More Clouds

There are only a few  couple of things blooming in the garden after a day of heavy rain and several freezing nights, so I decided to photograph the clouds which I have also done many times but I love how they are always different. The sun put up a pretty good fight this morning, but has finally deferred to the clouds. 

Expecting more frost tonight, John has covered all the citrus and the lettuce. The large lemon and orange trees are absolutely loaded with fruit. We haven't even finished the limoncello we made last year.

When I see clouds like this I think of the single individual I saw huddled on the sidewalk under a freeway overpass the other night. It was pouring rain and this person had neither shelter nor even a blanket. It was just a glimpse' but it was heartbreaking.

Our citrus is being treated better than the 220 people who have established a tent encampment in the mud next to a walking trail. The city and county (the whole state, in fact) are being forced  to figure out how to solve the growing 'homeless problem'. Many unhoused people are mentally ill or dealing with addiction. Many others have just had bad luck. Some are families. None of these people have any place else to go. The shelters that exist are full. Three women with children have moved into an empty house belonging to a developer in Oakland and are refusing to move despite eviction orders from a judge.  People are sleeping  trying to sleep under bridges  and in doorways of downtown businesses. There are an estimated 130,000 people living outside in California (about a quarter of the nation's unhoused population). 

Sonoma County has found a parking lot in a detention center which has existed quietly tucked between the vineyards and across from a huge retirement community called Oakmont a few miles down the road from here. The county is erecting 50 temporary 'shelters'  containing a bed, a sink and a heater which they plan to take down and use for 'other purposes' after 90 days. Some will become clinics or counseling centers.  Nobody is saying what will happen to the occupants. Presumably better housing will be found for them. 

The Oakmont dwellers are up in arms about it, but that was predictable. It doesn't take much. You would have to pay me to live in Oakmont, a community that has a lot of rules and seems to be against everything. They had a big fight over pickle ball courts a couple of years ago. 

I think it's time for the city, the county and the state to stop letting a few entitled people stop any kind of effort to find shelter for people who have none. I hope this is the beginning of some sort of organized effort. It doesn't matter what the reasons are. Nobody should be denied to live in dignity with a roof over their heads and enough to eat. 

Oh dear, another rant just slipped out, and all because of some beautiful clouds. Sorry.