FIRE!

It was very disconcerting to come home today from work and get a call from Mr. Strega, who said he was coming home early from HIS work in Santa Clara because there was a wildfire just a few miles from where we live; even though we are a few miles away from the actual fire, my backyard looked like a wall of orange-red smoke. The local elementary school is now an evacuation center for people in Bonny Doon. Mr. Strega advised me to get a "grab bag" just in case. So, I basically went straight from work to home, to pack up anything I needed to take in case the wind picked up and we had to evacuate. Of course, my first thought was my laptop, which has the final version of my book on it (though that's also in online storage). I packed the few mementos I have of my mother and grandmother, all the family photos, a sapphire necklace from my friend who died of brain cancer this year, a necklace Mr. Strega gave me, and (ok, this may sound silly), my bellydance troupe's winter and summer costumes (which are made from special fabric that has to be imported from the Middle East and which cost a pretty penny). Also my thumb drive and backup CDs of my home office computer. Nothing else--and what a sobering experience it was. I can't imagine how awful it would be to lose everything.

Still, we are safe tonight; we can smell the fire, and it is still pretty hot out, but we're safe. Please keep some good thoughts in mind for our local firefighters out on the ridge tonight; many are exhausted from having just fought the Summit fires.