Morning Mist

A gentle sunset last night presaged the return of the morning mist today. Balm to the soul. I liked this picture for the glimpse of a fishing boat and of people walking across the dam at the far side of the lake. Everything has been so hot and dry that it was lovely to see the mist rising from the lake.

I spent the morning reading the newspapers... the New York Times, which in its own self obsessed way didn't have a single mention of fire, ash or lost subdivisions and how to replace them when they shouldn't have been built where they were in the first place. The local paper had a map of a fire in 1964 that had almost the exact same path as the Tubbs fire which just destroyed Fountaingrove, an upscale neighborhood built in the 1990's. 

In between the ads for benefit concerts, pancake breakfasts and spaghetti feeds, the local paper is full of ads from law firms from as far away as Florida offering FREE legal information. Parasites. I thought this claim was particularly distasteful: if you were affected by the fires and are insured or uninsured, join us to learn more about how you may obtain reimbursement for total costs to rebuild, damaged trees and vineyards, evacuation expenses and your annoyance and discomfort.  Reimbursement from whom? Do these vultures think God has deep enough pockets?

It was lovely to have the neighbors gathered here last night. It is the people with whom we surround ourselves who make all the difference and I feel truly part of this community. We are lucky indeed to have great neighbors. Will drove up from school and joined us along with Dana. Jim couldn't be here because he had a business trip. Will has gone back to school, but Dana and Peter will be back to help us eat all the leftovers tonight. We're supposed to be in Yosemite but we cancelled the trip because with a one week cancellation policy we were still evacuated. The neighbors across the street cancelled a trip to Paris. We were fortunate to have all our booking fees and deposits returned. They weren't so lucky, but we all agreed that we were just where we wanted to be....