It's still in the 100's, and probably won't cool down dramatically fast, but the end of the hottest days are over. Not that it really matters, because we are vampires who only venture out when the sun is no longer in the sky. That being said, the way I was able to tell it is the end of summer here, was a reminiscent of the end of summers home.
After walking around in my 100 pounds of kit, during a warm night, I noticed that the persperation was not collecting in it's usual thickness, running down my forehead in some kind of choreographed routine of annoyance. This sweat instead was nice. Just enough to give the skin a little glaze of moisture, and lay still as if trying not to be detected. The cool wind blowing across the moon and star lit desert, cooling the face and neck a little extra. Infiltrating the ends of my sleeves, softly allowing my arms some cool comfort. I stare at the half moon, surrounded by tiny specs of bright white light and the back and forth of dancing palm trees. The wind passing over the palm frans, delicately swaying them from right to left, letting off the soft moans of swish-swash with melodic and soothing sounds, nearly putting me into meditation. I close my eyes, and am playing basketball in the driveway during those autumn nights in California.
Since it's now the 'fall,' that means in California, one thing... Fire Season
Returning from mission, turning on my laptop, and checking the Dodger game score, I refreshed a page that I had left up, about the fires in California. This of course is not any new thing for California during Fall, our Fire Season. When we left for mission, the fire was still aways from my house, in La Canada. When the page refreshed, my heart immediately started pounding. The fires had made quite a lot of progress in the five or six hours I was gone, and unfortunately progress right towards my house.
Last year was a devastating year for my family during this season. November, during the Sylmar Fire, my Grandparents house was one of the thousands that were lost to mother nature. My parents house is in close proximity to my grandparents house, and nearly caught on fire to. Actually probably would have, as the Birds of Paradise in our backyard went up in flames. Our neighbor, hood had stayed after everyone evacuated, had been putting out spot fires on ours, and his property. This blaze was too much for him, and as he was losing, a man on a motorcycle rode into our property, grabbed a hose and helped to squelch the fire from it's exsistant. To this day that stranger is unknown to us, but we are greatly thankful.
After the damage was done, my grandparents house destroyed, they've spent the better part of this building a house on the acre sized lot my parents own. They just recently finished it and moved into their new place. I'm crossing my fingers more for that fire to be contained, than I do when we are driving down dangerous roads here in Iraq. I'm worried for my family, who usually does all the worrying for me. I guess, maybe I need to ask Lt. Dan to go to Cali and stay at my parents place so that he can protect it with his bubble of beauty, our safety net here in Iraq.
I put some images of last years fire, being the actual picture, and the map just below. See how it compares to this years map of the fire that is still blazing in the Glendale area, just east of my house, and east of last years blaze. That picture is from where my grandparents house used to be.
Zinzizzle
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