Subdued Decor

This is the total of my Christmas decor so far.. I can't even think of glitter and gifts this year, but I am impressed with how much more quickly nature heals itself than the structures we build on it. The chiles, Toyon berries and Monterey pine sprigs came from our garden and our field respectively. We did buy a tree, but it is much smaller than usual and I'm going to keep the decorations natural.

I confess to feeling a bit beleaguered as our state continues to burn. The Thomas  fire threatens the city of Ventura where my nephew is a firefighter. The Skirball fire is burning toward Sherman Oaks where our son Matt and his family live, and started close to the nearby Getty museum where Blipper Carolinav is a docent. It looks like smart design has saved the Getty but the fickle Santa Ana winds which started these blazes, just as they did the fires here, make me uneasy and nervous, and are predicted through Saturday as far as San Diego County where my brother and his wife live. Once again I'm finding it difficult to concentrate. 

There is a high pressure ridge parked over the West Coast of California, the same phenomenon which caused the drought. But the rains which broke the drought last winter also caused an unusual amount of grass and chaparral to grow which is providing much of the fuel for these fires. Firefighters from the Bay Area are now packing up and driving south to aid in the efforts down there. We no longer  have a 'fire season' but a frightening year round manifestation of changing climate conditions.

It is so difficult to feel so helpless....would things be any different if we had worked harder to change global warming?
Will we be able to figure out ways to deal with the wild veering of the weather from one extreme to another? I really don't know....