Relief

At my son’s urging we got out of here for a few hours. He said San Jose was blue skies and sunny, but I was reluctant to go that far; it was also possible that if the fire jumped 17 we wouldn’t be able to get back. So we went south to Rio Del Mar beach, only about 20 minutes away, got a sandwich at Pixie Deli and walked the shoreline for awhile. What with one thing and another, it was the first time Ive walked for days and days. The air was much cleaner there, no visible ash, and the sun even came out for a bit when the fog lifted. It was strange seeing the fog come in and out: although visibility was just as limited as at home, the view wasn’t yellow or brown, but soft moist grey and lovely. I walked barefoot and got my feet wet in the freezing ocean—it was terrific. Basically had two weeks vacation in a couple of hours! Driving back home, the air got thicker and yellower. Nothing much has changed. Several in the neighborhood have left, several are still here. About half and half on our block.
We run around and try to organize things in case we have to leave, but I’m so terrible at packing I just get stressed. It would be easier to just walk out the door empty handed, and sometimes I almost think I could do that. But not really. I feel better this evening because I’m not reading every bulletin and being frantic. If they tell us to go, we will pack what we can, grab the animals and go somewhere. I dont think it will come to that. We checked out a couple motels in Aptos/Capitola and there seem to be places available, at least right now. They have ordered non-residents to leave town to vacate more spaces for evacuees.
I try not to stay outside much around here, even with the mask on. It just feels unhealthy. It will be interesting when we can clean up the ashes. What to do with them? What are they? What is in our soil now, on the trees, in the water? If we sweep it up what do we do with it? I havent seen any guidance on this. I’m just assuming it’s toxic. Everywhere, covering everything. Well I hadn’t meant to be so grim, since I’m actually feeling better about things. Or so I thought. There are just a lot of rabbit holes to fall into. 
Our friends’ property is still okay apparently. They had a very bad close call last night, but I guess they were able to keep the flames away from the houses. 
So the takeaway for tonight is that we are still at home, still in a safe zone, relatively speaking, and doing as well as can be expected.