaning the other rooms, enjoying the sagey perfume. After a while, I thought that it seemed to be smoking for much much longer than the amount of leaves in the bowl and as I walked toward my bedroom, I was engulfed in smoke!
A MAJOR smudge haha.
I ran over to the window which was closed ‘cos of the rain, and slid it completely open, then to my beside table where I could see the mirror had cracked and the metal bowl had fused to the wood and was too hot to touch.
The table was literally seconds away from going up in flames!
The smoke was no longer from the sage; the antique and very dry wood was burning.
Oh, and somehow the carpet had a few burn holes too.
Now there’s a nasty burn mark on my mom’s antique bedside table,
It took about an hour for the smoke to dissipate. There’s not a smoke alarm in my bedroom and it hadn’t yet reached the dining room area where there are TWO smoke alarms, so that’s why I was oblivious.
Well, one reason why I was oblivious.
The other reason is that cleaning puts me into a Zen-like trance and I was lost in my own little world.
Moral of the story? DO NOT put sage in a metal bowl on top of a mirror on top of a wooden surface. EVER.
I repainted this room recently, and noticed that it no longer reeks of fresh paint, so there’s a sort of silver lining???
Enchanted Seashells | Princess Rosebud 