Summer fires are going strong. Stopping by Sams to get groceries. Got out and saw this smoke rise. We were a safe distance away, but to see the smoke rise, it was quite ominous. New said evacuation alerts were called off near Green Valley. It said it was blazing at zero percent contained at 3,000 acres.

This morning stopped by the gym. Sitting at the parking lot, I saw ash swirl around the car. Little tiny specks, looked liked tiny gnats. However, when I turned off the engine the swirling stopped. I knew it was ash by the way they stopped hovering by my car. Clouds shimmered grey and red on a blue campus. Temperatures were a high 80s on the my car temperature gauge. When I got home, turned on TV. News reporters said the fire grew. It is 19,000 acres and people were on mandatory evacuations. Seeing this lady cry as she lost everything. The pain and sorrow in her eyes made we want to avert mine. TV cameras panned the fire and its a bit disheartening. One elderly man's home is middle yellow dry brush. Lots of fuel and no roads to his home were present. .

Had to take a minute to watch some Channel 2 news. Had a good 8 minutes on this fire. For a thirty minute show, its a bit scary. People are at the Marie Kerr Park. Lake Hughes, Lake Elizabeth, and Green Valley residents are this evacuation center. It is only twenty minutes away from my home now.

Just imagining this could be the Palmdale in a day or two. Thinking about it, I may want to take care of some of the dry brush around the home. Just looking at the red glow on the TV. Its kind of beautiful. Never had to worry about this before, but just imagining what might happen. It chills me on this too warm a night.

In a minutes, you have 20 minutes to get up and go?What are you going to pack? What do you bring? What is most important? What do you need to survive?

One can not live on bread alone. What memories, keepsakes, stuff do you bring with you? Guess this is why it may not be a bad idea to put stuff like pictures and stories on the internet.

Downside: Having your life exposed for the world to see, it is troubling. Dealing with unscrupulous people on the world wide web giving their two cents. People trolling around reading your likes and dislikes. It seems that Privacy a thing of the past.

Be afraid and hide. Or be otherwise.

Still, it wise and guarded be ready to act.

Hmmmm, faced with an end of sorts what is important? What do you hold onto/ Pictures in a two generations that will probably mean nothing. No one will really know and most likely won't care. No deep connection. Thinking of my own grandparents. I visit my Tatay on my Mom's side with regularity. More so than some. Never met my great, grandparents. Don't know who they were like.

I defriended some relatives myself so I accept that at times we got to   Some of their actions have been less than standup. I will get into some other time. Still, on the matter of of moving on. I've bee on both I have been defriended my self This did not feel good at all. I understand the action. This disheartens me, but my actions. . .my decisions,  I was a shit. No excuses just I was a shit.

Wish I could back and fix things, but like this train on the tracks. with moment, we need to find some space. e got to carry luggage.fire. We need to make some choices. This house cleaning makes us realize what things we hold onto and what we let go. All this fuel eats up what has been there for awhile. Leaving areas scarred and blackened. Taking bad and some good with it. Rough patches of skin leaving lifelong reminded of right now.

I look around the room and I imagine what will take. What will fit if we need to go in hurry. In the end, all we have are just memories. This is who we are. This is what we were. This is what we are leaning to be.
Sitting on the track, watching the trains go by. I imagine what is the cargo that I will be carrying.

I will pray for the fire fighters tonight. I will pray for the people that have lost their homes. I will pray that fire hunger will satiated soon. Soon so we can rebuild. Soon so we can cry for our loss. I will pray for the strength to carry on.

It is part of the cycle. We lose, we grieve, we remember, and we move on. We find new things to celebrate with the people that are important.