Dog Walkers*

It's funny how memories of childhood homes remain strong in our minds even as more recent memories become more fuzzy. We lived on an interesting property when I was growing up in Altadena, an easement from N. Fair Oaks Ave. with a large estate at the top and three houses in a row which were converted from the barn and stables attached to it. We lived in the lowermost house which had quite a lot of land around it, including the 'corral' surrounded by a semicircular stone wall, a lawn with a huge old pepper tree which I loved to sit in and read, an area affectionately called the 'South 40' by my parents, it's weedy expanse the bane of my father's existence, and a back yard where my mother hung the clothes on a line next to the pea plants which I  harvested and ate while she hung clothes.There was also an incinerator, a cement structure made somewhat mysterious by the fact that we were forbidden to go near it if there was a fire burning in it.  It has been much on my mind today as I fear the whole property has gone up in the flames of the Eaton fire. 

Sometime while I attended the junior high school across town our family moved to a large Craftsman house on Highland Avenue. The family next door included a CalTech professor who helped my brother design a science project involving planting many flats of marigold seeds and  irradiating them in various amounts in some CalTech lab in hopes of producing a rare white bloom for which there was a generous reward from the seed company. The flats were kept on the floor in the spare bedroom where Rick cared for them but just as they began to sprout, someone left the door open and out cat got in and tested them all as likely litter boxes. That put paid to the science experiment but my brother did go on to become a seed farmer for awhile.

I met John while we lived in that house and our wedding reception was held there.
I can't tell from the fire maps at my disposal whether that house has been spared, but I saw a picture of the community church down the road, it's roof aflame. 

Watching the news last night, we were treated to footage of the Berkeley Hills Fire which we watched from our upstairs windows as it burned down everything in its path and refugees from it ran down Ashby St. a half block away with whatever they were able to carry. At the time we had four cats and a dog and we had them all corralled in the bathroom, and the family silver in the car in case we had to evacuate. 

We've had our share of devastating wildfires here in Santa Rosa too and the sight of shell shocked people picking watching the flames destroy their homes or picking through the rubble afterward is all too familiar. The cumulative effect  of all this breaks my heart. A large contingent of Santa Rosa firefighters is in L.A. helping out. I can remember in both the Berkeley Hills fire, and the Glass fire here in our neighborhood watching an endless line of fire trucks from all over the state and even farther afield heading into the fire zone. It was quite emotional.

A squadron of air tankers and helicopters as well as 700 firefighters on the ground appear to be making headway, in Altadena anyway.  The hurricane force winds seem to have died down a bit. We can't control the weather, but we can be incredibly grateful to all the men and women heading into harm's way to save property and protect people. They are true heroes.

*I caught these two dog walkers and their hoard of well behaved dogs from the car as we headed toward Trail House after our own walk with Spike.