Magic and mystery

This is not the two-thousand person “Walk with Refugees and Immigrants” I thought I would be posting tonight. I woke with a headache and nausea this morning, looked out the window, and saw thick, smoky haze. We had an air quality index of 154 (Unhealthy for all people). That meant I needed to close the windows tightly, turn the new air filters on high, and stay inside. That method worked perfectly. The headache and nausea vanished by about 2pm, though by then I had missed the big event. Masses of people did turn out for it, and everyone has a cell phone, so there will be no shortage of photos, but I’d have loved to see it.

The children were to come to me at 4 p.m. in any case, and they did. We stayed inside and built a “fort” out of four chairs and some sheets, covered the floor with pillows, and acted out stories, shining a flashlight on whoever was telling the story. This one of Bella’s was about a girl who saved the life of a baby tiger by turning into a dolphin and helping the tiger swim to the island where it could be reunited with its mother. Her telling was so dramatic we all had tears in our eyes by the end.

Evan (extra) was a space monster making scary noises while he looked for an asteroid to ride home on. “We in space,” he growled, “so everything floating, even us. Float, float. Grrrrr! Monster floating! You floating! Waaah!” 

The day ended with tomato and avocado salad, angel hair spaghetti with red sauce and parmesan cheese, and ice cream for dessert. A very fine day, despite the smoke.

This Canadian news video explains where all this smoke is coming from. Canada is burning. California and Oregon are also on fire, but the smoke that is coming to us at this moment is blowing down from Canada.