Life in Northern California is very weird right now. For over a week, the sky has been filled with a grey smoky haze, and the smell of fire is constantly in the air.
The map shows the current fires raging in Northern California. See where it says "Santa Rosa," right near the number 128? I live just north of there by about 20 miles. We're not in any fire danger (thank goodness) but it's no wonder that the air is so smoky. It is so odd, not to see the sun but to have this smoky heat. Everyone I know is hoping and praying for a good long rainstorm.
As you can imagine, most people are trying to stay indoors as much as possible, to avoid breathing air that is undoubtedly full of unhealthy particulates. The local tennis courts and parks are a lot emptier than they usually are at this time of year.
We've been hunkered down inside, alterntately working and then tiring ourselves out with our new Nintendo Wii (a combo 6th grade graduation present for Caroline and Father's Day present for Roger). Playing tennis and swimming on that thing is actually pretty darn tiring! My personal favorite is the disk of Winter Olympics games we got -- the downhill skiing is very fun (plus there's the psychologial pleasure of seeing snow and hearing the SHHHHH of swooshing over it in this heat). We all get pretty hysterical when we try the ski jumping -- we have not yet mastered the skill of landing on our feet, so we freqently reenact "the Agony of Defeat" as our virtual body slams onto the snow.
I won't be trying that in person any time soon.
So, if you are somewhere where the sky is blue and the air is fresh, take a big gulp next time you are outside and enjoy it for me.
Today the sky was sort of blue. It has been very weird here in California. The gray skies signal "fog and cold" to my brain, but it's been warm. I must admit the week of smoke has me down.
ReplyDelete