AUGUST 2020
***
August is nearly over this summer, much like the better part of this year,
just a blur of endless bad news spanning the globe. Pandemic has stolen our
"normal" lives, rendering us stunned and uncomfortable in this new
reality we are now living. Now fires ravage our state, mask wearing around
the clock these days, other than when sleep finally finds us. Windows
normally wide open at night, now shut against the smoke slithering, insidious
as it makes it's way through the valleys. Mornings find it hanging on
the treetops all around us. Acorns fall, sounding like gunshots on the
metal roofs. Oaks are shedding their leaves, exhausted from the relentless
heat no doubt. We yearn for autumn and an easing of all that troubles us.
These past few months, just a blur of of COVID, election chaos and now since mid August endless fires. As I type this, looking out the window all I see are deep orange sky, the woodlands outlined against it a stark inky, black. We've been spared thus far, only seeing the endless frantic posts of evacuations, losses of homes, lives, all amid the pandemic. Words have failed me, hence the silence here.
Last night Luna, as she traveled to the West started blushing. First
just a tender red gold glow, then a deep red-orange color as she
sailed closer to the fires. Tonight she is brighter, her face pale
and serene as she's still high overhead. Sometime in the night she
will once again turn as she sinks into the smoke laying across the
western horizon.
Resting in the shade
mother and son
escaping the cruel heat
Sky smudged in charcoal
spread beneath the toxic blanket
Gaia's flanks glow golden
