A Normal Weekend?

I am here at the computer basking in the delights of a full and productive day. 26 hours ago I was completely freaking out about the amount of chaos. There is a lot of chaos--we still have not returned to "normal" since moving home; our bedroom, office and garage are still loaded with boxes from the move; many of the ones in the garage contain items that still need to have ashes wiped off of them; and we had started a rather large yard project that made me feel like everything was CRAZY! I did not handle it well.

Today, though, we both worked and took time to "play" and it was wonderful. This morning after J. got some writing done at the office we went downtown to the living history day at the Presidio--a fun and FREE activity.

Bud and Pixie grinding corn as one step of tortilla-making

By far their favorite "exhibit"--the archeological dig. The trench was, ah, stocked--but with authentic pieces recovered from the site. We talked about how Uncle D. did this!


Mmm, chocolate--but I'm not ready to give up coffee or tea.

Pixie picked out "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" at the music exhibit.

After we got home this afternoon, we got a lot done working in the yard. We had had some large rocks/small boulders moved around the property on Friday afternoon, and doing a lot of the fine work was a lot of fun. We're VERY pleased with the results. It was delightful to be working, and have the kids join in; Pixie and Bud borrowed shovels to move dirt, and the Wombles ran and got his sandbox shovel and joined in. It would have been great fun even if we hadn't also achieved wonderful things outside, including a new wall around our raised bed--which J. made complete with flat rocks on top, so it's a bench! Love it!

J.'s grading is over, and we are feeling the relief of having less pressure. It's great. Happy Weekend to you!

Six Months Later

My three little oak trees!

Back in February, I posted photos and thoughts as I reflected on the first three months after "our" fire. At that point we were still in the rental, with nearly a month left to go before we could move home again. The "fire things" still seemed somewhat distant, even as we lived in the immediacy of constantly reacting to some ramification or other.

The tree with the small crack in February.

After we moved home, the first three weeks were a little traumatic in ways that I did not expect. I thought I had come to terms with where life was now. However, living in the midst of the slabs of our neighbors' homes was not the same as "coming by"--the price of the fire is evident from every window, on each trip in the car. From our mailbox I can see the place on the hillside where the fire started. I wasn't prepared for how sad it would be to come home.

After a few weeks, however, things evened out and, of course, there is reconstruction everywhere! And now, at the six-month mark, I can pop out and walk to the barranca where 40-foot flames swept through and take a few shots. It is greener yet than in February.

Every tree in the grove is tagged. At some point, the dead ones will be removed.

Can you tell the difference between the ones that are living and the ones that are not? The morning after, there was no visible difference. Now it is extremely clear (at least in person).

Shedding its old, burned bark for the new!

When I worked on the February post, I had Isaiah 61 constantly running through my head. This time around, I have a song from the album Seeds of Faith: you can't hear the tune (I just turned it on in iTunes) but it sings:

If anyone
Is in Christ
He is a New Creation
He is a new creation
The old has gone
The new has come
He is a new creation
He is a new creation
..............
The old has gone
The new has come
He is a new creation
YOU are a new creation
The old has gone
The new has come
You are a new creation
You are a new creation

You get the general idea. I wish you could hear it. The music goes well with it, and it goes well with anything (being, as it is, 2 Corinthians 5:17). The pictures of the sprouts taking over the trees, the old bark falling off and revealing the fresh and healthy...and strong...new bark beneath, fills me with a painful kind of hopefulness, longing and contentment all at once.

Thanks for checking in!

Never a Dull Moment

We are back to normal today, with J.'s Mayterm class starting this morning and all systems go at home, too. On Sunday night, J. did a lot of the unpacking, but we are not finished yet. Considering that we are still under an evacuation warning, I think that's OK. Earlier this morning J. was informed that although the fire is back in the wilderness right now, if the winds pick up tonight and fan it up (the way it was going last week--see photos from last Wednesday) it would reach Mountain Drive in about 45 minutes. My guess is that at that rate our yard is about another 10-15 minutes.

So, there's the fire update. Here are a few fun photos from our last couple of days:

Our first evacuation stop: the playground. Those aren't clouds behind him!

Pixie and the strawberries at MaII’s

Uncle Dale tirelessly pushed Pixie and Bud in the hammock, although Bud used it more as a launching pad than anything else. His favorite exit was a somersault.

Yesterday, Wombles went AWOL for a few minutes. I found him playing in our bathroom sink. ???

Bud and Wombles climbed into the wheelbarrow this morning. They had a lot of fun, and I don’t have all of the dirt out of Wombles’ scalp yet.

The sign of peace when we came back from our evacuation: a spiderweb on the play set.

We're Home!

We are home--Hooray! I won't be uploading pictures tonight because I want to do a little Mother's Day celebrating. :)

On our way home from LA, we saw a little "parade" of4-6 large fire engines heading the opposite direction--south. Home for them, too! Always a wonderful sight to see the firefighters heading home. We were cheered.

After our return, our neighbor across the street welcomed us back and added "Let's hope it's for good"--a reminder that the fire's still burning up canyon (as if the near-constant helicopters weren't reminder enough!). I sure hope we don't have to leave again.

Other good news is that the total count on destroyed homes is much lower than first thought, for which we are very grateful.

Happy Mother's Day!!

Evacuation Order Lifted

I just found out that after 10am this morning we will be allowed to go back home! Wonderful news. We're enjoying our time here at MaII's very much and are so happy to spend time with her and Dale (who got in this morning for Mother's Day) so we're not running back to Santa Barbara this minute; but it will be good to be home in time for J. to teach his Mayterm class this week!

Perhaps from home next time,
H.

Jesusita Fire, Day 5

I wish I could adequately communicate how wonderful our hosts have been. They are generous in a dying-to-self sort of way that is inspiring (and a little scary, when I realize how much I'd like to be like them, and what that actually means). We love them, and are loved.

OK, I just couldn't go on until I got that out. Today J. did the whole graduation thing, taking most of the morning and into the early afternoon. The skies in Santa Barbara were very foggy today (GREAT news for the fire--cold and wet air right off of the Pacific). After watching flames in the distance last night that were probaly 100 feet high, this morning was calm and cool and very encouraging.

The 8am press conference from unified command (Forest Service, Cal Fire, Santa Barbara and now Montecito Fire Dept.s, Sheriff & Police) focused almost exclusively on the Montecito front, which is the eastern one and the one nearest us. Later in the morning I found a fire map that could track where fires likely were (although not how large they are). Then a CD was played that was from our refugee days--Seeds of Purpose . Love it (in fact I had given this copy to our hosts) but I find music so incredibly evocative, and the combination of those three things made me...well...sad. Not necessarily worried that something was going to happen to our house (I still think it will be fine) but certainly a return to feeling very vulnerable, and a mourning for what has been and what is...like running into my friend Jill at Target in Ventura, whom I never see anymore because her house (two doors down and across the street) burned down last time and she and her husband and five children haven't moved home yet. They were out, like us, on a mandatory evacuation from their rental! Sometimes it seems like too much!

...and yet it isn't, of course. Unless, still, it is too much goodness. There is still far more that is beautiful and good, and those are good gifts that I will take with whatever evil happens across our paths. I look forward to sharing with you photos from tonight, where we are safely and comfortably at J.'s grandmother's, and where Pixie picked strawberries to her heart's desire. Where she and Bud blasted recorders in their band, and Wombles swung in the hammock or played gleefully in the dirt.

And those are the little wonders, right? Someone we admire very much once told J. that a good answer to "How are you?" is "Better than I deserve." No matter what craziness is going on here, that is still a good answer from me. Those of you who know Jesus know what I'm talking about.

And so, basically, I don't have much news to report because we're in LA and I can't get any news about what matters to me back in SB except that we are still on mandatory evacuation. Down here I can't hear when the helicopters are flying and see where they are working, in order to get a good idea of what's happening, like back home. We'll just have to wait and see what happens tomorrow! I can't even step outside to see how hard the wind's blowing...And maybe that's a good thing for now. SO you just get a little of the internal progress of the fire instead! :)

Happy Mother's Day!! I am excited to be spending it here with MaII tomorrow. The kids were SO excited that we were coming here, and were not disappointed upon arrival. Thanks so much for checking in.


PS: Here's the fire map. It's actually pretty cool.
http://wv.enplan.com/

Jesusita Fire, Day 4

We received a phone call at about 7:30 this morning informing us of the evacuation order that had been extended to our neighborhood. The call was from one of our neighbors who lost his home in the last fire, and heard about it on the radio. I had been off of the phone with my brother, who was checking in on us, for about 10 minutes.

Within minutes there was a patrol car driving through the neighborhood with a loudspeaker, telling everyone that we needed to leave. As we were nearly packed, you wouldn't think it would take us long...given the luxury of warning and time, we took over an our to get out the door this time.

We spent the first part of the day at a playground by the beach, and then in Ventura. Target and Barnes & Noble!! We were with another family, our dear friends whom you've seen in our refugee Thanksgiving post. We came back tonight for baccalaureate at Westmont and are staying with the same dear folks from church who took us in after the Tea fire. After graduation tomorrow we plan to go spend some time with J.'s grandmother...Mother's Day weekend--perfect! We were just talking about going down for Sunday anyway, before all of this fire business! :) Funny, I don't generally post when we are going to be gone--but no-one is getting up the hill to our house, so it doesn't matter.

The fire is not--currently--threatening homes in Montecito; Praise the Lord! The winds overnight will play a big part in whether that remains the case. Overnight is when the winds tend to blow hard around here, so it's hard to know what you'll wake up to in the morning.

The house we are in has a panoramic view of the entire fire line...it is pretty big. The children are doing well, better now than when we had to leave this morning. I really appreciate your prayers. we are doing well. God is faithful.

Love,
Holly

Fire update tonight

Once again, the fire has picked up with the evening winds, which are blowing so hard tonight that it's hard to stay outside due to the dust it's kicking up--like a sandstorm at times. The evacuation warnings have shifted and we are still not in that group--now we're also a few hundred yards NORTH of an evacuation warning line, as well as west. I keep using that term--does anyone know what it means?--it means you are to have your bags packed and your car loaded, ready to pull out if and when the reverse-911 call comes. We're actually supposed to have a bag with important papers, etc., packed all of the time. There is a little sign in front of every fire station here to tell us the days to pull it out and put it next to the front door. So a warning isn't a huge jump from what firefighters would have us do normally--although of course it is. Our van is loaded, mostly; I'm not pulling things off of the walls, since I really don't think we'll be called out. But this time I have a list of what I want pulled off the walls, just in case. :)


I've never tried to upload video before, but here it goes:




Thanks for checking in!

It's Hot Out

Everything has been quiet today, exactly like yesterday until around 2:30, when the winds picked up. We're forecast for the same weather pattern again today: high winds in the afternoon, and HOT. The poor wilty rose above was just a fresh little bud yesterday (two of them have done this today!).

We have the twin noises going of construction vehicles across the street, and helicopters making water dumps on the the other side of the ridge behind us. They are farther East (i.e., towards us) than the flames we saw yesterday; it will be very interesting to see if and where the flames pop up again today like yesterday. If we have power, and if anything exciting happens, I'll try to let you know.

Blue Skies

We got a good night's sleep last night, once we got there, in spite of the angry red clouds and flame on the hills above us. Today all is quiet on our ridge (except for the helicopters); last night's inferno could have been a dream. The fire is definitely burning away on the western front (we can see smoke), but not on this end. I don't know whether it hit the Tea fire burn area last night and had no fuel, or what; officials say it is 0% contained. It looks like another normal day at our house, though (except with 100-degree temperatures, about 30 degrees above normal!).

Thanks for checking in.

Tiny update

Authorities have evacuated the next road over (with loudspeakers!!), but we are not ordered out yet. We are up loading the van, just in case.

Jesusita, Day 2: Or, "It got windy again."

Around 2:30 this afternoon, the fire kicked up from being barely-there to sending up tons of billowing smoke, like yesterday...only perhaps a bit closer (not much). By 4:00 or so, the flames had crested the ridge such that we could see them from our yard, which is surreal. I know people could do that with our fire in November, but we had about 15 minutes before we headed out, and saw very little flame until most of the damage was done. It's very odd to have so much time this time around, to see what's happening "live."


Official firefighting authorities are not worried about us, in spite of the dramatic photos we have (dramatic for me anyway, but maybe I'm alarmist when it comes to fire?). We're still about 300 yards east of the evacuation warning area. This time around we've time to make a list of things we want to bring, and to pack our "go" bags (everyone should have one!). We had friends over for dinner, a last minute band-together time with dear friends from up the street (who probably saved their home in November by turning on their sprinklers before they left). They have their bags packed, too, although no one really thinks we'll need them. Still, yesterday I told Bud (who really really wanted to see flames) that I didn't think we'd see any flames. So we'll see.



Houses a few canyons over have started burning, though. I see that we've made CNN. We continue to pray with Charlie that "God will push the fire away, like he did last time, so that our house won't burn down". I pray he will do that over in San Roque, and Mission Canyon, and Palomino Road...

We are in the flight path of the aircraft, so Wombles has been yelling "copter" all day. Bud like the airplanes. In general I think the children have been doing really well. They are understandably occasionally fearful, but they can also be amusingly matter-of-fact. Tonight the strain seemed to be telling a bit, and I'm glad everyone's in bed now.

Did you notice our neighbors' house? There's a roof! And almost one on the garage! :)

Springtime

My roses are blooming again. Again? These are new since the you-know-what. Are they not lovely? Mr. Lincoln (the red) has a powerful scent, and I love Rio Samba--have always loved the yellows with rosy edges. Pixie thinks the Rio Samba smells like apple juice (that must be what is meant by "fruity scent"), but that Mr. Lincoln and my other flowering one smell like the roses she wore in Auntie M.'s wedding. :)

I took to Pixie to her first ballet class today--it was to be the first lesson (free) to decide whether we're going to do it. The instructor met us, but said there would be no class--she had been evacuated with no warning last night, and had nothing with her. We look forward to trying again next week.

The Jesusita Fire (Spanish pronunciation, start with an "H" sound) continues to burn, half a mile from some houses. The winds did not pick up as expected, and in these things the weather decides what happens. Or so the Santa Barbara Independent tells us...but we know that "the winds and waves obey his will." Charlie woke up praying for God to protect our house and to push back the fire. We are not currently threatened, but we are in the direct path of the helicopters and fixed-wing firefighting aircraft. The terrain in which the fire is burning is so dangerous and inhospitable that all of the work has thus far been done by aircraft. Fire crews are camped outin the areas where there are houses to protect...and roads to use. Plants are still moist. It looks good. We are a couple hundred yards outside of the evacuation warning area.

And, the house smells LOVELY from these two little roses! I hear birds singing along with the hum of the airplanes. I am happy.

Jesusita Fire

So, this afternoon I went with a friend down to Ventura to take Pixie to a doctor's appointment and...that's right...hit Target (it's the closest one). We had a great afternoon, but while I was shopping (in another store, actually) the phone rang and it was J. His news? Another fire in Santa Barbara. It is several miles from us, but he wanted me to be aware (and not freaked out) when I drove back up the coast and saw the billowing clouds of smoke. And, they are pretty ominous!

I love this shot that he took, though: smoke from the new fire in the background, while the roof trusses are going up on our neighbors' house, which burned down in the last fire:



We got home and I wanted to blog and get the word out. I asked him where the camera was, and he sheepishly said: "In the gray suitcase next to the front door." And there it was, complete with all the things we would need in the event of an evacuation. Next to it is the bag with all of our love letter from our courtship-across-the-sea. He has weed whacked all around the hill next to our home, and is currently sawing limbs off of a "fire ladder" tree next to our bedroom. He is an amazing man!

I'll try to let you know if there's an update. I expect we'll be fine--the authorities have time to respond to this one, unlike last time. We appreciate your prayers, particularly for the folks over in the San Roque/Mission canyon area.

We are forecast for "sundowner" winds tonight. It may be hard to sleep.

Blessings!

Three Cheers for Kinetics!

OK, I definitely will come back to D & M's wedding...we had a beautiful weekend last weekend, witnessing their vows and celebrating in a lovely garden wedding (and party!). That will take some thinking and some creative choosing from the 300 or so photos from the weekend.

Today I'm just jotting a quick note about our morning. A friend of one of our dear neighbors (whose return we are eagerly awaiting!) had a swing set looking for a new home, and it turns out that home is in our backyard. We've waited a couple of weekends until we could be here and enlist help from some of J.'s strong-backed students. Today was the day!


They are not nearly as close to the temporary power lines as they look. The yellow poles and above-ground wiring is rigged so that the construction sites have power. When ours was being redone, the crews used an extension cord duct-taped across the driveway from another neighbor's house. :) I think this works better!


We may be putting a matching wood roof on the top of the platform...There is a picnic table under the slide, and will be a sandbox behind the climbing wall (after we get sand...and a cover. Yech.)


This shot of Bud reminds us of J.'s uncle, who is an outdoor enthusiast and adventurer who has done quite a few climbs. People who remember Uncle from this age do say Bud reminds them of him.

In other news, Pixie and Bud had their Spring music recital last night. It was even more hilarious than I expected. Considering that Bud had spent better than 10 hours strapped in a car or airplane seat the previous day, I should have been prepared for the explosion of energy. And he got over any sort of stage fright at D & M's wedding...he sat dead center and had quite a stage presence, including being the peanut gallery and contributing to the director's explanations when he felt that was warranted. Oh well, I guess everyone needs a chance to be the parent of "That Kid." Lucky me, I have lots of opportunities! :) Pixie did a great job, too, also sitting dead center (they both chose their seats) and having a drum solo. I guess no child of mine will ever shun the spotlight.

We are so incredibly grateful for the gift of this set! Besides being fun for the kids (who are over the moon), it will be a huge gift for ME this summer, too...

Wedding pictures soon!