Impressions

This picture, taken by the amazing Kent Porter of the Santa Rosa Press Democrat is a good way to illustrate my thoughts as I work to clean the house of ash, dust and 10 days of neglect due to the power outage, and John* toils in the garden raking up all the leaves that were blown from the trees. I have just realized it is Halloween and this seemed like the perfect illustration on a day when I haven't put my foot out the door.

Despite being home in our own bed, neither John nor I slept very well last night. I think the thing that made this experience even worse than a similar one two years ago,  was the fact that there was no power, and the fact that the evacuations were so widespread this time that it felt like there was really nowhere to go. 

There were lots of thoughts and impressions swirling through my head last night and I decided to write them down today just as they came into my head...in no particular order.

...leaving the house again in the dark of the middle of the night, escorted by police as we drove down the branch and twig littered streets, the wind howling around us, ashes raining down in a fine mist...the same wind sounding like a siren or a banshee whistling around the corner of Dana and Jim's house

...the relief when the dawn arrived, followed by the shock of seeing big trees bending in the force of the wind

...a sort of heightened sense of hearing sirens that were nothing but traffic on the highway a couple of blocks away, or the wind in ht chimney. An acute awareness of the absence or presence of the DC10 tankers overhead, loaded with fire retardant

...the sound of the neighbors' generator which provided a backdrop to everything we did, both in and outside the house

...feeling bone chillingly cold. I'm sure if I had been busy doing something, I wouldn't have been cold, but there wasn't much to do. It was warm outside but we were warned against being outside because of the smoke. I sat out there anyway....

...driving through a town that was like a ghost town, empty of people and filled with smoke and emergency vehicles

...sitting in the driveway or driving aimlessly around with the seat warmer on, listening to the local radio station, charging my phone and thinking about how many people were reduced to living in their cars

...Dana's response when she absently reached in the gloom for an almond she had roasted on the barbecue, popped it in her mouth, and discovered it was dog food

Firefighters sleeping at a winery in the Dry Creek Valley outside Healdsburg, and the contrast with PG&E executives wining and dining in a similar winery near where the Kincade fire started, probably due to a faulty transmission line which had not been turned off

...the picture of a group of firefighters standing by their trucks and waving to residents returning home after the evacuation was lifted. 

I have often said that 'there is no such thing as normal' but being back home again, knowing that the battle is being won, there is no wind predicted, the firefighters and police from all over are beginning to return home and we have nothing to do but plug in the vacuum cleaner, turn on the washing machine and rake leaves, I believe there ARE moments that are normal and I intend to make the most of every one of them!

*I have decided that it is time to drop the association with oil and allow him to be known by his given name the same as the rest of the family.