Debi van Zyl

Once again, fire has humbled us.

A terrible wild fire broke out in Santa Barbara on Thursday night. My parents house was spared, but only barely. Their next door neighbors were not so lucky and have lost everything. It's been incredibly sad watching the fire and reading about all the homes that have been lost. I cannot fathom losing everything by fire; it is such a helpless feeling one has watching things burn.

I am even more grateful for the things that I do have.

And also, in Los Angeles... I think there are three separate fires, over 1000 homes lost. Luckily R and I are not very close to these fires this time, a far cry from what we experienced this past April. But the air is so thick with smoke. It's the worst I have ever seen it. Air quality is poor and even in the heat, we're hesitant to open the windows. Visibilty is ridiculous. It feels like the whole city is fogged in.

So please excuse my (projected) absence this coming week, I think I'll be back and forth between LA and Santa Barbara and may not get back to blogging just yet... but then again, we'll see. I might welcome the distraction.

{image via ffffound}