(re-run from 2018) In my 33 years in California (one and a half down south, the rest up north), I can’t remember a fall where we have not had a drop of rain by mid-November. I also can’t remember ever having three big fires in less than two years that have burned down whole communities… Continue reading A Different Kind of Fall
Category: fires
You Know It’s Fall when . . .
(re-run from 2020) The summer concerts have ended, except for one. The sleeveless cotton dresses are packed away, along with pairs of shorts and sandals. It’s jeans and long sleeves now, with the occasional hot afternoon where I strip down to my undershirt. Fall has arrived, not so much with leaves changing colors. We don’t… Continue reading You Know It’s Fall when . . .
Let it Rain
(re-run from 2019) If you live in California, it’s the time of year that you pray for rain. With no precipitation since May, the hills are bone dry, so brown they are white. I hiked the hills yesterday. Not one green sprout of anything could be found anywhere. The trees are green, but that is… Continue reading Let it Rain
Laugh More, Worry Less
(re-run) The state is on fire, again. It seems that three of the last four years have been off the charts for wild fires. 2017 – Napa and Santa Rosa burned. Santa Barbara County, too. 2018 – Paradise, the town, was wiped off the map. 2019 – Because of heavier winter rainfall, the fires weren’t… Continue reading Laugh More, Worry Less
Hot, Hot, Hot
(re=run from 2019) 102 degrees outside. Fires are burning in both Northern and Southern California. The once late-summer fire season is now happening in June. California heat is dry heat, low humidity, good for your hair, bad for fire. Four weeks ago we had rain. Then an explosion of pollen. Then a slow start to… Continue reading Hot, Hot, Hot
Dealing with Duff
What is duff, you ask? It’s decaying vegetable matter covering the ground under trees. It’s what burns in a wild fire. It’s especially thick under evergreen trees because those pine needles build up and don’t necessarily get raked up like obvious leaves do. Insurance companies want those of us who live in California to get… Continue reading Dealing with Duff
The Dog Days of Summer
I haven’t written a new blog post for a few days, and it’s time. I’ve posted re-runs every day for a long string of hot days now. My computer is playing Neil Young’s Harvest Moon, which puts me in the mood for writing. That song keeps reappearing in my life. You probably have a song… Continue reading The Dog Days of Summer
Shake, Rattle and Roll
(re-run in honor of the 35th anniversary of the Loma Prieta quake in 1989) Twenty earthquakes happened under my town yesterday. The biggest one was under the posh community of Diablo, three miles from here. They are calling it a swarm of quakes. The quakes are just big enough to get your attention or wake… Continue reading Shake, Rattle and Roll
Lola Meets Ricardo
(re-run) Lola met her forever husband on the first day of college at the University of Iowa. She had signed up for a speech and composition class with an emphasis on women’s studies. When she got to the classroom, there was a note on the door saying that the class had been moved to another… Continue reading Lola Meets Ricardo
My So-called Life
Thirty years ago, Claire Danes was 14 years old. She starred in a short-lived TV show, even before she got famous for Romeo and Juliet with Leonardo DiCaprio (when she was 16). I had a new baby and two older children thirty years ago. I used to teach high school so I liked watching a… Continue reading My So-called Life
FIRST DATE, WORST DATE EVER! 